Diksha Sundriyal
Netflix’s ‘The Night Agent’ is the story of a young FBI agent whose life changes after he picks up a phone call. Peter Sutherland is a low-level agent tasked with analyzing reports while sitting beside a phone that never rings. One day, he gets a call, finding a civilian named Rose Larkin on the other end of the line. He discovers that Rose’s aunt and uncle were secret agents, and they give her the number to call for help. Rose becomes integral to deciphering the conspiracy that targets the White House. With no one else to turn to, Rose and Peter work together, saving each other from bad guys while getting to the bottom of the truth. If you’re curious about Rose Larkin’s real-life basis, here’s the essential information. SPOILERS AHEAD!
Rose Larkin is Not Based on a Real Person
No, Rose Larkin is not based on a real person. She is an original character created by Matthew Quirk for his novel of the same name on which the Netflix series is based. The idea for the story came to Quirk from the real job of a friend who works at the FBI. This got him thinking about the political and espionage aspects of the story, which is what Peter Sutherland represents in the story. Now, Quirk needed something to balance it out.
While watching a story about secret agents is exciting, Quirk wanted to ground it in reality. He wanted the audience to watch it unfold from the perspective of someone relatable, and that’s where Rose Larkin comes in. She is a young tech CEO who has recently lost everything she worked for her entire life. Just when she thinks things couldn’t get any worse, her aunt and uncle are killed, and she discovers they were not who she believed them to be.
Caught entirely off guard by their secret, Rose has to quickly adapt to the situation and learn to survive. She also has to be very cautious about who she can trust. Because Peter works for the agency and the White House, he has a blind spot regarding specific people. Rose, on the other hand, is an outsider who makes her completely unbiased about others, balancing Peter’s tendency to give people the benefit of the doubt.
Quirk wanted to bring an everyman quality to the story, and Rose allowed him to make things more relatable to the audience. Her tech background also makes her an incredibly resourceful person who can think on her feet and quickly learn the tricks of the trade. She was also essential in giving a more human approach to the story, where her connection with Peter evolves into a friendship. The author found that their relationship and its development over the story brings more personal investment in the story.
Another angle Quirk wanted to explore through Rose’s character was the idea of two people from different worlds coming together to save the day. It was a buddy comedy situation, bringing levity to an otherwise dark and convoluted story about conspiracies that could tear the world apart. All of this shows that even though Rose is a fictional character, she is the one who tethers ‘The Night Agent’ to the real world, making the audience wonder what they would have done if they were in her place.
