Night Agent is almost back for Season 2, and newcomer Amanda Warren has teased her new character while revealing how these new episodes will feature one key new location outside of the United States.
Warren plays Catherine Weaver, a veteran Night Action agent who is Peter Sutherland’s new boss for a new thrilling mission. After his latest mission goes sideways, Peter’s trust in her is broken, but things might not be so simple.
Warren sat down with The Direct’s Russ Milheim, where she discussed the dynamic between Peter and Catherine and how it anchors the entire second season.
Night Agent Season 2 Moves the Storyline Across the Country—And World
"... These Very Metropolitan, Epic, Landmark Cities Are Definitely a Character on the Show."
- The Direct: "On a storytelling level, what would you say is the most exciting part, in Season 2 for audiences to experience? What would you point to and be like, 'Yeah, people are going to love this.'"
Amanda Warren: I think what people are going to love, especially holding on as long as the audience has, and we're so grateful to them, especially being a new member of the cast, I think what they're going to be able to hold on to and enjoy... is that we'll be in New York City. And the show will also be in Bangkok.
In a lot of ways, these very metropolitan, epic, landmark cities are definitely a character on the show. New York's always done that. Whatever film or television show has graced the city, it's always been a major character. So I think people are really going to enjoy that.
What people can also enjoy are the varying storylines. And again, this thematic thread of trust and how it ties all of the, for lack of a better phrase, sub-storylines together.
And also that you get a peek into another culture. I don't want to give too much away, but I think it's really cool what Shawn Ryan and his writers room have been able to do with exploring culture without being typical about it. It's really beautiful what he's done with that part of the cast and the story.
But again, everything ties in together, but it's just more of the same and a lot more gas that we're firing up. And I hope people can be excited about that. We've worked really hard, and we're really looking forward to the release on Thursday.
Who Is Amanda Warren's Catherine Weaver?
Catherine is "A Case Officer" Who "[Doesn't Like] to Handle Anybody."
- The Direct: "You play Catherine Weaver, a veteran Night Action agent, what would you say is the core of her character?"
Amanda Warren: The core of her character is that she's a case officer, and she's also known as a handler. But in my work with her, there's a scene where it is briefly mentioned. But in Catherine, I don't think that she likes to handle anybody. I think that she wants to deal with capable people and to handle somebody is to undermine them.
And when she meets Peter, because of whatever lack of training she feels that he has and what lack of training he genuinely doesn't have with what it takes to be involved in Night Action in the field, she doesn't trust him. And trust is very much the thematic thread that kind of weaves us all together.
Who can trust whom can trust anybody in the Mission House, who can trust anyone in Night Action. Can Rose trust Peter? Can that happen and vice versa? So it's very much tying in with all of that, and when she sees that he's not equipped, at least seemingly so, to handle night action with his history, she holds reservations, and there in the conflict ensues.
- The Direct: "I was going to ask you about the process for you personally of finding Catherine within your performance and kind of bringing her to life. Did that also involve, because you were mentioning real-life generals, did you go back and watch what these real people look like in public and how they act?"
Warren: Yeah, very reserved. You can't read them. You just can never read them. They have the strongest of poker faces, and their cadences don't give anything away either, vocally, and that is what I worked with.
I'm trained, some people might say, trained to death, because I started out singing in high school at a professional Performing Arts in the theater district in New York City, NYU Tisch, and then the Yale School of Drama, now known as Geffen. So I just kind of started investigating and physicalizing.
I started with vocalizing first and just making sure that she's a woman—Catherine who really enjoys receiving information, but when she has to give it, how she gives it to whom she gives it to, and how much she wants to give. Because of that level of trust, we see throughout the season how she communicates with certain people, how much she has to hold, how much she reluctantly has to give. And that's in cadence and also just in that low simmer again, not giving anything away physically. It's been the most challenging.
They always say, 'Oh, you play all these strong, independent, fierce characters,' yeah, but they're all different levels to them. That's like saying, 'Oh, you always play a mother.' Well, Patty Hughes was a mother from 'Damages,' but she was still Patty Hughes. You know what I mean? So, to say that is like, Yeah, that's great, but there are other things.
So, playing in that really low simmer and having that through line. If you mess around with me anymore, you're going to find out quick, fast and in a hurry, point blank period, and maybe quite literally, on a show like the 'Night Agent.' So, you know, it's one of those things where she doesn't have to pop her collar until she has to, you know, pop her collar and do a major flex, and the way she flexes is pretty, pretty fun. It's fun.
The Unique Dynamic Between Peter Sutherland and Catherine Weaver
"I Think It's Kind of Like That Reluctant Mentorship."
- The Direct: "From the perspective of somebody coming into Season 2, from the start, [I'd] just like to talk a little bit more about that really complicated relationship and dynamic with Peter [and Catherine], because she also kind of serves as, in a sense, both an antagonist and a friendly force throughout the season. So what was it like finding that relationship with him?"
Warren: I think it's kind of like that reluctant mentorship. Sometimes, we don't get to choose our family and work environments or community environments, right? So, it becomes a delicate balance. And there's a scene in which she discusses that delicate balance with a certain superior. And I love that scene. I'm just trying not to give anything away.
It becomes one of those things where I don't know if I'm capable of doing my job because I don't trust whom you're enlisting for me to handle my responsibilities and take on that kind of accountability. So it becomes one of these, Yes, I'm a reluctant mentor, but I can't pour off an empty cup, and if I have to toss your ass overboard, I will, and I'll find a way to do that. And the thing for the audience is holding on from episode to episode, thinking, or at least, I thought in reading the scripts, will she throw his ass overboard? Because you never know, because she's just the lowest kind of simmer.
People in Special Operations, tactics, things like that, they know-- literally their hands are lethal, and people like that, you see some of our generals giving these debriefs and everything. And they seem so, quote, unquote, so removed from reality. Well, maybe their reality is bombs going off. God knows where, to God knows whom, and could be concerning themselves with the casualty. They're not exactly going home after a hard day's work, like you and I Russ, and watching the repeats of 'Martin' or 'Friends'.
So it's just a little light in our world, and she's a little heavier, she's way more intense. She's just like that. But, yeah, she takes on this reluctant mentorship with him and really tries to figure out how to handle that. But that doesn't come without conflict between the two of them, because whether it's his training or whether it's just his passion for wanting to save Rose or the world, or whomever, [Peter Sutherland] very much colors outside the lines and that's just something that, even if she is familiar with, especially if she's familiar with, she will find intolerable to work with.
Night Agent Season 2 hits Netflix on January 23.
