The Night Agent’s Luciane Buchanan is overwhelmed by the show’s ‘crazy’ popularity

The Night Agent star Luciane Buchanan bent the rules to audition for what is currently Netflix’s most watched show in the world.

New Zealand actor Luciane Buchanan stars as Rose Larkin in Netflix’s popular series The Night Agent. Picture: Netflix

Luciane Buchanan would like to apologise to Jacinda Ardern.

The Kiwi actor broke New Zealand’s strict Covid restrictions when she auditioned for what is the biggest show in the world right now on Netflix, the pulsating conspiracy thriller The Night Agent.

“I needed a job. We were all in the pandemic and were on a very strict lockdown and I had nothing else to do so I put another [audition] tape down,” Buchanan told news.com.au. “I snuck a friend of mine [over to my house]. I said, ‘Hey, man. I need someone to read with me for this tape, do you mind if you break the bubble?’. And he said, ‘Of course I’ll come over.

“So, we were breaking the rules a little bit. Sorry, Jacinda.”

Buchanan had no idea how much The Night Agent would blow up, certainly not when she sent the audition in. “I thought nothing of it, I was like, ‘Whatever, see what happens’. I thought I had no chance. You put things out there, and being from New Zealand, you think, ‘No one is going to see this’.”

Luciane Buchanan broke Covid restrictions to land her role on The Night Agent. Picture: Dan Power/Netflix

Not only did the producers see her tape, it seems like everyone has now seen her in the co-lead role of Rose Larkin, a failed entrepreneur and computer whiz who is ensnared in a vast conspiracy that goes all the way to the White House when she becomes the unwitting witness to an assassination.

Pacy and twisty, The Night Agent is a throwback to compulsive thrillers of the 1990s and early 2000s, evoking the tense, paranoid tone of John Grisham adaptations The Pelican Brief and The Firm. It also draws from Kiefer Sutherland staples – the web of mystery of Designated Survivor and the breakneck speed of 24.

Buchanan’s Rose is smart and resourceful but political intrigue and power grabs are not her world, and that makes her the audience surrogate in a heightened drama as she and the titular FBI agent Peter (Gabriel Basso) race to expose the truth and stay alive.

Since The Night Agent’s release two weeks ago, the 10-episode series created by seasoned TV writer Shawn Ryan (The Shield, SWAT), it rocketed up Netflix’s most watched chart. In its first 11 days, it’s clocked up 384 million hours. The order for a second season came through within the first week.

D.B. Woodside, Hong Chau, Luciane Buchanan and Gabriel Basso at the premiere of The Night Agent. Picture: Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images

Buchanan got the call about a season two renewal at six o’clock in the morning. “I was like, ‘What are you talking about? I thought we’d wait months and months to find out. It’s pretty crazy.

“I thought we were going to fly under the radar, like other shows on the platform. I did not expect for it to be so popular.”

Buchanan said she was overwhelmed by the show’s success, and that everyone in her life has been in contact with a story of how people around them have been obsessing over the show.

“A friend of mine said she overheard her co-workers talking about it in the staff room. Another friend in London said a bunch of people were talking about it at the bar. It’s totally overwhelming and I don’t think I’ve processed everything just yet.

“I’m just kind of hiding in my room.”

Luciane Buchanan has been overwhelmed by the response to The Night Agent. Picture: Dan Power/Netflix

The Night Agent which shot in Vancouver and also stars Hong Chau, D.B. Woodside and Enrique Marciano, is the most high-profile project Buchanan has done. Born and raised in Auckland, Buchanan is a familiar face on New Zealand TV, starring in shows including The Blue Rose and Filthy Rich.

She booked the lead role in The New Legends of Monkey, a co-production between New Zealand, Australia, the UK and South Africa, inspired by the classic Chinese tale Journey to the West.

An explosion in international productions in New Zealand saw her feature as a guest star in Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s dramedy Mr Corman as well as dystopian fantasy series Sweet Tooth.

The global popularity of The Night Agent might supercharge new opportunities for Buchanan, but she’s currently filming another series in her homeland until mid-year, which has her full focus for now.

“But knowing that people loved The Night Agent is just so nice and I definitely think it will open some doors.

“And I guess we’ll have to do season two as well!”

The Night Agent is streaming now on Netflix