‘Night Agent’ Star Genesis Rodriguez on Season 4, ‘Lioness’ Season 3

[This story contains major spoilers from the third season of The Night Agent.]

Genesis Rodriguez did not quite know what she was signing up for when she agreed to play financial journalist Isabel de Leon in the third season of Netflix‘s The Night Agent.

Fresh off a stint in the second season of Taylor Sheridan’s spy thriller Lioness, where played a U.S. Army pilot, Rodriguez had to switch gears to play a whipsmart woman whose investigative reporting reveals that her own flesh and blood is at the center of a government conspiracy. “It’s jarring. I went from this very tough, physical character [in Lioness] to a very cerebral character [in Night Agent],” Rodriguez previously told The Hollywood Reporter when shooting the newly released third season of Night Agent in Istanbul back in December 2024. “I love a challenge.”

At that point, Rodriguez was still largely in the dark about her character’s connection to the central plot of season three. Midway through the season, protagonist Peter Sutherland (Gabriel Basso), much like the rest of the audience, discovers that Isabel is actually the estranged daughter of Jacob Monroe (Louis Herthum), the ruthless intelligence broker with whom Peter struck a deal at the end of season two to thwart a terrorist attack on the UN building in New York.

A rising reporter for The Financial Register in New York, Isabel secretly travelled to Istanbul at the start of the season to meet with fugitive FinCEN analyst Jay Batra (Suraj Sharma) and receive classified evidence of a massive stateside money-laundering operation that funded a deadly terrorist attack on a civilian airliner. This evidence places her in the crosshairs of a powerful network, including corrupt banker Freya Myers (Michaela Watkins), an unnamed assassin played by Stephen Moyer, and a shady businessman who happens to be her old man. Teaming up with Peter, Isabel begins to connect the financial dots between the domestic shell companies owned by her father and President Richard Hagan (Ward Horton).

Through a series of revelations and flashbacks, Isabel discovers that her mother, Sofia (Daniela Peña), was a casualty of her biological father’s past life as a CIA mole in the ’90s. Sofia died in prison years ago while Monroe chose to protect himself. Despite this painful history, Monroe’s lingering paternal instinct becomes a catalyst for the plot; he ultimately agrees to tear down his criminal empire and cooperate with Peter specifically to ensure Isabel’s safety. In the end, however, Monroe is shot point blank in the head by Peter’s new partner, Adam (David Lyons), who turns out to be President Hagan’s former commanding officer in the military and was installed as a Night Agent to carry out orders specifically on behalf of the corrupt POTUS.

Following Monroe’s death, which she believed was not a staged suicide, Isabel realizes that the key to the massive database of criminal evidence that would bring down her father’s entire criminal enterprise is hidden inside a sentimental copy of Grimm’s Fairy Tales. By decoding this book cipher, she unlocks the proof needed to take down the conspiracy. In the high-stakes finale, she survives an attack by the President’s rogue agents and successfully broadcasts a live interview — with Myers going on the record — that exposes the First Family’s criminal conduct to the world, providing a sense of closure for her family’s tragic past while holding the most powerful people in the country accountable.

“It’s so brave to throw yourself under the bus or throw everybody under the bus because the truth and her moral compass is so strong that that’s the most important thing above anything. ‘Let it all burn down,’” Rodriguez now tells THR in an interview about the third season, which released Jan. 19. “It’s very poignant. It’s very relevant to today’s world. I think journalists — and playing a journalist right now — are very important, and there are people out in real life trying to get the truth out there and risking it all.”

Below, Rodriguez offers her take on Isabel and Monroe’s fractured yet loving relationship, why she never saw Isabel and Peter’s relationship as anything more than platonic — and what viewers can expect from the next season of Sheridan’s Lioness, which she says will wrap production very shortly.

***

Once you landed this role, what do you remember from your earliest conversations with creator and showrunner Shawn Ryan about Isabel’s arc in the third season? Did you know who she really was?

I had no idea who she turned out to be until I was shooting, which is really cool because I was kind of discovering with the audience. I honestly feel it was good that way because I don’t think Isabel really cared about his backstory. It was the present relationship she had with him that informed the way she went about him. It was a tough position for her because, at the end of the day, he is her father. And always underneath all the resentment and abandonment is a love there. So it was a very tough, layered thing we had to pull off of having to [believably] turn in your father when you don’t have a great relationship with him. [We wanted] her search for the truth to be the thing that drives her. I think she’s a very special person who puts her morals and integrity above everything — above a relationship with her own father.

You mentioned that you did not know her true identity until you were shooting. At what point during filming did you learn that she was the estranged daughter of Monroe?

I learned after episode three. So here I was investigating [a shell company called] CorePoint Dynamics. I knew it had something to do with my father, but I didn’t know how. I think she didn’t know much about him. So in a way, she was just investigating where he got his money and how he made his money. It didn’t make sense to her. And especially with the way she went about journalism in general, she said, “Always follow the money.” It’s a different approach to how she would [normally] get to the truth and how she feels like justice would be served. So I think [her arc] was, in a weird way, to get to the bottom of who her father is because he never really shared that with her.

One thing I have come to appreciate about this show is how cultural details for the characters of color have been woven into the last couple of seasons — the Iranian storyline in season two, and now Isabel’s bicultural upbringing between the U.S. and Mexico in season three. You’re Venezuelan and Cuban, but did you ever have any conversations with Shawn about weaving in any cultural details for Isabel?

I personally love the episode where they flash back just to give you the whole point of view of how she grew up. I honestly feel like Shawn did such a good job at bringing in so much backstory that really it was easy for me to tap into bringing this to life — to be someone that comes to the States to better themselves, to chase a dream. That is this country’s story, and there are so many people like this. I’m a child of immigrants. It’s easy to tap into this and to straddle two cultures. It’s what I grew up with. So just by being open to the words, but also he was extremely open to everything that I had to say about things — it was just a very collaborative environment when it came to forming and sculpting this character.

So much of this season is built on this unlikely new alliance between Peter and Isabel. They begin on a more antagonistic note, but episode four definitely reveals a new side of that dynamic as they confide in each other about their personal lives — and Peter even risks his own life to save Isabel’s. Why do you think Isabel brings herself to immediately and implicitly trust Peter, even as she worries about her own journalistic credibility being called into question?

I think when people are put in danger, and they are put in danger together and he so easily stepped up to protect her, that creates a bond. But what I love about their relationship is that the romance isn’t even a question. It’s two people with the same idea, the same journey of doing the right thing. They’re experts at what they do in their own way, and both of them complement each other. She’s so cerebral and skilled in researching and going down the rabbit hole, and he’s so good at connecting the dots in real time and so instinctual. They have two different expertise that come together for the same thing. And not only that, it’s also refreshing that a male and a female can have a friendship on television where she teases him the entire time and he allows for it. It’s refreshing to see that for these two characters.

When I spoke with Shawn Ryan about the third season, he told me it was never his intention to lean into any kind of romance between Peter and Isabel, but some viewers still believed that Isabel was being set up as some kind of love interest for Peter. Did you, at any point, see the potential there, even if you were excited about the prospect of them being just friends?

I don’t think so. I certainly don’t think we played it like that. The words didn’t lend for romance. It lent for trust, and led to a friendship. Especially because she was so sure of herself at the cabin in the pool episode [episode four]. She’s like, “Okay, what’s your deal? You haven’t looked at me sideways. Not once. Every guy looks at me sideways. What’s your problem?” (Laughs.) And it was just so refreshing to see that he can’t have that [romantic relationship] and have his job, and do what his journey is meant to do. I really enjoyed that it wasn’t that. It’s very hard to come into a third season, and people are already comparing you to someone else. I don’t feel like I’m filling a void; It’s like an own little separate thing. So that was kind of alleviating.

Isabel keeps telling Monroe throughout the season that she can’t trust him. At one point, she says, “I don’t know what’s a negotiating point or what’s not, not even with your cancer diagnosis. And now you want me to play like I’m a good daughter. Like you never abandoned my mother and me. I want my father in my life… but you need to earn it.” Do you think there is any world in which Isabel would have been able to trust Jacob, or would she have always resented her for abandoning her and her mother and then trying to buy her love?

I absolutely believe if Monroe would’ve led with the truth, despite what her judgment would’ve been like, she would’ve been open at least [to a relationship]. But the man didn’t know how to not lie, even to protect her. He just couldn’t help himself. I feel like her little token that she got was that he did love her, despite the fact he was never open with her. That is something she would have to deal with once she decodes everything and sees that her mom meant a lot to him, and the story that she had told herself wasn’t entirely true. What’s sad, though, is that there was really no real closure. There is a closure about who he was and that he did love her, but they never had the chance to really have a relationship.

One of the standout moments of the season for me was when Isabel, who intentionally chose not to have a heartfelt goodbye with her father, learns that he has died suddenly. Can you give voice to what is going through her head as she attempts to process that news?

I think it’s the loss of the relationship that could have been. It’s the loss of the only living parent that you had. Despite not getting along with them, you’re still going to miss that parent. Even if they disappointed you, even if they broke your heart, now you don’t have anybody. I think she was more so mourning what could have been. And when you get a chance to play those things, it’s so fun because it’s so complex. There’s so many different emotions that are battling within you that you get to interpret. I’m happy you were happy with that scene, but obviously you lose some sleep before you do it. (Laughs.) You’re like, “God, I hope that I got this right.”

Shortly after processing the news, Isabel insists she wants nothing to do with her father anymore. Do you think there is a part of Isabel that still loved her father, even after he was killed? Do you think she only said that to the people around her as a way to suppress her own grief? 

Absolutely. Throughout the entire storyline, she loved her father. No matter who that person is, or who they turn out to be, you’re still looking for validation and love from your parent. You could be 80 years old and still living that way. I absolutely believe that she loved him — and continued to love him. Even despite turning him in and all these things, that was the underneath of it all. That’s what made it so hard because he had a cancer diagnosis. There were so many things she wanted from him that he couldn’t even tell her. There was just no way to have a relationship the way that he was presenting it.

After the FinCEN scandal involving the POTUS comes to light, Isabel chooses not to reveal Peter’s involvement with Monroe in her reporting. She tells Peter, “You were the only one who made a deal with my father who was actually trying to help people. You weren’t the story.” What exactly do you think she has learned from working with him?

What she discovers is that not everyone is black and white, that sometimes you have to do certain things to do the right thing. I think she can accept that because of her relationship with Peter, because underneath she saw his heart and who he was and why he was doing certain things. And for her, she definitely changed after her relationship with Peter because in the beginning for her, it was always black and white and there was room for grey. She finally sees that by the end.

The last time we see Isabel onscreen, she tells Peter she is going to Barcelona for a few months to try to find some balance in her life. Is this the last we’ve seen of Isabel, or have you had any discussions with Shawn about the character coming back in a future season?

I’d absolutely love to come back. The door is definitely open, so I hope there is a storyline in the future where that could happen.

You spent the last few months shooting the third season of Lioness. How far into production are you right now, and what are the new layers you have found in playing Josie this time around?

We’re about to finish season three. It’s interesting that the two characters I’m playing have some daddy issues. (Laughs.) We’re having fun. We are just bringing in another packed season. I think it comes out later this year. So I guess spoiling without spoiling, she’s obviously back for season three. You see her in the dynamic within the QRF now, and how she fits into the dynamic now. When you saw her, she was kind of this outsider who wasn’t accepted by the QRF, and now she’s a part of the team. And obviously, there is the whole “Crusie” [a portmanteau of Rodriguez’s Josie and Laysla De Oliveira’s Cruz Manuelos] situation happening. And that “Crusie” is still cruising!

***

The first three seasons of The Night Agent are now streaming on Netflix. The first two seasons of Lioness are now streaming on Paramount+. Read THR’s profile of star Gabriel Basso, and our post-finale interview with creator-showrunner Shawn Ryan.