Editor’s Note: Spoilers ahead for The Agency, Season 1, Episode 3.

The Big Picture

Richard Gere tells Collider exclusively that his character, Bosko, navigates high-stakes operations, balancing personal and professional decisions.
Bosko’s experience in the field shapes his complex character, influencing his interactions with team members.
Bosko’s relationships with Henry and Martian evolve as tension rises, highlighting the intricacies of covert operations.

As The Agency continues to unravel its intricate web of espionage, the series’ latest episode takes viewers a lot deeper into the high-stakes world of covert operations and personal dilemmas plaguing their agents. Though the season opened with Michael Fassbender’s character Martian unexpectedly returning to London Station after a critical incident in Belarus, his reemergence has since forced Jeffrey Wright’s Henry and Richard Gere’s Bosko into a rather tense collision course with Langley. As the drama intensifies, Episode 3’s “Hawk From a Handsaw” finds Bosko briefed on a top-secret operation that could change everything — an element Gere says makes the relationships and inevitable tension all the more “necessary.”

Gere’s character remains a pillar of experience in the chaos, guiding the team with his knowledge of the field. It’s Bosko’s history that makes things all the more interesting as the show unravels the threads of deception and spying. “He knows the problems, and he’s suffered the problems… There’s no way he could talk to Henry or Martian the way he does if he didn’t know the territory.”

Richard Gere’s Bosko Is a Lot More Complicated Than You Think
“We’re making very difficult and deadly choices… that people are going to die for.”

As audiences learn in Episode 3, Bosko is deeply embedded in a top-secret operation where the personal and the professional begin to collide. The choices he makes are fraught with danger, and while Gere’s performance captures the emotional burden that comes with such a life, it’s a lot more complicated than you think. The veteran actor adds how Bosko’s decisions are shaped by more than just his skills but rather the scars of experience. “We evolved this a bit from the first time they sent me a script, and I said, ‘Look, it’s really important,’ as you mentioned, ‘that this guy had been out there himself. He knows the problems, and he’s suffered the problems,’” Gere says, adding how with the show evolving, you’ll get to see where that damage comes from.

The evolution of Bosko’s character throughout the series is marked by his growing tension with Henry and Martian, who challenge his leadership. However, despite their differing methods, Gere highlights the respect that exists among them. “We’re navigating the personal and the impersonal, the job which sometimes is at loggerheads with soul and heart,” he explains.

With some semblance of an interior private life, Gere adds with all the secrets being kept, including what he knows about Henry’s brother-in-law, Charlie, “We’re navigating that personal problem at the same time, [but] we’re making very difficult and deadly choices that people are going to die, for sure, based on what we decide to do.”

There Is a Lot Kept Close to the Vest for Its ‘Agency’ Characters
“I don’t think anyone tells the complete truth in this story.”

Gere goes on to share his approach to making Bosko a believable character in high-pressure, dangerous situations by highlighting a key change he requested in the script. “There was one point they’d written a scene where I talk about my wife, Nancy, and it just didn’t seem right to me,” he explains. “First of all, in the context of what we’re doing, Nancy is irrelevant, and there’s no way he would bring it up.”

The Pretty Woman actor goes on to share how these guys have “separate lives” and in no way ever think about blurring them, which is the dilemma Martian is facing with his affections for his former flame, Samia (Jodie Turner-Smith). “They have this fictional life that they’re living with incredible responsibilities, and they all have some semblance of an interior private life.”

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As Bosko deals with high-stakes operations and keeps things mum across the board, Gere delves into the tension between Bosko and Henry, saying, “I don’t think anyone tells the complete truth in this story… There’s a lot in here that people keep close.” He further touches on the personal struggles of Bosko influencing professional choices, recalling, “Even as a station chief, in one of the episodes, I said, ‘Look, this op we’re talking about, Felix, I don’t even know about, and I’m the station chief.’”

As the season advances with Season 2 on the way, Bosko’s evolving relationships and the secrets he guards work to shape The Agency in unpredictable ways, hinting there is a lot kept close to the vest as the most shocking revelations — and even tougher choices — are still to come.

The Agency streams Fridays on Paramount+ with Showtime.

Watch on Paramount+

The Agency is a 2024 espionage thriller following covert CIA agent Martian, who is recalled to London Station, disrupting his undercover life. As a former romance rekindles, Martian’s career and true identity are jeopardized, leading him into a high-stakes world of international intrigue and deception.Release Date November 29, 2024 Cast Jeffrey Wright , Michael Fassbender , Jodie Turner-Smith , Saura Lightfoot Leon , Katherine Waterston , John Magaro , Alex Reznik , Harriet Sansom Harris , India Fowler , Reza Brojerdi , Richard Gere Main Genre Drama Seasons 1 Network Paramount+ with Showtime Directors Joe Wright Producers Bob Yari , David Glasser , David Hutkin , George Clooney , Grant Heslov , Jez Butterworth , Michael Fassbender , Ron Burkle , Pascal Breton , John-Henry Butterworth , Nina L. Diaz , Grant Heslov Expand