Who Was The Real Agent 355? The 355 Movie True Story Explained

Warning! SPOILERS for The 355

The 355 draws from a legendary female spy from the American Revolution known as Agent 355, but how does her story relate to the movie? Directed by X-Men‘s Simon Kinberg, The 355 has debuted in theaters and follows the mission of American CIA officer Mace Brown. Her mandate involves retrieving a microchip capable of weaponizing any form of technology, from missile silos to cell phones. With the chip on the black market and buyers waiting to get their hands on it, the race is on to get it back from former Colombian DNI agent Luis Rojas (Édgar Ramirez) before it’s too late.

Mace’s mission also sees her team up with a group of other female spies, including Khadijah (Lupita N’yogo), Marie Schmidt (Diane Kruger), and Graciela (Penelope Cruz). Chinese agent Lin Mi Sheng (Fan Bing-bing) also joins forces with the group, while Mace’s fellow agent Nick Fowler (Sebastian Stan) ends up being a wild card in the story. As one would expect from a spy action thriller movie, The 355 has many twists and turns, double-crosses, and a major cat-and-mouse game of secret agents outmaneuvering each other.

Despite not being a historical period piece, The 355‘s title has its roots in the Colonial Era of the United States by way of its title. While the movie doesn’t act as an adaptation per se, it has more of a spiritual connection to its namesake through the spy activities of its female protagonists. Here’s the rundown on who Agent 355 was, and how she influenced the story of The 355.

Everything The 355 Movie Reveals About Agent 355

In spite of its title, The 355 doesn’t take a deep dive into the history of Agent 355. The film’s major reference to Agent 355 comes in Mace taking on the 355 designation, while its team of five female spies conduct similar operations in a modern context. Additionally, Agent 355 is referenced in the final scene, when Chastain’s (Molly’s Game) vengeful spy Mace and her associates retrieve the chip from Nick Fowler. Mace refers to the legend of Agent 355 as Nick comes to the realization that he’s been poisoned, showing that she’s likening the mission she and her allies have undertaken to that of Agent 355.

Overall, The 355 isn’t that big on tying the history of the Agent 355 legend into the film’s story. However, it seems that Kinberg is creating a thematic link between the five heroines of the film and the Agent 355 legend in his and Teresa Rebeck’s screenplay. Agent 355 was also part of a spy ring known as Culper Ring, and The 355‘s cast of spy characters also forms a loose parallel as a similar intelligence organization. This organization proved to be a major asset to the colonial revolutionaries during the American Revolution, and was involved in numerous well-known intelligence operations. One in particular also involved the man whose name has become synonymous with the word “traitor.“

The Real Agent 355 & Culper Ring Explained

While Agent 355’s identity is unknown, she was said to be a spy during the American Revolution, and was a player in the Culper Ring. This was a spy ring organized by George Washington and Benjamin Tallmadge, with Robert Townsend and Abraham Woodhall serving as its leaders. Tallmadge, Woodhall, and Townsend also respectively adopted the pseudonyms John Bolton, Samuel Culper Sr., and Samuel Culper Jr. for the Culper Ring’s operations, all three reporting to Washington. Culper Ring’s primary function was as an intelligence arm providing information on the activities of the British army. The Culper Ring was also instrumental in providing information on numerous attacks and behind-the-scenes activities of the British forces during the Revolutionary war.

Among the Culper Ring’s operations were providing intel warning George Washington that Tyron’s Raid was actually a Trojan horse operation intended to weaken the American forces by General Henry Clinton. Perhaps most famously, Culper Ring uncovered the plot of Benedict Arnold to surrender an American base to the British. The Culper Ring also included some female spies, such as Sarah Townsend, and the unidentified Agent 355, who was said to be a major player in numerous Culper Ring spy operations. As to who she might have been, there’s never been any hard evidence at to who the identity of the female spy actually was. However, a number of theories to this end persist to this day.

Theories On Agent 355’s Real Identity

One suggested candidate for the identity of Agent 355 is Anna Strong, known for alerting the Culper Ring of the whereabouts of one of their spies, Caleb Brewster. Other suggested possibilities for the identity of Agent 355 have included the aforementioned Sarah Townsend, along with Elizabeth Burgin. Robert Townsend’s own common-law wife has also been theorized as a possibility, while another proposal also has been suggested.

Specifically, one hypothesis is that there was never an actual Agent 355 per se. Rather, an unidentified woman may have simply provided bits of intelligence to the Culper Ring without actually being a member. Under this proposition, the 355 number was not a 007-style agent code name of any one female member of the Culper Ring. In any case, whoever Agent 355 may have been, or whether there was ever a proper Agent 355 at all, quite a legend of the services she provided to the Culper Ring arose from her activities. Due to the veiled nature of who Agent 355 was, virtually every theory of who she might’ve been, or the possibility the she was simply an unconnected woman who provided useful intelligence, is equally possible.

The world will almost certainly never know the true identity of Agent 355, with centuries of theories and multiple possibilities offered. At the same time, the mystique of Agent 355 is part of what makes her story such a fascinating one. The 355 takes the story of Agent 355 and runs with it in the 21st century, telling a story of spies saving the world from the shadows. With the movie linking them together through their shared spy skillset and acts of protecting their countries and the world in a clandestine way.

About The Author

Brad Curran
(717 Articles Published)

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Growing up, Brad developed an innate love of movies and storytelling, and was instantly enamored with the world of adventure while following the exploits of Indiana Jones, Japanese kaiju, and superheroes. Today, Brad channels his thoughts on all manner of movies, from comic book films, sci-fi thrillers, comedies, and everything in between through his writings on Screen Rant. Brad also offers philosophical musings on martial arts and the filmographies of everyone from Jackie Chan to Donnie Yen on Kung Fu Kingdom, where he’s also had the privilege of interviewing many of the world’s great stunt professionals, and hearing plenty of gripping stories on injuries incurred in their line of work and the intricacies of designing the acts of death defiance he first thrilled to as a youngster. When he’s not writing, Brad enjoys going on a ride with the latest action hit or Netflix original, though he’s also known to just pop in “The Room” from time to time. Follow Brad on Twitter @BradCurran.

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