Irina Fyodorovna Derevko, also known as Laura Bristow and The Man, (Russian: Ирина Фёдоровна Деревко; 22 March 1951 - 22 May 2006) was a former KGB operative tasked at the age of eighteen with serving her country by marrying CIA agent Jack Bristow. Her deep cover operation left her with a daughter, Sydney Bristow, shortly after the birth of whom Irina disappeared by faking her own death.
Irina was an ardent follower of the 15th century prophet Milo Rambaldi, the faith of whom triggered most of her actions throughout her adult life. Her faith in Rambaldi, however, led to her ultimate downfall, when she was given the choice between retrieving The Horizon, a Rambaldi artifact, or being saved by Sydney. She chose the former, following her obsession to her death.
Personal Information
- Known Aliases: Laura Bristow, "The Man"
- Languages: English, Russian, Malay
- Place Of Birth: Moscow, Russia
- Education: University Of Moscow
Family
- Siblings: Elena Derevko (deceased), Yekaterina Derevko
- Husband: Jack Bristow (deceased)
- Children: Sydney Bristow, Nadia Santos (deceased)
- Grandchildren: Isabelle Vaughn, Jack Vaughn
"The Man"
Before Season 1
Irina Derevko was born one of three sisters - Elena & Yekaterina. She was recruited at the age of 18 by the KGB, and later appointed to work as a long-term spy within the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). To achieve this, she was assigned to gain the trust of a low-level CIA agent - Jack Bristow - in order to steal information from him, specifically regarding Project Christmas. Under the alias "Laura", a professor of English Literature, they married, and she became his confidant. In order to seal Jack's allegiance to her, the KGB demanded that she bear him a child. She gave him Sydney.
In late 1981, when Sydney was just six, Derevko faked her own death - a car crash off a bridge. She returned to Russia, where she spent time in a KGB facility as a suspected traitor. Her whereabouts, however, by the intelligence community at large were mostly unknown.
Season 1
Francie commented that Sydney's mother would be so proud of her when she became engaged to Daniel Hecht (Truth Be Told).
Irina reveals herself at the end of season one, as not only being alive, but also as the elusive and mysterious leader (of a criminal organization) known solely up to this point as "The Man," as opposed to the current established identity of "The Man" being Khasinau. (Almost Thirty Years).
As a CIA walk-in
Season 2
Irina originally acts as an antagonist trying to stop any CIA operations against her and further her operation's own targets such as concealing her operations manual 'The Bible' as leverage. Shortly after this, Irina appears as a walk-in at CIA headquarters - surrendering to them and opting to feed them information (The Enemy Walks In). However, Irina refuses to cooperate unless she speaks to Sydney. Sydney is reluctant due to Irina's past with Jack and being shot by her own mother. This makes Kendall impatient and leads to his threatening Vaughn into forcing Sydney to speak to her mother. Sydney realises he is being coerced and still refuses. After speaking with Kendall, Vaughn speaks with Irina personally, stating she should give Sydney a reason to trust her if she wants to see her. In addition to supplying intel, Irina notes Vaughn’s reference to Sydney by her first name, rather than “Agent Bristow.” Irina supplies information relating to an alarm fail-safe during Sydney's operation but Sydney ignores the information, refusing to believe her mother would ever help her. Moments after her refusal, it is discovered Irina's intel was sound and, if Sydney had taken her advice, the CIA would have the blackmail disk instead of SD-6. Sydney relents not listening to her mother and agrees to visit Irina. During the visit, Irina tells Sydney about Peter Fordson, an industrialist who has designed a T-Wave Satellite Camera whom SD-6 will go after first. Irina asks Sydney to trust her though Sydney is reluctant and maintains her composure until she leaves, where she breaksdown and cries. After the operation to retrieve the camera, Sydney again faces her mother to lay down rules about their interactions, stating that Irina is not her mother. (Trust Me) Next, Irina tells Sydney that Sark is looking for a Rambaldi designed music box which is why he is launching the fully-functional T-Wave camera from the Asiatic Space Agency. After Will Tippin’s hypnotic regression, he recalls a code hidden within a list of famous Russian authors that Irina deciphers to open the music box, she also warns Sydney about Sark’s methods adding she wants the chance to explain herself in the future. Jack warns that if Sydney is hurt because of Irina he will kill her himself. (Cipher)
Irina later negotiates with Sydney for a pair of earrings with sentimental value for information on how to retrieve the map to “The Bible,” hidden in a first edition of War & Peace at FAPSI Headquarters, Moscow. Irina suggests a different way of getting to the library that the plan that was originally suggested by SD-6. During the operation, Vaughn rushes to Irina to help find a way out of the building after Sydney becomes trapped in a General’s office. Irina tells them of a secret passage behind an abstract painting and Sydney escapes unharmed. Irina later decodes the map and reveals that “The Bible” is in an abandoned house in Madagascar. She also ensures that the location is not secured so they will be easily able to retrieve “The Bible.” Upon hearing this, Jack hatches a plan and has the house wired with 30 lbs. of Semtex to make it look like Irina was lying. When Sydney and Vaughn and get to the house, Jack asks the satellite feed to be switched to infrared at the last minute and the explosives show up on the visual, Sydney confirms the explosives by looking under the house. Sark intercepts them and his team forces his way into the house, blowing up the house and “The Bible” with it. Irina is taken to Camp Harris by Kendall for unrestricted interrogation and to start proceedings for her prosecution. (Dead Drop)
As Irina is incarcerated in Camp Harris, Vaughn confronts Jack about how he switched the satellite feed angering him but later Vaughn interrogates Manolo Souza, the man who Jack hired, and he confirms that it was indeed Jack that hired him, that Jack set up Irina. During the process of Sydney’s operations, she learns about Project Christmas, the project to train children to be spies, how Jack subjected her to this and Irina was sent over by the KGB to steal information on that very project, concluding by saying she will never forgive him. (The Indicator)
Irina later pleads guilty when faced with prosecution and is sentenced to death by lethal injection in three days. This in turn causes Sydney to write to Devlin concerning Jack’s deceit of both Irina and the CIA. Jack intercepts Sydney’s letter and gives it back to her to reconsider. After they arrive back from Geneva, Jack attends an inquiry into his behaviour led by Senator Douglas. Jack tells the truth yet the Senator does not change his mind about Irina’s execution and intends to throw Jack in prison. This leads to Sydney essentially kidnapping the Senator and lying to him about a fellow senator being linked to the alliance and the Bristow’s investigation into him privately causing him to allow Irina to live and return to CIA custody and Jack to walk free. (Salvation)
After Vaughn exhibits haemorrhaging at the fingernails, he refuses to proceed straight to medical and visits Irina to enquire after a cure to the condition caused by the infected Mueller device water. In response, Irina questions if Vaughn loves Sydney. Vaughn says he will tell her if she helps him, he collapses after he leaves.
When Sydney hears Vaughn is sick, she also goes to see Irina in search of the same information of a cure and is told it is in Paldiski, Estonia at a former Soviet nuclear base but that the antidote is genetics-specific, so some of Vaughn’s blood will be needed to synthesise the cure. After Vaughn has been issued with the cure and recovers, he returns to Irina to hold up his end of the bargain; he confesses his feelings for Sydney to Irina who comments he hasn’t said anything to the only one it matters. (The Counteragent)
Sydney visits Irina to ask if she told Sark, now working with Sloane, that Sydney was a double agent. She is assured that nothing was revealed. Irina hears about the latest SD-6 operation to retrieve Uzbek codes for troop coordination and requests to be release from custody for 48 hours but offers no explanation why. After Sloane acquires and sells codes that actually activate portable nuclear warheads, Irina reveals she knew this but if she had revealed the information beforehand if would have exposed Sydney as a double agent. The warheads are in an abandoned maximum security prison now operated by the People’s Revolutionary Front in Kashmir and Sydney convinces Irina to lead a small team to retrieve the warheads to which she agrees though Jack disagrees with this decision and opts to come along too. He outfits Irina with a necklace containing with C4 and tells her he will detonate it if she tries to escape. Under the guise of a family vacation, the family Bristow board a train en route to Kashmir and later parachute off a bridge among family squabbles to meet their contact who provides them with the equipment they will need.
Whilst travelling along, they are ambushed by PRF operatives. During the fight, Irina uses the C4 necklace and an assault rifle to fight them but her gun is later taken off her by Jack who reminds her she is not allowed to use a weapon. Irina agrees with his revocation but reminds Jack they are in enemy territory and he needs to trust her. The trio then set off to a CIA safehouse for a secure line to talk to Langley. (Passage, Part 1) The trio later arrive at Srinagar and Jack’s contact to get in touch with Langley. Vaughn informs Sydney of the warheads impending activation the next day at 1700 hours. The trio leave disguise themselves as Pakistanis and head for the PRF base in an old battered truck. Jack makes Irina hide in a grain bin. Around 10 miles from the base, the truck breaks down and they are forced to walk the remainder of the journey. As they begin to approach the base, Irina says the easiest way into the facility is through a sewage tunnel – accessed by navigating a minefield. When they reach the mines, they are again attacked by the PRF and Jack gives Irina a gun to fight them off. During the skirmish, Jack is shot in his bulletproof vest and sustains no injuries but falls onto a mine which is deactivated by Irina and Sydney before they move on. Inside the base, the trio split and Irina heads for Gerard Cuvee’s office to deactivate the security system and later meet up in the lab. When Sydney and Jack arrive at the R&D lab, the plutonium warhead cores are gone and Irina appears alongside Cuvee. Later, Cuvee and Irina confront Jack and Sydney watches helplessly from her own cell. Cuvee reveals that he was one of Irina’s superiors at the KGB and he gave her the assignment to marry a CiA officer and Irina mentions a deal has been struck with Sark. After Cuvee leaves, Irina reveals to Jack that she was caught by Cuvee and played along as a ruse. She secretly hands Jack keys to escape from his cell but pistol-whips him to keep up her cover. Jack and Sydney catch up to Cuvee and Irina in the R&D Lab as a flower is revealed from a Rambaldi artefact. As airstrikes on the base begin, Jack and Irina overpower Cuvee and escape with the help of Vaughn. Irina is returned to her cell but is rewarded with a fresh set of pillows and blankets instead of the metal cot she previously had. She also explains why she shot Sydney in Taipei. Cuvee was there and she had to maintain her cover otherwise he would have killed them both. (Passage, Part 2) Due to her cooperation in Kashmir, Kendall allows Irina time outside of her cell twice a week and she is visited by Sydney. Whilst conversing, Irina reveals why she worked with the KGB how, as a woman, to be asked to serve your country like that was an amazing opportunity though chastises herself for abandoning her daughter. They both attempt to hug but are separated by the armed guards watching. Jack later visits Irina and mentions that even though she was a great help in Kashmir, he still believes that her and Sark are in league. He offers her a deal that would locate her to a private prison in Puget Sound so long as she confesses to why she turned herself in. Irina later turns down the deal, stating she has nothing to confess and the only reason she turned herself in was to make up for past mistakes. She also states that she will now allow Jack to debrief her, not just Sydney. (The Abduction)
After the abduction of Marshall and his last minute transmission of the Echelon data to SD-6, Irina states that she will be able find the access point SD-6 would use and permanently cut them off, though this would require unrestricted access to Echelon before adding that the CIA technicians will find it to be like quicksand. Kendall refuses her request. Irina’s quicksand reference is quickly understood when the technicians encounter a virus called Quicksand and Kendall allows Irina access to the Echelon system to find the leak in the system before SD-6 can recompile the Echelon program in which she succeeds. (A Higher Echelon)
Irina helps Jack as he is hiding from Alliance Counterintelligence head, Ariana Kane. Sloane suggested a link to Jean Briault and Irina asks Jack to request everything Information Resources have on Briault to determine if there is a link. They discover Briault travelled to Peru six times and declared $70,000 in cash each visit. This is decided as not enough evidence for revenge and Irina suggests pulling the security tapes from where he stayed. This leads to Jack identifying Kane as the blackmailer and she is held by Sloane. Jack and Irina later discuss how the situation seems suspicious and that Kane was requested only because she was easy to frame for the crime. (The Getaway)
After the fall of The Alliance and the escape of Sloane, Sydney considers leaving the CIA and discusses her resignation with Kendall. He refuses and also notes that, as a civilian, she would be unable to visit her mother if she leaves. Sydney then discusses this with Irina and, in an attempt to push her daughter away from the CIA, says she will refuse to see Sydney if she decides to stay with agency, attempting to factor herself out of Sydney’s decision. (A Free Agent)
After two Russian men are killed in an elevator and the only thing taken was one of the men’s wallets, Jack goes to see Irina about Yuri Karpachev, one of the murdered men, but Irina is more interested in talking about why Jack hasn’t tried to convince Sydney to leave the agency. Jack retorts commenting about Sydney’s stubbornness and its origins but adds that Sydney was always in this until Sloane was taken down. Irina reveals that Sark would be after a Rambaldi manuscript supposedly in Karpachev’s possession but he sold it to a man named Shtuka, one of her former contacts. If Shtuka could be found, Irina says she could find where he keeps it if she was allowed to meet him. Shtuka is tracked to a Bangkok nightclub and Irina and Jack head there to find the manuscript. When Irina arrives, she introduces herself as “The Girl Next Door” and tells Shtuka to leave the girl he was playing five-finger-fillet with and play with her. He is amazed to see her due to her having been away. She takes the knife off him and forces him to tell her where the manuscript is. He traded it for opium rights. Irina and Jack take out Shtuka’s bodyguards and escape. Irina states that when Sloane hears that she was in Bangkok, he will assume that she herself has the manuscript and attempt to make contact. Both Jack and Irina discuss Sloane and Irina’s own personal obsession with Rambaldi. Irina struggles to see how Jack managed to avoid being reeled in but he states he had Sydney. Irina thanks him for raising her. Later, Irina and Jack both travel to Hong Kong where they pose as inspectors to retrieve the manuscript from its display case. Sark later tries makes contact with Irina through one of her old email addresses leading Jack and Kendall to set up a meeting between Irina and Sloane. Sydney visits Irina as the specifics of the meet are being determined. Irina says the meet will be dangerous and Sydney should know that Irina loves her, something that needed to be said. They ‘touch’ hands through the glass. Jack visits Irina to discuss the specifics of the meet – it will happen in Panama. Irina requests the tracking device previous placed in her shoulder by Marshall removed as Sloane will check her for surveillance. The device is removed and they share a kiss. In Panama, Irina and members of Delta Force arrive in a van and get out. Jack drives away but continues to monitor the situation by satellite. Sark arrives in a limo and insists on taking her to Sloane in it; both Irina and two of her guards alight with Sark. As the satellite is following Sark and Irina, the feed is cut off due to the actions of “Francie” learning codes from hypnotising Will. Kendall orders Delta Force to engage but the car they discover is empty; a switch had taken place during the blackout. Jack asks Kendall to check the Rambaldi manuscript but it is discovered just to be empty notepads; having been switched out. Kendall insists Jack tracks Irina through the tracker but he states he can’t. After driving to a secluded area, Sark kills the guards and Irina leaves to enter a difference vehicle where she meets Sloane. She thanks him for extracting her and gives him the Manuscript before being driven away. (A Dark Turn)
Aboard a jet owned by Sloane, Sloane and Irina discuss their next step with it being decided that Irina will head to Germany to steal files on the research of the human genome. Unbeknownst to Irina, she has been injected with a passive transmitter by Jack stuck on a time delay. When the transmitter goes active, the CIA track Irina and Sark to Stuttgart. By the time they arrive, they discover they are after research on the human genome. Sark follows into Brucker Biotech to inform Irina of the CIA’s presence, suggesting she has been tracked. To overload the surveillance, Sark uses a defibrillator on Irina to overload the device. Whilst fleeing the building that has been wired with explosives, Irina baits Sydney and Vaughn into following her so they are both clear of the explosion. After this, Irina phones Sloane at his Tuscan villa which confuses and bewilders Emily. Later, back on the jet, Irina reveals herself to Emily, whom she though was dead (and refers to her exclusively as Laura). Sloane later confronts Irina with a proposition; for her to acquire all his assets as he wanted to leave and live with Emily. Due to the confusion of the situation, Emily goes to the CIA then returns to Sloane wearing a wire but he confirms his love in her and she shows him the wire. Sloane, Irina and Emily flee through an underground passage ahead of the CIA’s team. Sydney catches up to Irina while Irina is vulnerable climbing a ladder to the surface. Sydney hesitates before shooting Irina and shoots her in the arm causing her to drop the disk with the research information but manages to escape. Irina escapes with Sloane after Emily is accidentally shot by Dixon. When Sydney gets back to her apartment, Irina’s earrings emit a morse code message: TRUTH TAKES TIME. (Truth Takes Time)
Irina later tries to console Sloane but he just wants to access satellite images of who killed his wife. Irina later takes over from Sloane in regards to Neil Caplan and tells him they still need him to decode software. Neil refuses and tells her to kill him as he has heard nothing of his family. Irina tells him to call them to confirm their safety. After confirming, Neil complies with Irina’s request. Neil’s work takes more time than expect and, sick of her threats against his family, Neil tries to strangle Irina causing Arvin to shoot him in the leg. Irina calms Sloane and helps Neil as they still need him. (Endgame)
During the search for the Di Regno Heart, Irina is lying low in Cyprus. (Countdown)
After hearing from “Francie” that Will might be compromised, Irina refuses to let Will be killed be supports the set-up of the ‘second double,’ by Francie hypnotising Will to affect his memory and burning his retinas. When the CIA’s investigation into the second double increases, Irina suggests going to the server farm in Marseilles to exchange the double’s DNA to prove Will’s innocence in exchange for an NSA keycard. When Sydney arrives, she is tazed by Irina who also uses the killswitch to erase all data in the server but informs Sydney she has transformed the data to a secure location but Irina wants a favour for the data. (Second Double)
Irina sends the data securely to Marshall, proving Will’s innocence and identifying the double as one A.G. Doren. At the ice rink, Irina appears before Sydney to call in her favour. She subdues Sydney and gives her information about Sloane’s Rambaldi warehouse in Zurich and asks her to raid it. After the CIA is fooled by Irina’s information, the Di Regno Heart and Jack are captured. Irina calls Sydney to reveal that she didn’t know Sloane switched the crates and she doesn’t know where he is – but Sark does and he is currently hiding in a Stockholm club. After the CIA converge on the office building containing Jack, Sark and the Heart in Mexico City, Irina appears too and is chased by Sydney. On the rooftop, Irina speaks to Sydney about how Sloane thinks he is the one to realise Rambaldi’s prophecies. Irina also reveals that Sydney is the one in the Chosen One prophecy, not Irina herself. Irina tells Sydney she loves her before jumping off the rooftop. However, Irina is on a bungee cord and crashes into the building and manages to escape without a trace. (The Telling)
Supposed death
Jack was given permission from his superiors to execute her, which Sydney discovered in a document given to her by Lauren Reed before her death (Resurrection). 18 months before Season 4, at the British Embassy in Vienna, Jack was sent to kill her. He asked to meet with her privately, and told her that she had broken his heart. She brushed it off, saying "that was another lifetime. I won't do it again." They kissed, and Irina tried to leave. Jack refused to let her, asking what it was like to order a hit on her own daughter. Irina said that he was not supposed to find out, and Jack shot her, dead. Little did he realise that it was, in fact, a doppelgänger that he had shot and the real Irina was still alive (Search And Rescue).
The real Irina was in Prague under the captivity of her sister, Elena (Search And Rescue). Elena took her hostage after Irina found the Rambaldi manuscript "Il Diluvio" when she knew Elena was looking for it. She destroyed it after seeing its contents, but Elena was determined to find out what it said, so she kidnapped and tortured Irina, giving her minimal food and water, and no human contact. She was eventually moved to a medical facility and injected with drugs that caused "excruciating" pain. Irina could no longer hold out against the torture, and told her everything. She then helped her to build the Mueller device (Search And Rescue).
Season 4
Jack later admitted that he conducted the assassination of Irina himself (Another Mister Sloane). After Sydney discovered this, she found Irina's body in a Moscow medical facility and arranged for a burial in a nearby crypt (Authorized Personnel Only, Part 2).
However Jack learnt that the person he had shot was nothing more than a doppelgänger of Irina. Utilizing Project Helix, Elena created a double of Irina, then set up a hit on Sydney, sparking the events that led to the double's execution - to ultimately lead the intelligence/criminal world to believe that she was dead. The double was described as being an ardent follower of Elena Derevko, and fully aware of the fact that she was being set up to die (Search And Rescue).
The real Irina however was imprisoned by Elena, and tortured for her knowledge of Rambaldi. She was kept for eighteenth months in Prague, but moved to a remote location in Guatemala - Tikal. Sydney, Jack and Nadia located her through Lucian Nisard, and saved her from Elena's guards. Irina was buried underground and they found her. During their escape the three triggered a tripwire. The guards were alerted but they managed to escape (Search And Rescue).
On the plane home, Sydney informed Irina about what Elena and Sloane were doing in Sovogda with the Mueller device. She apologised for not finding her sooner, then tried to hold her arm. Irina flinched at the human contact. She told Sydney about "Il Diluvio", and said that they needed to go to Sovogda to stop what was happening (as Irina was capable of stopping a Mueller device). Jack said it was too late for that city, but she insisted that Elena and Sloane would move onto another city unless they stopped them now. Jack agreed, and Irina left to clean up. Before doing so she walked past Nadia - still not knowing that she was her daughter. Nadia gave her some clothes she brought from the CIA lockup, and at that moment Irina recognised her. They embraced (Search And Rescue).
After Irina had cleaned up, Jack received a call saying that they had to go back to the United States before heading to Russia, as per official orders from Langley. When they arrived, Irina was arrested. Sydney, however, managed to talk Director Chase into releasing her mother so she could help stop the attack on Sovogda. Her deal with the government was that she would return to CIA custody after helping to stop the Mueller device (Search And Rescue).
They reached the city and interacted with a CIA agent named Brodien who was the only member of his team left alive. He told them about the infection before himself being killed by one of the infected. The team made it into the subway to travel to the epicentre of the Mueller device to shut it down. Irina and Vaughn worked on reactivating the train. While doing so, she told him that he was not as covert as he liked to believe, and that he should tell Sydney "the truth" about his activities (Before The Flood).
Sydney arrived back at the car just as the lights turned on, but they had lost Nadia. She radioed in moments later, saying that she was being attacked by the infected. Sydney tried to save her from the end of the train but the people of Sovogda overpowered her and she was taken. However, moments later Irina told Sydney that her sister was still alive. They pulled into the station by the epicentre of the Mueller device, where they saw Arvin Sloane. Surrounding him were the dead bodies of Elena's men, sent to kill the APO team. Sloane tried to convince them that he was there to stop Elena, but the team did not believe him. Sloane began issuing orders until Jack punched him in the face, knocking him to the floor. Jack said that Sloane was no longer in charge of this team (Before The Flood).
The team were contacted by Marshall and Weiss who said that Elena was trying to uplink a subaudible frequency to the Russian mil-sat network to distribute the infection world-wide. The second that the bombers were scheduled to destroy Sovogda, the frequency would be broadcast causing the effects of Sovogda to occur worldwide. Weiss told them that they had around forty minutes to stop Elena. Marshall sent them building blueprints, but they realised that Elena would have every exit guarded. Jack told Sloane that he would help them get in, or he would shoot him. Sloane said it was possible to get to the roof, but stopping the device would be less easy. Irina explained that she could shut down the device by stopping the ionisation, and the only result would be the impact of the water (Before The Flood).
They got to Elena and Irina knocked her to the floor with her gun. Sloane put Elena in a chair and Jack and Vaughn went to the computers to stop the mil-sat network from uploading the frequency. However, they could not retract the transmission. Elena told them that she had planned the attack for five years; it would not be that simple to stop her. Suddenly, Irina noticed Sloane was missing. She checked with Vaughn, who also said that he could not see him. She sent Vaughn to the roof to find him. Sydney managed to get into the main circuit board, but found a blue and a white wire. Irina did not know which to cut, and she asked Elena. When she refused to answer, she told Jack to start torturing her. Before he could do so, Elena told him to stop, and said to cut the white wire. Irina immediately shot Elena, and told Sydney to cut the blue, other wire. She began to disarm the device but just before she could, Nadia began to choke her with the wire Sydney had chained her up with. As Sydney was about to die, Sloane arrived on the roof and shot Nadia. Vaughn arrived and, with Sloane, took Nadia into the elevator as Sydney cut the blue wire. They all got to a safe location before they drowned in the mass amounts of water that the Mueller device collapsed into (Before The Flood).
As Vaughn requested an evac from U.S. air support, Jack told Irina to leave. He said she could reach the border by daybreak, and told her that he would tell the CIA that "no one can hold on to Irina Derevko for too long." She smiled and they kissed. Irina then went to see Sydney and told her to take care of her sister. She said that Sydney had fulfilled her prophecy to "overcome the greatest evil" as Irina had said she would three years before. Irina then said that although she would not see her, Irina would be watching on her wedding day. She then left (Before The Flood).
Further following of Rambaldi
Season 5
Irina began working for Prophet 5, a coalition of great global societal powers, interested in immortality through Rambaldi. She oversaw the forced memory regression session with Sydney - where Sydney supposedly revealed the location of The Horizon. However, aware that she was tricked, Sydney lied about the location (source needed).
Having been duped about the true location of the Horizon, Irina returned to her daughter, but this time not as an enemy, but as a mother. She was able to determine the location of the artifact through a conversation with Sydney and Jack - where she offered her assistance in retrieving it. She was unable to separate herself from Jack, however, and was forced to take both Jack and Sydney with her to the bank in Vancouver. Where she also helped deliver Sydney’s daughter, Isabelle. After the delivery she left. (Maternal Instinct).
Irina traded The Horizon for 2 ICBMs with Arvin Sloane, and a guarantee of being able to become immortal at Sloan's side. The missiles were intended to be launched against two largely populated cities (Irina requested Washington DC and London) and since seizing all of Prophet 5's twelve members assets and companies would profit greatly on the reconstruction involving building, healthcare, insurance and labour making billions. Sydney found out and went to stop her. They had an extended fight and Sydney got the better hand. Irina dropped The Horizon and reached across a glass ceiling to get it. The ceiling started to break and give away, causing Sydney to offer her hand to her mother who had to choose being saved by Sydney or retrieving The Horizon. Irina chooses to reach for The Horizon and plummets to her death as the glass ceiling gives way. (All The Time In The World).
Notes
Trivia
- Despite being Russian, the actress who plays Irina, Lena Olin, is Swedish. None of the Derevko sisters are played by Russians.
- Irina was intended to appear more throughout the show's run but Lena Olin lived in Manhattan and did not like the idea of commuting to Los Angeles disrupting her family life. When she became more available, she returned to the show for the end of season 4, and season 5. It is a common misapprehension that Olin was fired after season 2.
Additional casting
Besides Lena Olin, several other actresses portrayed Irina in the course of the series:
- Arabella Holzbog portrayed Irina / Laura Bristow in a photograph Sydney kept
- Kate Anthony was the voice of Irina Derevko in the video clip shown in "Snowman"
- Natasha Pavlovich is the woman actually seen as Irina Derevko in that video clip.
- April Webster played Irina when she walks up to Sydney at the end of "Almost 30 Years"
- Mia Maestro portrayed Irina / Laura in a photograph seen in "Ice"
- Sydney Bristow portrayed a facsimile Laura Bristow in "Mirage" in order to extract information from a hallucinating Jack Bristow, essentially making Jennifer Garner another Irina actress.