Amanda O'Rourke

Amanda O'Rourke is a main character on the TV soap 'Southland'. She arrived in 20th September 2017 as a new senior Detective.

2017-2019
Amanda arrived in Southland following her divorce from her wife. She was brought into the Southland Police from the State Department to oversee the department after the money pocketing scandal. Quickly she took a disliking to Nick Wilson, who in an effort to keep his job, attempted to flirt with her and invited her to lunch in the cafe. Amanda saw through his scheme and let him know she was keeping an eye on him.

Amanda and Nick's relationship didn't get any better as she was assigned as his senior. She scrutinised everything he did and made him feel insecure as an officer. Then, in November, Amanda and Nick arrested a man going over the speed limit and found his scared daughter in the back of the car. Amanda was cold towards her and Nick went over her head to comfort her. Amanda later heard Nick and some of the fellow officers talking about how emotionless she was. She later revealed to Nick that she had seen a child killed in a police chase a few years prior and blamed herself. After that she became desensitised to a lot of things as a coping mechanism. This resulted in the break down of her marriage. After this conversation, Amanda and Nick grew closer. She also revealed to Nick that she has a son called Oliver who lives with her ex-wife.

In May of 2018, Amanda was a main officer investigation the shooting of Pete Morgan. The case grew cold very quickly when there wasn't enough evidence. Amanda came under fire by Pete's sister Deb, who accused her of not doing her job properly. Eventually Amanda and Nick were able to find enough evidence on the shooter to arrest him. Following the arrest, Deb apologised to Amanda and bought her a drink. They briefly flirted with one another before Amanda was called away by Nick.

From this point on Deb continued flirting with Amanda, who played it cool and pretended she wasn't interested. In August, Amanda went to visit her son and her ex, leading Deb to believe she was visiting her husband. When Amanda returned she noticed Deb being distant and got her to reveal that Nick told her about her son and ex, revealing she got the wrong idea. Amanda then revealed that she had been visiting her ex-wife, then told Deb that if she wanted to know whether she was a lesbian, all she had to do was ask. Deb asked but Amanda teased her by saying nothing. A few days later the pair...

2020-2021
In 2020, Amanda's former boss Mark Fitzgerald showed up in Southland. Amanda became troubled by his appearance and attempted to avoid him, but when Mark cornered her in the evidence room, it was revealed that Mark has raped Amanda when she was a rookie cop. After Deb caught them having a tense conversation outside the police station, she questioned Amanda about their relationship, Amanda told her that he was Oliver's dad.

Despite Deb's insistences, Amanda refused to tell Deb anything about what has happened between them. However, as Mark continued to work at the Southland Police Department, things grew difficult for Amanda. Eventually, after seeing him grow close to young officer Kerry, Amanda had a panic attack and confessed to Deb that Mark had assaulted her. Deb convinced Amanda to tell the police, but when Mark got wind of this, he threatened her, terrifying her. A furious Deb ended up threatening Mark, but Amanda told her to back off and drop the subject.

In June, Mark attempted to assault Kerry, who went straight to to police chief about his actions. There was an investigation, but due to Mark being a police officer and a lack of evidence, there was little that could be done. Amanda tried to comfort Kerry, which inspired her to come forward. Rather than going to the police, she went straight to the prosecutor, telling her side of the story and about Oliver. The prosecutor had said it would be enough evidence to go to trial, but both women would have to testify. Kerry later confronted Amanda about not saying anything, but later apologised.

As the trial grew closer, Amanda finally told Oliver of his father. Oliver was initially upset, spray-painting 'PERV' on Mark's car and refusing to talk to Amanda. Deb was able to get through to him about how he shouldn't blame his mother.

The trial took place in July and after dramatic testimony, Mark was found guilty of the lesser charge of assault, and was given a suspended sentence due to how long it had been, he was also stripped of his police badge.

Amanda slowly began to heal, trying to mend her and Oliver's relationship. A few weeks after the trial, Oliver was abducted by Mark, who confessed that his wife had left him and he'd been living in the empty garage. When Amanda realised Oliver was missing, she thought the worst. His phone was traced to the garage and Amanda refused to wait for back-up, disobeying orders and going there herself. She snuck in and confronted Mark, who in turn accused her of ruining him. They fought and Amanda dropped her gun. Mark eventually got the upper hand, pushing Amanda against the wall with his hands around her neck. Suddenly, there was a bang as he fell to the floor, having been shot by Oliver.

Mark survived the shooting, but was left with brain damage. Both Amanda and Oliver were cleared of all wrong doing, but Oliver struggled with the guilt over what had happened.