Following the runaway success of The Night Agent's first season, Netflix has renewed the Gabriel Basso-led spy thriller series for a second season. This renewal follows the series landing at the top of Netflix's TV charts this week, with an impressive 168,710,000 hours watched. While debuting at #1 on the Netflix charts is impressive, the series actually ranked as the third-highest debut for a Netflix original series—ever. Which undoubtedly factored into the expedited renewal.Another factor in The Night Agent's immediate success lies with series creator and showrunner Shawn Ryan, who is behind other critically acclaimed shows like The Shield and S.W.A.T., as well as Timeless. Ryan knows exactly what his audiences want, all the while crafting storylines that keep them on their toes. While most of his more iconic series were heavy on the action and thrills, The Night Agent incorporated a touch of romance, which made it even more appealing to the Netflix and Chill crowd. With Basso and Luciane Buchanan, The Night Agent crafted pure magic on the screen, which helped to off-set the nerve-racking plot playing out across the first season. A plot that was far from over as the finale rolled around.Based on Matthew Quirk's novel by the same name, The Night Agent's first season centered on Peter Sutherland (Basso), an FBI agent assigned to the Night Action telephone. When he answers the desperate call of Rose Larkin (Buchanan), the niece of two Night Agents, the unlikely duo are thrown head-first into a dangerous plot that goes all the way up the chain of command. As in the Oval Office. In his review, Collider's own Nate Richard praised the series for being "one of the more memorable" action-thrillers on streaming, going on to compare it to Netflix's other runaway hit, The Recruit, which also snagged a Season 2 renewal earlier this year. It would seem that Netflix's new niche is fast-paced spy thrillers with handsome millennial leads who get embroiled in government conspiracies just as much as they get tangled up in romance.
Who Is in The Night Agent?
In addition to Basso and Buchanan, The Night Agent's first season starred Hong Chau, who earned an Oscar nomination for The Whale earlier this year, along with Sarah Desjardins, Fola Evans-Akingbola, Eve Harlow, Enrique Murciano, Phoenix Raei, and DB Woodside. There's no word yet on who will be returning for Season 2, though considering the route the first season took—there are a few that definitely won't be returning. The first season was executive produced by Ryan, as well as Marney Hochman with MiddKid Productions; Seth Gordon and Julia Gunn with Exhibit A; Jamie Vanderbilt, William Sherak, Paul Neinstein and Nicole Tossou with Project X; and David Beaubaire with Sunset Lane Media.Shawn Ryan shared his excitement about the renewal in a statement to Netflix, saying:
"The last week has been a whirlwind as we've finally been able to share The Night Agent with the world. To see the tremendous reaction to the show has been a great joy and is a credit to our cast, our writers, our directors, our crew and our partners at Sony Pictures Television and Netflix. We couldn't be any prouder or more excited to get cracking on Season 2 to share the further adventures of Night Action with our newfound fans."
The first season of The Night Agent is streaming now on Netflix. There's no word yet on when Season 2 will arrive, but with such record-breaking numbers, Netflix will probably want to see it sooner, rather than later. And so do the audiences who are still reeling from that cliffhanger!