Luciane Buchanan and Gabriel Basso in ‘The Night Agent.’
Dan Power/Netflix
The Night Agent is back on the job at Netflix.
The streaming giant has handed out a swift second-season renewal to the drama from Sony Pictures Television and showrunner Shawn Ryan. The Gabriel Basso starrer debuted Thursday and immediately reached No. 1 on Netflix’s English TV list with more than 168 million hours watched, making it the most viewed title this week. The second season will arrive in 2024 and consist of another round of 10 episodes.
“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 two to share the further adventures of Night Action with our newfound fans,” Ryan said in a statement announcing the news Wednesday.
Ryan told The Hollywood Reporter’s TV’s Top 5 podcast last week that when he pitched The Night Agent, which has been the works since late 2020, “I said each season is going to tell a self-contained story that has a beginning, middle and an end. We might leave a couple of things to pursue in future seasons,” setting the stage for a new case in season two while continuing to tell part of a larger story about the least powerful man in the White House.
“We’re proud to see The Night Agent deliver a breakout performance and become instantly embraced around the world. Shawn Ryan has created a spy thriller sensation that viewers cannot get enough of, with a stellar cast featuring Gabriel Basso, Luciane Buchanan and Hong Chau, and we’re here to bring them more of the action and suspense they love,” said Jinny Howe, vp drama at Netflix.
Ryan has been based with an overall deal at Night Agent producers Sony Pictures Television since 2011 and said he and the studio targeted Netflix for the series. “If you look at what’s working at a lot of these places — The Crown, Cobra Kai, The Boys, The Last of Us and The Night Agent are Sony shows. There’s pressure to bring costs down at these various outlets and now they don’t want to do all their stuff in-house; they want to have some outside partners to share the burden with,” he said of the appeal of calling an independent studio that doesn’t have its own streamer his home base.
“We are thrilled to see The Night Agent become an instant global sensation and can’t wait to continue telling this story with our remarkable cast, creative leader, Shawn Ryan and our wonderful partners at Netflix,” said recently installed Sony Pictures Television president Katherine Pope.
Ryan, meanwhile, is currently awaiting word on the future of his Sony-produced CBS procedural SWAT. The prolific showrunner said that hinges on Sony and CBS coming up with more favorable economics on the drama.
“Right now, it’s up in the air whether SWAT will get picked up for a seventh season, and that has nothing to do with ratings. You would never see that situation 15 years ago,” he said. “SWAT is third in the demo at CBS; there’s no reason why the show shouldn’t be picked up other than the economics of the business are changing. CBS and Sony will or will not figure out a way to economically make a season seven work.”
