The Night Agent (2023)

The Night Agent is an American action thriller television series created by Shawn Ryan based on the novel of the same name by Matthew Quirk. Starring Gabriel Basso in the title role, it premiered on Netflix on March 23, 2023.

The series emerged as the third-most-viewed debuting series on Netflix in its first four days, and within a week it was renewed for a second season. Within a month, it became the streaming service's sixth-most-viewed series. In October 2024, ahead of the second-season premiere, the series was renewed for a third season. The second season was released on January 23, 2025. The third season premiered on February 19, 2026. In March 2026, the series was renewed for a fourth season, later confirmed to be its last.

Plot

FBI agent Peter Sutherland is thrown into a vast conspiracy about a mole at the highest levels of the United States government. To save the nation, he plunges into a desperate hunt for the traitor, while protecting former tech CEO Rose Larkin from the people who murdered her aunt and uncle.

Cast and characters

Main

Gabriel Basso as Peter Sutherland, an FBI agent who works at the White House as a Night Action telephone operator in season 1 and becomes a Night Agent for Night Action end of season 1.

Luciane Buchanan as Rose Larkin (seasons 1–2), a young cybersecurity entrepreneur and the niece of two Night Action agents. In the second season, she is working for a new tech startup called Adverse.

Fola Evans-Akingbola as Chelsea Arrington (seasons 1 and 3; guest season 2), an ambitious U.S. Secret Service agent initially assigned to Second Daughter Maddie Redfield, and later the campaign and presidential detail of Richard Hagan

Sarah Desjardins as Maddie Redfield (season 1), the daughter of Vice President Ashley Redfield

Eve Harlow as Ellen (season 1), an unpredictable assassin with a tragic and sad past

Phoenix Raei as Dale (season 1), a professional hitman who is partnered with Ellen

Enrique Murciano as Ben Almora (season 1), the director of the U.S. Secret Service

D. B. Woodside as Erik Monks (season 1), a veteran U.S. Secret Service agent newly assigned to Maddie

Hong Chau as Diane Farr (season 1), the White House chief of staff

Arienne Mandi as Noor Taheri (season 2), a junior aide to the Iranian Mission at the United Nations in New York who is seeking asylum by cooperating with the FBI

Louis Herthum as Jacob Monroe (season 2–3), a black market intelligence broker and former corporate lawyer

Berto Colon as Solomon Vega (season 2), a Marine veteran who works for Jacob

Keon Alexander as Javad (season 2), a Quds Force counterintelligence officer and the head of security at the Iranian Mission in New York

Michael Malarkey as Markus Dargan (season 2), nephew of deposed terrorist dictator Viktor Bala

Amanda Warren as Catherine Weaver (season 2–3), Peter's handler in Night Action

Ward Horton as Richard Hagan (season 3; guest season 2), the Governor of Kansas and later President of the United States

Albert Jones as Aiden Mosley (season 3; recurring season 2), the Deputy Director of the FBI and Night Action supervisor

David Lyons as Adam Corrigan (season 3), a Night Agent with links to President Hagan, who is a former US Army Lieutenant and CIA contractor

Jennifer Morrison as Jenny Hagan (season 3), the First Lady of the United States

Stephen Moyer as the Father (season 3), a meticulous assassin

Genesis Rodriguez as Isabel De Leon (season 3), a financial journalist for the Financial Register

Callum Vinson as the Son (season 3), the Father's adopted young child

Titus Welliver as Duval (season 4)

Trevante Rhodes as Dom (season 4)

Li Jun Li as Min (season 4)

Elizabeth Lail as Zoe (season 4)

Abigail Breslin as Cahlin (season 4)

David Denman as Ford (season 4)

Recurring

Andre Anthony as Colin Worley (season 1), the perpetrator of a bombing in Washington, D.C.

Anthony also portrays Matteo Worley, Colin's identical twin brother

Kari Matchett as Michelle Travers, the President of the United States (seasons 1; guest season 2)

Robert Patrick as Jamie Hawkins, the Deputy Director of FBI (season 1)

Christopher Shyer as Ashley Redfield (season 1), the Vice President of the United States

Toby Levins as Briggs (season 1), the U.S. Secret Service agent who is part of Redfield's detail team

Ben Cotton as Gordon Wick (season 1), the CEO of a government contractor, Turn Lake Industries

Brittany Snow as Alice Leeds (season 2), Peter's Night Action partner in Bangkok

Teddy Sears as Warren Stocker (season 2), a former FBI agent who sells intelligence in Bangkok

Marjan Neshat as Azita Taheri (season 2), Noor's mother

Anousha as Haleh (season 2), an aide at the Iranian United Nations Mission in New York and Noor's friend

Navid Negahban as Abbas Mansuri (season 2), the Iranian ambassador to the United Nations

Rob Heaps as Tomás Bala (season 2), Markus' cousin and Viktor Bala's moderate, privately educated son

Elise Kibler as Sloane Killory (season 2), Tomás' girlfriend

Marwan Kenzari as Sami Saidi (season 2), a Night Action agent and former Delta Force sergeant

Dikran Tulaine as Viktor Bala (season 2), the deposed dictator and war criminal from an unnamed country imprisoned at The Hague

Jay Karnes as Wilfred Cole (season 2), a Columbia University chemist connected to the Foxglove program

Georgia Waehler as Jesse Cole (season 2), Wilfred Cole's daughter

Suraj Sharma as Jay Batra (season 3), a financial analyst who uncovered financial activity is linked to terrorism

Zach Appelman as Theo Miller (season 3), Chelsea's fiancé and a member of the White House press team

Michaela Watkins as Freya Myers (season 3), a bank owner who funded several clients including Monroe

Gary Hilborn as Trent Patterson (season 3), Chelsea's boss in the Secret Service

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1 (2023)

Season 2 (2025)

Season 3 (2026)

Production

Development

On December 24, 2020, it was announced that Sony Pictures Television would produce the TV series adaptation of Matthew Quirk's novel The Night Agent, with Shawn Ryan as writer. On July 21, 2021, the series was acquired by Netflix, with Seth Gordon set to direct the pilot and produce the ten-episode series with Ryan, Marney Hochman, Julia Gunn, James Vanderbilt, William Sherak, Paul Neinstein, Nicole Tossou and David Beaubaire. On March 29, 2023, Netflix renewed it for a 10-episode second season. On October 8, 2024, ahead of the second-season premiere, Netflix renewed the series for a third season. On March 6, 2026, Netflix renewed the series for a fourth season. On May 4, 2026, it was announced that the series would end with its fourth season.

Casting

On November 22, 2021, Gabriel Basso and Luciane Buchanan were cast in the series. On February 1, 2022, Hong Chau, D. B. Woodside, Fola Evans-Akingbola, Eve Harlow, Phoenix Raei, Enrique Murciano and Sarah Desjardins joined the cast as regulars. On February 24, 2023, Kari Matchett joined in a recurring role. On December 8, 2023, Amanda Warren was cast as a series regular for the second season. On January 11, 2024, Berto Colon, Louis Herthum, and Arienne Mandi joined the cast as new series regulars while Brittany Snow and Teddy Sears were cast in recurring roles for the second season. On February 16, 2024, Michael Malarkey and Keon Alexander were cast as new series regulars while Navid Negahban and Rob Heaps joined the cast in recurring capacities for the second season. On March 26, 2024, Marwan Kenzari, Elise Kibler, and Dikran Tulaine joined the cast in guest roles for the second season. On November 19, 2024, Genesis Rodriguez was cast as a series regular for the third season. On December 13, 2024, David Lyons, Jennifer Morrison, Stephen Moyer, and Callum Vinson joined the cast as new series regulars while Suraj Sharma joined in a recurring role for the third season. On January 31, 2025, Ward Horton and Albert Jones were promoted to series regulars for the third season while Evans-Akingbola was confirmed to be returning as a series regular after having made a guest appearance in the second season. On September 12, 2025, in an interview with Deadline Hollywood, Buchanan revealed that she would not return for the third season. On April 22, 2026, Titus Welliver, Trevante Rhodes, Li Jun Li, and Elizabeth Lail joined the cast as series regulars for the fourth season. On May 5, 2026, Abigail Breslin and David Denman were cast as series regulars while Annabeth Gish joined the cast in a recurring role for the fourth season. On June 12, 2026, it was reported that Buchanan is set to return to reprise her role as Rose Larkin for the fourth and final season.

Filming

The first season was filmed in British Columbia, Canada, with the city of Vancouver standing in for Washington, D.C. Filming for the second season began on February 5, 2024, in New York City, with additional filming in Thailand and Washington D.C. It was announced on June 17, 2024, that the second season had concluded filming. Filming for the third season began in February 2025 and concluded July 14, 2025. Filming locations for the third season included New York, Washington, D.C., Turkey, Mexico, and Dominican Republic. The fourth season began filming on May 4, 2026, in Los Angeles after securing a $31.6-million Californian tax credit to film there.

Release

The first season of The Night Agent was released on Netflix on March 23, 2023. The second season premiered on January 23, 2025. The third season premiered on February 19, 2026.

Reception

Audience viewership

According to Netflix, Season 1 had 168.71 million hours of worldwide views over its first four days, the third-highest for a new series. In its second week, it amassed 216.4 million hours of views. In its third week, it gained 130.48 million hours of views, and became the streamer's ninth-most-viewed series, with a total 515.57 million hours viewed. By 25 days, it accrued 605.62 million total hours, emerging as the streamer's sixth-most viewed series.

Between its release and June 2023 the series totaled 812.1 million hours watched, the most of any Netflix original in that time span.

According to U.S. weekly streaming data reported by Media Play News using metrics from PlumResearch, The Night Agent attracted 14.9 million unique viewers on Netflix during the week ending April 2, 2023, with an average time spent of 224 minutes per viewer.

Critical response

For the first season, the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 75% approval rating based on 32 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "Bingeable as a beach read and just as forgettable, The Night Agent is a routine spy thriller told with commendable bravado." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 68 out of 100 based on 13 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

Lucy Mangan of The Guardian gave the show 4 out of 5 stars, writing: "It is propulsive, slicker-than-slick fun, with every hairpin turn perfectly negotiated. There are fine performances—especially from Basso, who is getting two or three notes out of what could easily have been a one-note part." Comparing The Night Agent and Rabbit Hole in the New York Times, Mike Hale writes: "The two new shows are ... cheerfully, maddeningly implausible. Night Agent is on more of a meat-and-potatoes level... but it strings the viewer along in sufficiently teasing fashion to carry hard-core fans of the genre through its 10 episodes."

The second season has an 86% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 29 critic reviews, with an average rating of 6.6/10. The website's critics consensus states, "Growing more assured in its second season, The Night Agent executes its mission to entertain with no muss or fuss." On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 67 out of 100 based on 10 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

On Rotten Tomatoes, the third season holds an approval rating of 86% based on 14 critic reviews. On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 76 out of 100 based on 4 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

Accolades

Notes

References

External links

The Night Agent on Netflix

The Night Agent at IMDb