A mere 24 hours after reporting record opening weekend viewing figures for its political conspiracy action thriller series “The Night Agent,” Netflix has confirmed having placed a 10-episode order for a second season of the show. This news represents one of the quickest series renewal orders by Netflix to date, with the streamer normally holding out until the 28-day performance data is in before committing itself to a renewal.
From creator, executive producer and showrunner Shawn Ryan and Sony Pictures Television, and inspired by Matthew Quirk’s eponymous novel, “The Night Agent” debuted on 23 March, clocking up a staggering 168.7 million viewing hours in its first few days on the streamer, ranking it as the third-best first-season premiere week for a Netflix original with the show also landing in the top 10 most-watched shows rankings in 93 countries.
For those yet to jump on the bandwagon to discover the show everyone is talking about, “The Night Agent” centers on low-level FBI agent Peter Sutherland (Gabriel Basso) who works in the basement of the White House, manning a phone that never rings — until the night that it does, propelling him into a fast moving and dangerous conspiracy that ultimately leads all the way to the Oval Office.
Commenting on the whirlwind success of the show, Ryan said, “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.”
According to an interview with Deadline, Ryan’s original pitch to Netflix for the show “was that each season would tell its own, mostly self-enclosed, a beginning, middle and end story, and any future seasons would include a few but not most of the characters that we saw in the previous season.” The only character confirmed to return to date is Peter Sutherland with Ryan confirming that season two will open a new chapter for Peter as a Night Action agent with the story arc venturing beyond the original source material this time round.
Besides this second season, Basso’s future projects include a role in Renny Harlin’s impending The Stranger’s reboot which will form the first part of a new trilogy.
Ryan serves as showrunner and executive produces via his MiddKid Productions. Seth Gordon, who directed the opening episode, executive produces through his Exhibit A banner. Also executive producing The Night Agent are MiddKid Production’s Marney Hochman, Exhibit A’s Julia Gunn as well as Jamie Vanderbilt, William Sherak, Paul Neinstein and Nicole Tossou from Project X and David Beaubaire for Sunset Lane Media. Sony Pictures Television is the studio.
