‘The Night Agent’ Season 2: Most Characters Won’t Be Back
Once again, Netflix has released a new action thriller show, The Night Agent, created by the legendary Shawn Ryan, best known for his work on S.W.A.T and The Shield. The show amassed record viewership at 14.9 million, securing the top spot on Netflix’s TV charts. And just six days after its premiere, The Night Agent is set to renew for a second season, which creator Ryan says will have a whole slew of new characters.
What happens in ‘The Night Agent’ Season 1?
The Night Agent is an adaptation from Matthew Quirk’s book of the same name. The show follows Peter Sutherland (played by Gabriel Basso), a low-ranking FBI agent who works in the White House basement, manning distress calls from undercover agents. While the phone almost never rings, one night Peter receives a distress call from Rose Larkin (played by Luciane Buchanan) after she witnessed the murder of her aunt and uncle in their home.
What follows is a sequence of events, including terrorist threats, cover-ups and government conspiracies that all seem tied to someone high up in the government. In an effort to unravel the mysteries, Peter teams up with Rose and Diane (played by Hong Chau), uncovering some deep dark truths and ends up saving the president’s life. All the while, someone was actively sabotaging their efforts. And in a shocking turn of events, Peter finds out that Diane was the mole all along, which explains why most of their plans failed.
Most characters won’t be back for ‘The Night Agent’ Season 2
While most thriller shows end in great suspense, the first season of The Night Agent has an almost fairytale-like ending. Justice was served for Rose and Peter, who finally earned the official Night Agent title. And as producer Shawn Ryan explained, the ending was designed to allow room for new characters in the next season. So even though most characters survived, a majority of them won’t return for Season 2.
In an interview with Collider, Ryan revealed that Season 2 will have many changes, including a new location. He said that his vision for the series was to have a new story each season, and feature only a few characters from the previous season.
Speaking to Collider, Ryan said “In a Season 2, if we do one, I think it would be a whole new location with a whole new set of problems, and a small number of characters from Season 1 would be part of that, but mostly new characters would be surrounding them.”
Deadline reported that originally when the show was pitched, the main set was supposed to be Italy. But after a few changes, they settled on Washington, which was filmed in British Columbia, Canada. And with Peter’s new position in Night Action, viewers can anticipate following him to his next mission in a new city, with more adventure and mysteries to unravel.
Critical reaction to “The Night Agent” Season 1 had been mostly positive
Like most shows, hit or miss, viewers often have mixed reactions, as was the case for the first season of The Night Agent. While some fans felt the government conspiracy storyline was a bit cliché, a majority appreciated how compelling the story was delivered with a lot of thrilling action and fight scenes.
One critic wrote on Rotten Tomatoes, “In the second half of the series, the action is ramped up, and the plot twists bend credulity close to the breaking point — but we stick with it, and we’re rewarded with some payoffs.” Another fan of the show wrote, “The show remains human-scaled… Everything is incremental, giving a richness to the storytelling.”
One critic who didn’t like the show as much wrote on YouTube, “The writing is basic, there are way too many plot conveniences and character protections, plus the actions characters are forced to carry out venture into the ridiculous or unbelievable.”
Love it or hate it, The Night Agent broke Netflix record viewership in a matter of days, and that has got to count for something. We can’t wait to see what’s in store for Season 2, and we hope for more drama, action and mystery with the new faces as promised.
