In a vote of confidence for the Shawn Ryan action-thriller series, the series starring Gabriel Basso has been given a 10-episode season three renewal before season two begins. As for season two, viewers will have to wait a little longer.
Season two, originally scheduled for release in 2024, will now premiere in winter 2025. That's almost two years after the first season dropped on March 23, 2023 and became an instant breakthrough with 98.2 million views in its first 91 days and a place in the Netflix Top 10 of most popular English-language series of all time.
Fans won't have to wait as long for season three - as streamers usually do with their strongest players. Netflix has commissioned a writers' room to work on the new season, as filming will begin very soon with a production unit in Istanbul at the end of 2024, followed by shooting in New York in 2025.
That mirrors the structure of season two, which began filming in Thailand and then moved to the season's main location in New York City with additional filming in Washington, D.C.
As the first footage of season two released today shows, the action follows that route. After Peter (Basso) took off on a private jet for his first mission as a Night Action spy at the end of the first season finale, the first episode of season two sees him shooting through the streets of an Asian city before, along with season 1 colleague Luciane Buchanan and new series addition Amanda Warren, will be seen against the New York skyline in subsequent episodes.
The first-look photos don't show a glimpse of other new cast members Arienne Mandi, Louis Herthum, Berto Colon, Brittany Snow and Teddy Sears.
The shift in the release of The Night Agent's second season isn't surprising. The series' status as a silent hit starring little-known twenty-year-old actor Basso is underscored by the fact that no writers' room was opened before the series was renewed for a second season on March 29, 2023. Just four weeks later, the WGA began strike, which delayed the writing of the new season by five months.
After the strike ended, The Night Agent was on a very tight schedule, beginning production in early February for a 2024 release. As noted at the time, it was very difficult to fit a ten-episode season of an extended action-drama series into such to be ready in a short time - Netflix must deliver all its series for dubbing four months in advance.
On the other hand, two series that were left out of Netflix's 2024 release schedule have been included as the dates shift. The third season of The Lincoln Lawyer was delivered early and will air on Thursday, October 17, while Virgin River season six squeezed in a near-Christmas release on Thursday, December 19.
Ryan is the creator, executive producer and showrunner of The Night Agent, the first season of which was based on a novel by Matthew Quirk. It was set in and around Washington D.C. and filmed in Vancouver. There is no source material for the subsequent seasons, whose shooting locations were upgraded following the success of the first season, which became Netflix's most-watched series in 2023 (by views) and hit No. 1 in 87 countries.
Produced by Sony Pictures Television, The Night Agent centers on a low-level FBI agent, Peter Sutherland (Basso), whose efforts to save the President in the first season earn him the opportunity to become a Night Agent in season two. But working for the secret organization Night Action brings Peter into a world where danger is everywhere and trust is scarce.
Ryan, who is now under an overall deal at Netflix, and Marney Hochman are producing through MiddKid Productions alongside Paul Bernard; Munis Rashid; Guy Ferland; Exhibit A Films' Seth Gordon and Julia Gunn; Sunset Lane Media's David Beaubaire; and Project X Entertainment's Paul Neinstein, William Sherak, Nicole Tossou and James Vanderbilt.
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