James R | On 16, Apr 2023

“You have no idea what you’re getting into…” That’s the kind of dialogue you can expect to hear in Netflix’s spy thriller The Night Agent – a sure sign that, unlike its hero, you’ll soon know exactly the kind of series you’re getting into.

Based on the novel by Matthew Quirk, The Night Agent follows Peter Sutherland (Gabriel Basso), a disgraced FBI Agent who spends his nights manning an emergency phone line that never rings. One night, though, it does. At the other end? Rose (Lucian Buchanan), whose aunt and uncle are “night action” agents – and have just been bumped off.

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, dangerous conspiracy that ultimately leads all the way to the Oval Office. Ordered by White House Chief of Staff Dianne Farr (Hong Chau) to bring her into protective custody, they end up on the run from the assassins who killed Rose’s aunt and uncle – and, unsure of who to trust in the FBI and White House, on the run from almost anyone who isn’t Dianne Farr too.

So far, so standard and, in many ways, that’s precisely The Night Agent’s appeal – it’s a programme that understands its genre and the expectations that come with it, and delivers on them without disappointing. That means we inevitably get sucked into a wider conspiracy that may or may not be connected to every single person encounter. From arty student Maddie (Sarah Desjardins), the daughter of the Vice President, to Chelsea Arrington (Fola Evans-Akingbola), her Secret Service bodyguard, the fun comes in trying to join the dots and guess just how wild the next twist will be. Around the halfway point, that escalating implausibility could have some people switching off, if it weren’t so entertaining in its commitment to dropping absurd cliffhangers.

The cast are just the right side of straight-faced, from Eve Harlow and Phoenix Raei as the off-kilter assassins to Hong Chau as the ruthless puller of stringers determined to do the right thing. The show is almost completely stolen by Luther’s DB Woodside, who brings a moving depth to haunted Secret Service agent Erik Monks. He sets the bar for the rest of the cast, with Luciane Buchanan selling Rose’s cybersecurity smarts so that she has a welcome agency in events.

Holding it all together, though, is Gabriel Basso who elevates what could have been a two-dimensional character into what could be Netflix’s answer to Jack Bauer. Balancing a grudge against his dad – and his dad’s suspect reputation – with a growing attachment to Rose and a spiralling moral compass, he’s a charismatic lead who deserves a second season – fortunately, Netflix knew exactly what it was getting into and renewed the show almost immediately.

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