Plot: The Agency follows Martian, a CIA agent living undercover in his own life. Samia, his lover, is a political prisoner in Sudan, and he will do anything to try to save her, even past the point of treachery. The only way out is deeper in. A knife-edge Martian must walk if he is to save love, life, and his mission.
Review: The world of spycraft has become pretty commonplace on the small screen in recent years. From action-heavy shows to more intricate thrillers, espionage is bordering on overkill, with so many series set in the secret world that it no longer feels secret. When The Agency debuted in 2024, the cast led by Michael Fassbender and Jodie Turner-Smith felt like a big-screen pairing that could hold its own with James Bond or Jason Bourne. Created by Jez Butterworth & John-Henry Butterworth with direction from Joe Wright, The Agency was a solid foray into a mature take on the world of double agents, focused on Martian (Fassbender), an agent who is more at home on mission than when he is living in the real world. With an early renewal for a second season, The Agency returns to continue the story of Martian and Samia and how their relationship factors into the larger web of operations the CIA is involved in. With Richard Gere and Jeffrey Wright returning, fans of the first season of The Agency will find this season going deeper, while the double and triple crosses begin to mount.
Unlike the first season, season two of The Agency is premiering with all ten episodes at once. The first season used a traditional weekly release format which may have worked against the series’ more deliberate pacing but the binge-drop of the entire sophomore run makes it very hard to avoid rolling through each episode in one sitting. Picking up from the season finale, The Agency opens with the ongoing operations handled by the CIA’s London Station in both Ukraine and Iran. The Agency managed to balance multiple storylines that intersected and augmented one another and this new run is no different. As in real life, there is collateral damage for every decision and fallout from where the first season ended comes back to haunt the agents this season. The CIA’s main enemy is not a country but the mercenary corporation known as Valhalla whose influence spreads to the Central African Republic under the leadership of Viking (Clayne Crawford), a brutal former Marine whose intellect is only matched by his violent tendencies.
The core of what makes The Agency work is the brilliant cast, led by the always exceptional Michael Fassbender. Fassbender portrays Martian as a stoic operative whose love for Samia (Jodie Turner-Smith) clouds his logic. Taking Richardson (Hugh Bonneville), a senior MI6 leader, up on his offer to turn double agent in exchange for rescuing Samia from captivity puts Martian att odds with his boss Henry Ogletree (Jeffrey Wright) and Station Chief James Bradley (Richard Gere). The way that Fassbender plays Martian’s single-minded focus and uncanny ability to suss out every situation builds the tension in each episode as we want to see him reunited with Samia. Fans may be underwhelmed by Jodie Turner-Smith’s limited screen time this season, but there is a narrative reason for her absence. There are shifts back and forth to build more insight into who Martian is, but in the present day we are left with his same sparse apartment and even tone with Fassbender’s entire performance hinging on his clenched jaw and piercing gaze, something that works far better than it would for a lesser actor.
The entire ensemble is a key reason for The Agency to work as well as it does. Yes, there is action in the form of car chases, gun fights, and torture, but the performances from Fassbender, Turner-Smith, Jeffrey Wright, and Richard Gere are impeccable. There are also outstanding supporting turns from both John Magaro and Katherine Waterston, two actors who rarely would be anything but leads in other series. The cast of The Agency is so stacked that everyone gets standout moments this season both in the vanilla walls of the CIA offices in London to the varied global locales. Harriet Sansom Harris reprises her role as Dr. Rachel Blake, the clinical psychologist assigned to the London office as well as Saura Lightfoot-Leon who plays Danny Morata, the new field officer deployed to Iran in the first season. Each hour-long episode has the challenge of fitting at least a half-dozen different subplots alongside Martian’s primary mission and somehow it works. There is a lot to absorb in this series and most of it is dialogue-heavy which may not appeal to some viewers but does make for a show worth investing in.
Based on the French series The Bureau, The Agency once again benefits from the consistency of having showrunners Jez Butterworth & John-Henry Butterworth serve as writers for all ten episodes as they did in the first season. While Joe Wright does not return to helm any episodes, he remains aboard as executive producer alongside George Clooney and Grant Heslov. Neil Burger returns from season one to direct four episodes with Grant Heslov also helming four chapters including the season finale with Zetna Fuentes on the remaining two. There is not much of a shift in scale this season as the production quality of The Agency has been top notch since the series premiered, but this season continues to distinguish each location in a way that makes it easy for the viewer to follow if we are in Ukraine, Iran, Africa, or London. The Butterworths do bring the storylines together as the season progresses with the tenth episode leaving us with another bombshell of a cliffhanger that will hopefully pay off in a third season.
Whether you enjoyed the first season of The Agency or hated it will determine if you want to invest in this second run. The series does not change anything from the format or tone it employed two years ago which allows the foundation of the intricate spycraft narrative to deepen and get even more complex, leading to a satisfying new season of television. While the ending does justify the investment in the ten episode run, I did feel it was slightly lesser than the first season but not by much. Michael Fassbender along with the entire cast make for a fascinating perspective on a grounded look at modern espionage and the blurred global chess board, but it is a series that demands attention and focus to really appreciate. I hope Paramount+ brings The Agency back for another season as it is an impressive showcase for every actor and the Butterworths feel like they are building towards something truly shocking if the story were to continue.
The Agency premieres on June 21st on Paramount+.
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