Most streaming services often rely on iconic franchises or breakout hits to maintain their success. In the case of Paramount+, it’s mostly been supported by two constants: Taylor Sheridanand Star Trek. Sheridan created a wealth of shows for Paramount+ following Yellowstone’s breakout success. At the same time, Alex Kurtzman and other creators delivered a variety of Trek shows that spanned nearly every era of the final frontier. Paramount+ is now facing a massive shift as Sheridan is set to depart for a lucrative deal at Universal, and the only remaining Star Trek series will be ending next year.A new spy thriller has proven itself to be the next big hit for Paramount+, thanks to a major shift of its own.
The series in question is The Agency, created by veteran screenwriters Jez & John-Henry Butterworth (Ford v Ferrari, Edge of Tomorrow). It stars Michael Fassbender as a CIA agent who’s pulled out of an undercover assignment, only for his life to be upended when his lover (Jodie Turner-Smith) follows him to London. Season 1 of The Agency was a moderate hit, sitting at 66% on Rotten Tomatoes; however, Season 2 shot up to a whopping 90%. What exactly is the reason for this major uptick in critical reception? The answer lies in The Agency shaking up its story and its schedule.
Season 2 of ‘The Agency’ Made a Massive Shift to Its Story
Michael Fassbender in The AgencyImage via Showtime/Paramount+
Throughout Season 1 of The Agency, most of the story was dedicated to Fassbender’s Martian struggling to acclimate to life in London, all the while dealing with the cost of a double life. It also featured a different release schedule, with the premiere consisting of two episodes, followed by one episode each at the end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025. Season 2 has radically shaken things up by dropping all 10 of its episodes on a single day. It also marks a significant shift in the story, as Martian ends up leaking information within the CIA while battling the mercenary code-named ‘Viking’ (Chayne Crawford). The bingeworthy storyline, packed with plenty of twists and turns, blends the paranoia of the Jason Bourne franchise with the high-octane action of the James Bond movies. It also secured The Agency a place on Paramount+’s Top 10 TV shows.
While The Agency Season 2 does end on a major cliffhanger, there’s one piece of evidence that it could be renewed for more seasons. The series is an adaptation of the French-language spy thriller The Bureau, which ran for five seasons. The Agency is even closely adapting some of The Bureau‘s plotlines, including the fact that the latter’s protagonist would end up playing the role of double agent in one season. It wouldn’t be the first time an American adaptation of an international series was successful, and with Paramount+ needing more hit series outside Taylor Sheridan and the Star Trek universe, it wouldn’t be surprising if The Agency is renewed for a third season.
Collider Exclusive · Action Hero Quiz Which Action Hero Would Be Your Perfect Partner? Rambo · James Bond · Indiana Jones · John McClane · Ethan Hunt
Five legends. Five completely different ways of getting out alive — with style, with muscle, with charm, with luck, or with a plan so intricate it probably shouldn’t work. Ten questions will reveal which action hero was built to have your back.
🎖️Rambo
🍸James Bond
🏺Indiana Jones
🔧John McClane
🎭Ethan Hunt
01
You’re dropped into a dangerous situation with no warning. What do you need most from a partner? The first few seconds tell you everything about who belongs beside you.
02
You have to get somewhere dangerous, fast. How do you travel? How you get there is half the mission.
03
You’re pinned down and outnumbered. What does your ideal partner do? This is when you find out what someone is really made of.
04
The mission is paused. You have one evening to decompress. What does your partner suggest? Who someone is when the pressure drops is who they actually are.
05
How do you prefer your partner to communicate mid-mission? Good communication is the difference between partners and a liability.
06
Your enemy is powerful, well-resourced, and has the upper hand. How should your partner approach them? The approach to the enemy defines the partnership.
07
Things go badly wrong and you’re captured. What do you trust your partner to do? Who someone is when you need them most is the only thing that matters.
08
What does your ideal partner bring to the table that you couldn’t replace? A great partner fills the gap you didn’t know you had.
09
Every partnership has a cost. Which of these can you live with? No one comes without baggage. The question is whether you can carry it together.
10
It’s the final moment. Everything is on the line. What do you need from your partner right now? The last question is the most honest one.
Your Partner Has Been Assigned Your Perfect Partner Is…
Your answers have pointed to one action hero above all others. This is the person built to have your back — for better or considerably, spectacularly worse.
Rambo
Your partner doesn’t talk much, doesn’t need to, and will have assessed every threat in your immediate environment before you’ve finished your first sentence. John Rambo is not a man of plans or politics — he is a force of nature shaped by survival, loyalty, and a capacity for endurance that goes beyond anything training can produce. He will not leave you behind. He has never left anyone behind who deserved to come home. What you get with Rambo is the most capable, most quietly ferocious partner imaginable — one who has been through things that would have broken anyone else, and who chose to keep going anyway. You’ll never need to ask if he has your back. You’ll just know.
James Bond
Your partner will arrive perfectly dressed, perfectly briefed, and with a cover story so convincing it’ll take you a moment to remember what’s actually true. James Bond is the most professionally dangerous person in any room he enters — and the most disarmingly charming, which is the point. He operates in a world of layers, where nothing is what it appears and every advantage is used without apology. You’ll never be bored. You’ll occasionally be furious. But when it matters — when the mission is genuinely on the line and the margin for error has collapsed to nothing — Bond is exactly the partner you want. He has survived things that have no business being survivable. He does it with style. That is not nothing.
Indiana Jones
Your partner will know the history, the language, the cultural context, and exactly why the thing everyone else is ignoring is actually the most important thing in the room. Indiana Jones is brilliant, reckless, and occasionally impossible — but he is also one of the most resourceful, most genuinely knowledgeable partners you could find yourself beside. He approaches every situation with a scholar’s eye and a brawler’s instinct, which is an unusual combination and a remarkably effective one. He hates snakes and gets personally attached to objects of historical significance, both of which will slow you down at least once. It doesn’t matter. What Indy brings is irreplaceable — and the adventures you’ll have together will be the kind people write books about. Assuming you survive them.
John McClane
Your partner was not supposed to be here. He does not have the right equipment, the right information, or anything approaching the right odds. He has a sarcastic remark and an absolute refusal to accept that the situation is as bad as it looks. John McClane is the greatest accidental hero in the history of action cinema — a man whose superpower is stubbornness, whose contingency plan is improvisation, and whose capacity to absorb punishment and keep moving would be alarming if it weren’t so useful. He will complain the entire time. He will make it significantly more chaotic than it needed to be. And he will absolutely, unconditionally, without question come through when it counts. Yippee-ki-yay.
Ethan Hunt
Your partner has already run seventeen scenarios by the time you’ve finished reading the briefing, and the plan he’s settled on involves at least two things that should be physically impossible. Ethan Hunt operates at the absolute edge of human capability — technically, physically, and intellectually — and he brings the same relentless precision to protecting his partners that he brings to dismantling organisations that shouldn’t exist. He is not easy to know and he will never fully tell you everything. But he will carry the weight of the mission so completely, so absolutely, that your job is simply to trust him — and the remarkable thing is that trusting him always turns out to be the right call. The mission will be impossible. He will complete it anyway.
One of ‘The Agency’s Creators Is Working on Another Hit Series for Paramount+
The success of The Agency might make Jez & John-Henry Butterworth the next big creative minds for Paramount+, especially since one of them has contributed to another of the streamer’s hit series. Jez Butterworth is also serving as the showrunner for MobLand, the Guy Ritchie-produced crime drama starring Tom Hardy as a fixer for a prominent crime family. While MobLand was hit with rumors that Hardy might depart the series after its upcoming second season, those rumors were quickly put to rest as Paramount representatives said that his return was being “creatively worked through.” Should MobLand return to the same level of critical acclaim as its debut season, it could secure a future renewal for The Agency.
In a time when spy thrillers are starting to become more common on TV, The Agency stands out thanks to its ability to adapt between seasons. A potential third season could keep up the momentum and cement the series as must-watch TV in the vein of Yellowstone.
