The Agency (2024 TV series)

This article is about the 2024 Paramount+ series. For the 2001 CBS series about a fictionalized Central Intelligence Agency, see The Agency (2001 TV series).

The Agency is an American spy thriller television series from Paramount+ with Showtime produced by George Clooney and Grant Heslov and starring Michael Fassbender, Jeffrey Wright, Jodie Turner-Smith, and Richard Gere. The series premiered on November 29, 2024, and is a remake of the acclaimed French series, Le Bureau des Légendes, created by Éric Rochant.

The Agency
Promotional poster
Genre	Drama Political thriller Spy thriller
Created by	Jez Butterworth & John-Henry Butterworth
Based on	The Bureau (Le Bureau des Légendes) by Eric Rochant
Written by	Jez Butterworth & John-Henry Butterworth
Starring	Michael Fassbender Jeffrey Wright Jodie Turner-Smith Richard Gere Katherine Waterston Harriet Sansom Harris John Magaro Saura Lightfoot-Leon Andrew Brooke India Fowler Reza Brojerdi Alex Reznik
Music by	Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch
Opening theme	"Love Is Blindness" covered by Jack White
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	10
Production
Executive producers	George Clooney Grant Heslov Joe Wright Jez Butterworth John-Henry Butterworth Keith Cox Nina L. Diaz David C. Glasser Ron Burkle David Hutkin Bob Yari Alex Berger Ashley Stern Pascal Breton Michael Fassbender
Producer	Simone Goodridge
Running time	44–60 minutes
Production companies	Smokehouse Pictures Showtime Studios 101 Studios The Originals Productions Federation Entertainment
Original release
Network	Paramount+ with Showtime
Release	November 29, 2024 (2024-11-29) – present

In December 2024, the series was renewed for a second season.

Premise

Covert CIA agent Martian is ordered to abandon his undercover life and return to London Station. A past love unexpectedly reappears, pitting his mission and his real identity against his heart, hurling them both into a deadly game of international intrigue and espionage.^[1]

Cast and characters

Main

• Michael Fassbender as Brandon Colby, codename 'Martian', previously CIA NOC operative in Africa for six years, and now a senior case officer. He is known to Zahir by his former cover name Paul Lewis.
• Jeffrey Wright as Henry Ogletree, Martian's boss, mentor and CIA London Deputy Station Chief. His official cover is the Foreign Service Support Attaché
• Jodie Turner-Smith as Dr. Samia Fatima 'Sami' Zahir, a Sudanese anthropology professor and Martian's love interest
• Katherine Waterston as Naomi, Martian's former and Danny's current CIA case officer
• Harriet Sansom Harris as Dr. Rachel Blake, a CIA clinical psychologist assigned to London Station from Langley
• John Magaro as Owen Taylor, Coyote’s CIA case officer
• Saura Lightfoot-Leon as Daniela 'Danny' Ruiz Morata, codename 'Gremlin', a new CIA field officer undercover as a geophysics graduate to get on an exchange program to Tehran to identify Iranian nuclear engineers. Her cover name is Daniela Moreno Acosta.
• Andrew Brooke as Grandpa, a CIA field agent assigned with keeping tabs on Martian
• India Fowler as Poppy Cunningham, Martian's daughter
• Reza Brojerdi as Reza Mortazevi, an Iranian seismology professor secretly affiliated with the IRGC. Danny is assigned to get selected for his esteemed exchange program that will allow her to enter Iran with bona fide cover
• Alex Reznik as Piotr Rybak, codename 'Coyote', a CIA non-official deep cover agent in Belarus
• Richard Gere as James Bradley, codename 'Bosko', the CIA London Station Chief.

Recurring

• Ambreen Razia as Blair, a CIA case officer
• Alex Jennings as Frank, a senior CIA case officer who originally recruited Coyote
• Curtis Lum as Guo, a Chinese MSS operative
• Marcin Zarzeczny as Alexei Orekhov, a trucking company owner and CIA asset in Belarus
• Violet Verigo as Sandy
• Adam Nagaitis as Grandma, a CIA field agent assigned with keeping tabs on Martian
• Bilal Hasna as Simon, a CIA technician
• Tom Vaughan-Lawlor as Ben, a senior CIA technician
• Sabrina Wu as Raine Miller, a CIA officer
• Edward Holcroft as Dr. Charlie Remy, Ogletree's brother-in-law, a Delta Force operator and deep cover agent in occupied Ukraine
• Sergej Onopko as Dr. Koval, SOF soldier undercover with Remy in Ukraine
• Oleksandr Rudynskyi as Sasha Boutenko, an SOF soldier undercover with Remy and Koval in Ukraine
• Tim Samuels as Alex Kent-Jones, a professor at the Royal College of World Heritage
• Kurt Egyiawan as Osman, a Sudanese GIS operative assigned to keep track of Sami by her estranged husband

Guest

• Hugh Bonneville as James 'Jim' Richardson, a senior MI6 official
• David Harewood as Dalaga, a Sudanese official negotiating a peace deal with China over control of East Africa
• Dominic West as CIA Director

Episodes

No.	Title	Directed by	Teleplay by	Original release date [2]
1	"The Bends"	Joe Wright	Jez Butterworth & John-Henry Butterworth	November 29, 2024 (2024-11-29)
CIA agent Brandon Colby, codename Martian, is recalled to London Station from a six-year covert assignment in Africa. He leaves behind a lover, Dr. Samia Zahir, and has downplayed his deep feelings for her with his handler, Naomi. Martian also reconnects with his boss, mentor and CIA London Deputy Station Chief Henry Ogletree. Both Martian's estranged daughter, Poppy, and Samia appear in London. A valuable CIA asset in Belarus, codename Coyote, is arrested. Naomi prepares a rookie agent, Danny, for a challenging assignment. In the near future, an injured Martian is interrogated by an unseen woman.
2	"Wooden Duck"	Joe Wright	Jez Butterworth & John-Henry Butterworth	November 29, 2024 (2024-11-29)
Martian submits to an evaluation by CIA psychologist Dr. Rachel Blake.
3	"Hawk from a Handsaw"	Philip Martin	Jez Butterworth & John-Henry Butterworth	December 6, 2024 (2024-12-06)
4	"Quarterback Blitz"	Philip Martin	Jez Butterworth & John-Henry Butterworth	December 13, 2024 (2024-12-13)
5	"Rat Trap"	Zetna Fuentes	Jez Butterworth & John-Henry Butterworth	December 20, 2024 (2024-12-20)
6	"Spy For Sale"	Zetna Fuentes	Jez Butterworth & John-Henry Butterworth	December 27, 2024 (2024-12-27)
7	"Hard Landing"	Grant Heslov	Jez Butterworth & John-Henry Butterworth	January 3, 2025 (2025-01-03)
8	"Truth Will Set You Free"	Grant Heslov	Jez Butterworth & John-Henry Butterworth	January 10, 2025 (2025-01-10)
9	"The Rubicon"	Neil Burger	Jez Butterworth & John-Henry Butterworth	January 17, 2025 (2025-01-17)
10	"Overtaken By Events"	Neil Burger	Jez Butterworth & John-Henry Butterworth	January 24, 2025 (2025-01-24)
Distracted by his desperation to help Samia, Martian has a bad accident with his motorcycle. The operation to extract Coyote does not go exactly to plan, but is ultimately successful. Volchok is killed, and Charlie and Koval join the rescuers. Naomi waits for Martian to get out of surgery, but he is actually being interrogated by Richardson and his female subordinate. Martian returns to the agency as a hero, having agreed to become Richard's informant there.

Production

Development

The project received a straight to series order from Showtime, now known as the Paramount+ with Showtime channel which is a part of the Showtime Networks portfolio,^[3] in February 2023. It is based on The Bureau a French espionage show created, directed and produced by Eric Rochant. It initially had the title of The Department.^[4]

The series is produced by George Clooney and Grant Heslov's Smokehouse Pictures, MTV Entertainment Studios and 101 Studios. It is executive produced by Keith Cox and Nina L. Diaz of MTVE Studios, David C. Glasser, Ron Burkle, David Hutkin and Bob Yari of 101 Studios, Alex Berger for The Originals Productions in France, and Ashley Stern and Pascal Breton for the Paris-based company Federation Studios/Federation Entertainment of America.^[5]

Joe Wright is set to direct the first two episodes with Jez Butterworth and John-Henry Butterworth writing all 10 episodes.^[6] Clooney was originally set to direct.^[7]

In December 2024, the series was renewed for a second season.^[8]

Casting

Production started in June 2024, with the title changed to The Agency. Michael Fassbender is an executive producer, as well as in a starring role, played in the French series by Mathieu Kassovitz.^[9][10] Shortly afterwards, Jeffrey Wright, Richard Gere, Jodie Turner-Smith, Katherine Waterston and John Magaro joined the cast.^{[11][12][13][14]}

Further cast members were revealed in August 2024, including Alex Reznik, Andrew Brooke, Harriet Sansom Harris, India Fowler and Saura Lightfoot-Leon.^[15]

Filming

Filming took place in London in 2024.^[16][17]

Filming also took place in Tallinn, Estonia in September 2024.^[18]

Broadcast

The Agency premiered with the first two episodes on Paramount Global's premium streaming service Paramount+ with Showtime on November 29, 2024 in the United States, before making its Showtime Networks debut which includes the Paramount+ with Showtime channel^[3] two days later,^[2] with worldwide streaming following on November 30.^[19][20]

Reception

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 68% approval rating with an average rating of 6.1/10, based on 40 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus is, "Emphasizing spycraft's heavy toll to both intriguing and tiresome effect, The Agency situates its all-star cast in a sumptuously-shot world of espionage."^[21] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 66 out of 100 based on 22 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[22]

In January 2025, Michael Fassbender was nominated for Lead Actor in Drama at the Irish Film and Television Awards.^[23]