Everything we know so far about The Recruit season 2

We have a new update about The Recruit season 2 to share! While The Recruit season 2 has reportedly wrapped both production and post-production, fans are still waiting for a release date. However, when the series does finally make its return on our watch lists, there will be a little bit less to love in the second season.

According to the show's listing on the Writers Guild of America West directory, The Recruit season 2 will only contain six episodes, which marks a decline of two episodes from season 1's eight episode count. The decrease in episode count can likely be attributed to the writers' strike that brought the industry to a standstill in 2023. Delays and smaller episode counts are direct impacts of the strike.

Noah Centineo, the leading man of Netflix’s smash To All the Boys teen rom-com trilogy, stars in the spy thriller The Recruit as bumbling CIA lawyer Owen Hendricks, who becomes deeply entrenched in a dangerous situation involving a former CIA asset. After the shocking end of the first season, fans are waiting to see what’s next in season 2.

The Recruit season 2 is happening

The hit Netflix original thriller series The Recruit will be back for a second season, as announced by the streaming service in January 2023. As mentioned above, season 2 will contain six episodes rather than matching the first season's eight.

According to What's on Netflix, these are the episode titles:

• A.T.N.W.H.Y.P.A.B.H.
• H.H.I.I.T.K.A.L
• I.D.W.T.B.D.I.
• O.S.Y.M.G
• W.S.T.W.T.P.
• Y.R.A.A.C.O.T.D.O.P

Netflix announced the renewal a little over a month after the show’s Dec. 16, 2022 premiere. The Recruit saw 52.3 million hours viewed within its first few days of release, and followed up with 95.59 million hours viewed in its second but first full week of release during the holidays. These numbers made a renewal a no-brainer for Netflix.

In 2022, Netflix shows reached an all-time high with the releases of Bridgerton season 2, Stranger Things season 4, Wednesday, and more titles fans spent hundreds of millions of hours watching. When The Recruit became a hit around the holidays, a second-season renewal was a given.

When Netflix announced that the series was renewed for season 2, creator and showrunner Alexi Hawley shared his excitement about the next chapter of Owen Hendricks’ story, telling TUDUM:

"I’m thrilled to dive back into the fun, funny, action-packed world of The Recruit. Seeing how invested our audience became in the show’s adventurous take on the spy world and Noah’s turn as Owen has been incredibly rewarding, and I can’t wait to turn it all up to “11” in Season Two."

- Alexi Hawley, creator

Series star and executive producer Noah Centineo echoed Hawley’s excitement:

"I know I speak for our entire cast and executive team at eOne and Netflix when I say that we are thrilled to be returning to The Recruit for a second season. I’m looking forward to seeing what Alexi Hawley has in store for us all."

Production on season 2 wrapped in March 2024

In a report from Deadline, production on season 2 has already kicked off in Vancouver and will also take place in Seoul, South Korea.

According to What’s on Netflix, principal photography began on Jan. 4, 2024, and everything wrapped on March 21, 2024. Nothing has been confirmed by The Recruit season 2 team or Netflix.

Unlike with The Night Agent season 2, pre-production on The Recruit season 2 had a lot more time to happen before the WGA strike started in May 2023. That said, it’s possible the scripts were already written, and now that the actors strike is over, the cast and crew are preparing to start shooting the second season.

The season 2 release date hasn't been announced yet

The release date for The Recruit season 2 has not been announced, and it’s not coming to Netflix anytime soon. Even though the first season dropped in December 2022, season 2 won’t be ready for release before the end of 2024. Along with the renewal, Netflix confirmed The Recruit season 2 was coming in 2024, but that was before the writers' and actors' strikes caused delays.

Netflix left the show off a list of new shows coming in 2024. Deadline reported that The Recruit season 2 is confirmed for a 2025 release date.

We can't imagine the show wrapping production and Netflix holding it until, say, mid or late 2025. More likely than not, The Recruit season 2 will be on Netflix in early 2025. We're looking at you New Year's Day! That'd be a great time to roll out the new season, wouldn't it?

We'll continue to share updates about The Recruit season 2 release date as we find out more information.

Release prediction: Early 2025

Season 2 cast

Noah Centineo will return to lead the cast of The Recruit as his lovable CIA lawyer Owen Hendricks, and it’s expected that the entire main cast will also return to reprise their roles. Fans could also see one particular character upped to a series regular, but we’ll have to wait and see.

Here’s a list of main cast members expected to return for season 2:

• Noah Centineo as Owen Hendricks
• Laura Haddock as Max Meladze
• Aarti Mann as Violet
• Colton Dunn as Lester
• Fivel Stewart as Hannah
• Kristian Bruun as Janus Ferber
• Vondie Curtis-Hall as Walter Nyland

Toward the end of the first season, Maddie Hasson played the character Nichka, who was (SPOILER ALERT!) later revealed to be Max’s daughter, Karolina. As of this writing, it’s unclear in what capacity Hasson will return as Karolina, but she’s expected to play at least somewhat of a large part of the season 2 story given the ending of the season 1 finale.

On Dec. 19, TVLine reported that the show had added Past Lives actor Teo Yoo to the cast as Jang Kyun, a “clever and driven South Korean NIS agent, highly skilled with a subversive sense of humor and willing to go to any lengths to protect those he cares about.”

We don't know too much about the second season's plot details, but the addition of Yoo's character came with some intel about season 2 in that we'll see Owen pulled into a "life-threatening espionage situation in South Korea," so we can assume Yoo's character will be involved in that somehow.

On Jan. 25, Netflix announced additional cast members added to season 2 with a group of nine new recurring players. Deadline also confirmed that Kaylah Zander (Amelia), Maddie Hasson (Nichka), and Angel Parker (Dawn) have each been promoted to series regulars for the second season after recurring in season 1. Daniel Quincy Annoh (Terence), Jesse Collins (Dodge), and Nathan Fillion (CIA Director Alton West) will also recur in season 2.

Here are the new season 2 recurring cast members:

• James Purefory as Olive Bonner-Jones
• Brooke Smith as Marcy Potter
• Devika Bhise as Juno Marsh
• Felix Solis as Tom Wallace
• Young-Ah Kim as Grace
• Do Hyun Shin as Yoo Jin Lee
• Sanghee Lee as Nan Hee
• Omar Maskati as Jae King
• Alana Hawley Purvis as Amanda Fern

Purefoy's character has perhaps the most intriguing description as a "rich British businessman who lives in a world between legal and illegal." Perhaps he's one of the season's new villains. Shin's character, too, sounds intriguing as Yoo Jin Lee has a "childhood connection" to Owen. We can't wait to see exactly what that means! The rest of the characters are either agents or connected to that world, but needless to say, it's going to be exciting season with all of these new characters.

What’s next in The Recruit season 2? (spoilers!)

The end of the first season of The Recruit finds Owen getting kidnapped by the mysterious blonde woman he met at the bar, who turns out to be Max’s daughter Karolina. Not only does Karolina have Owen tied up, but she potentially shot and killed Max, her estranged mother.

Going into the second season, we have unanswered questions about Max’s fate, the extent of what Karolina has been up to, and how these developments will play a role in Owen’s story moving forward. We need to know why Karolina has been working against her mother and what happened to their relationship.

Owen has gotten himself into some dangerous and potentially fatal situations in season 1, and it seems as though the twists and turns aren’t over for the CIA lawyer in season 2. Centineo and Hawley haven’t revealed any teases of what to expect story-wise in season 2, but we’ll be sure to share any hints that arise before the release.

Where can you watch the spy series

Because The Recruit is a Netflix Original, the one place you can watch it is on Netflix. The second season will also be streaming exclusively on the streaming service.

The Recruit has definitely become one of the best shows on Netflix. Stay tuned for more news and updates on the series from Netflix Life!