Future of The Recruit was likely doomed by Netflix's The Night Agent

Perhaps Netflix simply has too many thrillers that seem similar, and that means one or two of them need to go. And not to dispute how the wise people at the streamer go about scheduling their shows, but a better move for them might have been to spread out when The Night Agent Season 2 was released compared to The Recruit Season 2.

The Night Agent was always the more popular show. When Season 2 debuted on January 23, 2025, the series had 13.9 million viewers in its first week. The second season of The Recruit came just a week later. It reached number two on Netflix's most-viewed series in its first week of release but with less than half of what The Night Agent was doing.

One might wonder what would have happened if Netflix had waited to release the second season of The Recruit in March or later. That might have given viewers a chance to binge the latest season of The Night Agent, decompress, and watch something that was not as much of a political thriller and then pick up the other show months later.

Netflix cancels The Recruit after two seasons

Both shows featured leads that were new to their roles and trying to make their own impact. One, Peter Sutherland (played by Gabriel Basso), worked as a somewhat secret wing of the FBI. The other, The Recruit's Owen Hendricks (played by Noah Centineo), is a recently-hired attorney with the CIA. A viewer explaining the shows to someone who hadn't seen them might make it confusing.

Now we know that Netflix is canceling The Recruit after just two seasons. Meanwhile, The Night Agent has been renewed for a third season. Both series featured some highly entertaining, though fairly unbelievable, plot twists. There was camp to both, and one had to suspend disbelief a lot, but more people watched The Night Agent, and that is all that mattered.

So, spoiler alert forthcoming, if you are upset by the cancellation of The Recruit and, therefore, are going to refuse to watch the second season, here is how it ended. Dawn, a shady CIA operative, gets killed by Nichka (the first season's MaxMeladze's daughter). But what happens to Owen? You will have to watch the show to find out.

Just know that whatever the ending is, it is what the ending will always be. There will be no more The Recruit episodes.

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