The Night Agent season 4 could be in trouble after Netflix update

The Night Agent season 4 might be in jeopardy after Netflix's latest ratings reveal.

The Night Agent season 3 just premiered on Netflix on Thursday, Feb. 19, and it looked like a decent hit right out of the gate. Unfortunately, that wasn't exactly the case. Netflix revealed that the third season racked up 8.4 million views in its opening weekend, down from 15.2 million views from season 2's opening weekend.

The Night Agent season 3 even finished runner-up to Reality Check: Inside America's Next Top Model, which scored 14.2 million views. That's definitely not a good sign for season 4.

The Night Agent season 4 seems a lot less likely now

The Night Agent season 4 seemed like a sure thing heading into the show's third season, but now, there's definitely a question mark at the end of the sentence about the future of the series.

Netflix has not renewed The Night Agent for season 4 yet, but we did learn before season 3 premiered that the series scored a tax credit to move production to California last year. When I talked to Gabriel Basso before season 3 premiered, I asked him if he knew or could tease anything about season 4. Basso mentioned that he'd heard that they would be filming in Los Angeles.

"They haven't told me anything. I know we might be shooting in LA, but, yeah, but we'll see," Basso told Netflix Life.

Shawn Ryan, the creator of the series, revealed to Deadline that Netflix opened the writers room in the fall of 2025, so they're already hard at work on the upcoming season, should Netflix order it.

It's not great that viewership basically was cut in half from the season 2 premiere. It's definitely concerning for fans of the series. It's going to be a big thing to watch in the next couple of weeks to see if fans keep watching the series and finishing the season.

It's hard to say if outside forces caused the drop in viewership, but it's definitely possible. The Milano Cortina Olympics just wrapped up this weekend. There were a lot of things happening with that. There's been a lot of other big shows released recently, so it's possible that fans were just watching other things before they'll jump over to The Night Agent.

There's still time for fans to tune in and impact Netflix's renewal decision. We know that Netflix takes data into consideration, and one of the metrics is if people actually finish the season. If viewers tune in and finish the season and it's a good enough ratio, there's a good chance that we'll see The Night Agent renewed for season 4.

It's not over yet, Night Agent fans!

Netflix will probably still renew The Night Agent for season 4

Even with the poor early ratings, there's still a good chance that The Night Agent picks up the season 4 renewal. There are a lot of positives there for Netflix. I already mentioned the writers room and tax credit that could help cut costs for Netflix.

Overall, 8.4 million views isn't a bad opening weekend, either. We've seen a lot of other shows renewed on lower opening numbers than that. I think the issue is just how far viewership is falling between seasons, and that's an issue right now.

All Netflix shows lose viewers between seasons. Most shows do. There are only a handful of Netflix shows that are growing season over season, so that's something to take into consideration.

On top of that, SambaTV provided some really interesting data that should help things out for a renewal. Samba TV mentioned in a tweet that viewership was down overall for The Night Agent season 3 vs. season 2, but a higher percentage of viewers actually watched all of season 3 in the opening weekend than second season.

Of course, Netflix has all the official data it needs to make these renewal decisions, but it's positive that more people are binge-watching season 3 than they did season 2.

I thought we'd already see the season 4 renewal, but the fact that we're almost a week out from the season 3 premiere makes me think we might be waiting for a month or so before Netflix reveals if the show is moving forward.

Again, there are a lot of positives pointing to the renewal, but it's not quite the slam dunk I thought it was a week ago. Ultimately, I think The Night Agent season 3 is the show's strongest season, overall, even though it was missing Luciane Buchanan. Hopefully, we'll see the show picked up for season 4 soon and Buchanan will rejoin the cast. That's the best-case scenario.

Stay tuned for more news about The Night Agent season 4!