Summary
- The Night Agent Season 2 won't have a book to adapt, creating new territory for the Netflix series.
- Peter Sutherland's story was told in a self-contained novel, so the show will need to create an original story for season 2.
- The absence of source material for season 2 sets The Night Agent apart from other shows like Reacher, offering an unpredictable storyline.
The Night Agent was renewed for season 2.
The first season of The Night Agent, which is based on a book of the same name by Matthew Quirk, introduced Peter Sutherland (Gabriel Basso) shortly before a terrorist attack on a metro. The rest of the series explored Peter’s past and his Night Agent Action Program job at the White House, which led him to Rose Larkin (Luciane Buchanan) and a massive conspiracy. Full of action and plot twists, The Night Agent season 1’s ending included a sequel hook setting up season 2. However, the show will now be in a very different context.
The Night Agent season 2's release date hasn't been announced yet.
The Night Agent Season 2 Doesn’t Have Another Book To Adapt
Peter Sutherland’s story was told in a self-contained novel
The Night Agent season 1 covered the events of Matthew Quirk’s The Night Agent novel, from the metro bombing to Peter learning the truth about his father. While there were some big differences between The Night Agent book and the show, the Netflix adaptation remained relatively faithful to the source material. However, Quirk never wrote a sequel to The Night Agent – Peter Sutherland’s story has so far been told in just one novel. Whether there will ever be another novel featuring Peter Sutherland is difficult to say, but The Night Agent season 2 is happening.
Gabriel Basso will reprise his role as Peter, now an actual “Night Agent,” in season 2. In other words, the Netflix show is going beyond the source material and will not have any other novels to cover. Matthew Quirk has written other novels in the same genre as The Night Agent, but they are not tied to Peter Sutherland. Some of the author’s other lead characters, namely Mike Ford and John Hayes, have been in more than one novel, but not Peter. This creates an interesting challenge for The Night Agent season 2.
Matthew Quirk Novels |
Main Character |
|---|---|
The 500 |
Mike Ford |
The Directive |
Mike Ford |
Cold Barrel Zero |
John Hayes |
Dead Mans Switch |
John Hayes |
The Night Agent |
Peter Sutherland |
Hour of the Assassin |
Nick Averose |
Red Warning |
Sam Hudson |
Inside Threat |
Eric Hill |
What The Night Agent Season 2’s Original Story Means For The Netflix Show
Peter’s next mission may be more unpredictable
The Night Agent season 1’s finale sees Peter becoming a secret agent who will be sent to off-record, dangerous missions that cannot be traced back to his employees. Therefore, season 2 can and most likely will be focused on a brand new case or event, featuring little to no connections to the metro bombing mystery and the events of season 1. Naturally, Peter’s character arc, as well as his relationship with Rose, are expected to be carried from season 1 to the next chapter of the story. What this new case or mission will be remains to be seen.
The Night Agent season 1 told a self-contained story, which is arguably one of the reasons why the show worked so well and became so successful for Netflix.
Even though The Night Agent made changes to the source material, those familiar with the novel could predict where the story was going and what was going to happen next. However, now that the Netflix series will go beyond the events of The Night Agent novel, it becomes impossible to predict what Peter’s next adventure will be. Adaptations of action thriller novels have found a lot of success recently. However, unlike shows like or Reacher, audiences will not know what to expect from The Night Agent season 2.
The Night Agent’s Source Material Sets It Apart From Similar Shows
Jack Ryan & Reacher have appeared in multiple novels
Jack Ryan has been featured in 33 novels, whereas Jack Reacher has starred in 28 books. As a result, the movie and TV adaptations of those characters had plenty of options for what story would be covered next. Part of the conversation surrounding Prime Video’s Reacher, for example, has been which Lee Child books will be adapted and which will happen offscreen. While it is fun to try to predict the next chapters of an adaptation based on a book, having an all-original story centered on a character like Peter Sutherland is also exciting.
The Night Agent's 10 Biggest Unanswered Questions & Mysteries
The Night Agent season 1 finale wrapped up its biggest storylines, but a number of loose ends and unanswered questions remain for season 2 to explore.
The Night Agent season 1 told a self-contained story, which is arguably one of the reasons why the show worked so well and became so successful for Netflix. Even if season 2 did not happen, the first season would still make for a complete experience. This is an approach adaptations like Reacher and Jack Ryan have followed, and even without other books to adapt, The Night Agent can continue doing so too. The season 2 can be a standalone story placing Peter in a completely new mission, allowing The Night Agent to go on for multiple seasons as anthology.
Sources: What We Watched: A Netflix Engagement Report
Watch The Night Agent on Netflix
- Cast
- Gabriel Basso, Hiro Kanagawa, Rebecca Staab, Curtis Lum, Nick Andrews, Ronald Patrick Thompson, Luciane Buchanan, Lorna Rose Harris, Ava Sleeth, Todd Matthews, Micah Steinke, Jamall Johnson, Kelly Richard Nelson, Stephen Adekolu, Joshua Mazerolle, Tyler Gibson, Jennifer Lines, Caleb Di Pomponio, Elliot Gosh, Daniele Parenti, Elliot O'Connor, Fola Evans-Akingbola, Sarah Desjardins, Eve Harlow, Phoenix Raei
- Showrunner
- Shawn Ryan
- Seasons
- 2
- Streaming Service(s)
- Netflix
