10 Best Shows Like The Night Agent

The Night Agent is a gripping thriller created by Shawn Ryan that follows an ambitious FBI Agent as he stumbles into a national conspiracy involving a foreign spy in the White House. It’s an extremely tense and immersive show that constantly has the audience on the edge of their seats, offering unpredictable twists and turns at every corner. While The Night Agent season 2 did a great job of expanding the scope of this narrative, there are still plenty of questions to be answered before The Night Agent season 3.

Thankfully, there are many other shows in a similar vein that audiences can catch up with before The Night Agent’s third season is released. The Night Agent leans heavily into the political side of the thriller genre, which is something that’s been explored several times in different movies and TV shows.

10

Reacher (2022 – Present)

Starring Alan Ritchson & Willa Fitzgerald

Reacher

Release Date: February 3, 2022
Network: Prime Video

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Jack Reacher is arguably the most iconic character in the world of political thrillers, created by author Lee Child in his hugely successful series of books. While the movie adaptations of this saga weren’t very well received, Amazon’s Reacher show is a much more authentic and engaging reimagining of these stories that stays true to Child’s vision while updating things for modern audiences.

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The show centers around an ex-military veteran named Jack Reacher who travels the country in search of civilians to help but often finds himself embroiled in dangerous conspiracies and crimes that only somebody with his intelligence and combat strength could solve. Reacher is entering season 3, and the show doesn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon as season 4 is already confirmed.

9

Black Doves (2024)

Starring Ben Whishaw & Keira Knightley

Black Doves

Release Date: December 5, 2024
Network: Netflix

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Black Doves was a new addition to Netflix in 2024, and it quickly became one of the streaming service’s most popular and talked-about shows. The story follows two ex-spies, played by Ben Whishaw and Keira Knightley, who are dragged back into their old lives when a new threat emerges and exposes their true identities.

Black Doves is filled with dynamic action and strong performances, but its strongest asset is the complex narrative web that it weaves. The story is always moving in interesting directions, with each character’s journey connected in ways that don’t reveal themselves until the very end. This is something that it shares with The Night Agent, which is equally skilled at tying its subplots together in ways the audience wouldn’t expect.

8

Bodyguard (2018)

Starring Richard Madden & Keeley Hawes

The Bodyguard is quite similar to The Night Agent, despite taking place on opposite sides of the Atlantic. This British thriller follows a stoic bodyguard who finds himself assigned to a high-profile politician, forced to put his own troubles aside to keep her safe from the growing threats of her job. Bodyguard is the perfect replacement for The Night Agent while audiences wait for the next season.

Both projects focus on the corruption and conspiracy of government – Bodyguard simply does it with a steamier, more romantic flair.

Both projects focus on the corruption and conspiracy of government. Compared to The Night Agent, Bodyguard simply does it with a steamier, more romantic flair. Both shows also have overarching mysteries about who the protagonist is really facing, with the truth about their missions only being revealed at the end.

7

Homeland (2011 – 2020)

Starring Clare Danes & Mandy Patinkin

Claire Danes sitting down as Carrie Mathison in Homeland

Homeland is a very popular political thriller following a rogue CIA agent who fights to protect America from foreign threats that not everybody can see. It’s a show that’s constantly shrouded in mystery, exposing the cloak-and-dagger machinery of the US government from behind the scenes.

Peter and Noor in The Night Agent season 2

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Homeland focused on counterterrorism, with the characters having to deal with different threats every season. Given that Homeland ran for eight seasons and had 96 episodes, it can be difficult to compare it to a streaming show where everything moves much faster. That said, even those who prefer limited series and more fast-paced shows like The Night Agent might still enjoy Homeland. The series knew how to keep viewers engaged and always had a mystery to be solved.

6

Designated Survivor (2016 – 2019)

Starring Kiefer Sutherland & Adan Canto

Designated Survivor is another exciting thriller that takes place almost entirely inside the White House, following a low-ranking member of the government who is raised to the role of President when the entire cabinet is wiped out in a devastating attack. The show follows Kiefer Sutherland’s protagonist as he’s forced to build a government from the ground up, exploring what that would look like in modern society.

The most impressive thing about Designated Survivor is that it manages to feel both realistic and dystopian at the same time. It focuses on a hypothetical situation that would seldom happen in real life, but its rich storytelling and vivid character dynamics make everything feel authentic nonetheless. Sutherland also delivers one of his most relatable and compelling performances in the show, standing out among an equally talented ensemble.

5

Slow Horses (2022 – Present)

Starring Gary Oldman & Jack Lowden

Despite the critical acclaim that it’s been receiving for its most recent season, Slow Horses remains one of the most underrated shows on streaming right now. The narrative follows a dysfunctional group of MI5 agents who protect their country from sinister threats using very unconventional methods of espionage.

The show is most noteworthy for its brilliant lead performance from Gary Oldman, who plays a character unlike anything the actor has ever tackled before. It’s some of his funniest work, but there’s also a solemnity to Slow Horses that makes everything feel constantly tense and volatile. The storytelling is filled with twists and unexpected developments, with each episode feeling totally distinct from the rest.

4

The Day Of The Jackal (2024)

Starring Eddie Redmayne & Lashana Lynch

The Day of the Jackal is a great thriller that draws inspiration from Frederick Forsyth’s 1971 novel of the same name – while making a few important changes to distinguish it from previous adaptations. The story follows an elite assassin who catches the attention of a senior intelligence officer for the British government, sparking a deadly game of cat-and-mouse that threatens both party’s lives. The show was hugely successful upon its release in 2024 and remains one of the sharpest thrillers in recent memory.

While The Day of the Jackal has a much larger-scale and more global narrative than The Night Agent, the two shows display a very similar style. The Night Agent often turns into a game of cat-and-mouse as Peter makes powerful enemies. Of course, the biggest difference between the shows is that they are told from opposite perspectives.

3

Condor (2018-2020)

Starring Max Irons & Leem Lubany

Another sprawling thriller based on an acclaimed novel, Condor is a perfect example of how to blend large-scale political storytelling with a more personal, intimate narrative about grief and pressure. The show is based on James Grady’s “Six Days of the Condor”, and follows a CIA agent as he attempts to track down the man responsible for killing his colleagues.

Condor features several acclaimed performances that help bring this eccentric cast of characters to life, most notably from Max Irons as the show’s protagonist Joe Turner. His perspective is a fascinating one for the audience to experience this story through, as his stake in the mystery is much stronger than anybody else’s; this gives Condor a unique sense of tension and pressure that makes it impossible to turn off, similar to how The Night Agent handles Peter.

2

The Blacklist (2013 – 2023)

Starring James Spader & Megan Boone

The Blacklist is one of Netflix’s most interesting crime shows, not just because of the complex mysteries and brutal crimes that it explores, but also because of its unique premise where the protagonist is one of the show’s least likable characters. The story follows master criminal Reymond Reddington, who surrenders to the FBI and agrees to help them catch lesser criminals if they indulge his demands.

What’s so brilliant about The Blacklist, above all else, is the way it blends episodic storytelling with a richer, more engaging narrative that runs across the seasons. The audience gets plenty of time to understand these characters and watch them in action, which makes the show much more fulfilling than a regular procedural. The crime-of-the-week format is great, but it’s the ongoing development of these characters that makes The Blacklist stand out.

1

Mindhunter (2017 – 2019)

Starring Jonathan Groff & Holt McCallany

Mindhunter

Release Date: 2017 – 2018
Showrunner: Joe Penhall

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David Fincher’s Mindhunter is a show unlike anything else of its era – a dark, gritty thriller that delves into the psyches of America’s most infamous killers, while also serving as a captivating drama that uses its characters to explore some much more personal themes. The show’s biggest strength was its cinematography and visual style, submerging the audience into this cold, grainy world of conspiracy and brutality without ever feeling exploitative.

Although Mindhunter season 3 never happened, the show has since developed a reputation as one of the most innovative and foundational shows in the thriller genre. Thematically, it’s a very different show from The Night Agent, but the two shows are doing a very similar thing. They both use their complex, multi-dimensional characters to explore dark crimes in a very mysterious way, building enough intrigue to keep audiences invested.