10 Best TV Shows Like The Night Agent You Need To Watch Next

FBI agent Peter Sutherland (Gabriel Basso) first burst onto screens in March 2023 when "The Night Agent" premiered on Netflix. The action thriller was an instant hit — in fact, it was the third most-watched Netflix series premiere — with viewers streaming for 168.17 million hours during the first four days of its release. The themes of espionage, political intrigue, and conspiracy, mixed with a healthy dose of romance between Peter and Rose Larkin (Luciane Buchanan), made a perfect blend that kept viewers hooked for 10 episodes.

"The Night Agent" returned bigger and better for Season 2 in January 2025, as it quickly claimed the top spot on Netflix's global TV chart. After waiting more than 18 months between seasons, fans were desperate to find out where Peter ends up after he leaves D.C. to embark on his new career as a Night Agent. The most poignant themes from Season 1 are drawn out again in the second season, along with a number of moral dilemmas for Peter — which will be a continuing motif in the third season, according to creator Shawn Ryan. "He's trying to figure out what kind of person he can be and [whether he] can maintain his moral center doing this kind of work," Ryan teased to Entertainment Weekly.

At press time, filming on Season 3 is already underway. But while the cast and crew are busy working on another thrilling installment to entice viewers, there are plenty of other action-packed espionage shows to keep fans occupied. If you're searching for the same type of action and gripping storylines, here are the 10 best shows like "The Night Agent" you need to watch next.

Right behind "The Night Agent" on Netflix's Global Top 10 Shows list is "The Recruit," and for good reason. Its second season also premiered in January, just days after Season 2 of "The Night Agent," but the shows are linked by much more than just Netflix's release schedule. Like Peter, newly qualified CIA lawyer Owen Hendricks (Noah Centineo) starts his career off behind a desk before becoming enmeshed in a world of espionage in a way he could never have expected. Owen, who investigates graymail threats against the government, is thrown in the deep end when CIA asset Max Meladze (Laura Haddock) promises to reveal classified intel if she isn't released from prison. From there, the story spirals into a web of international conflicts and political issues, leading to a few near-death experiences for Owen, who in turn questions whether this career is really for him.

As two of Netflix's most popular spy dramas, "The Night Agent" and "The Recruit" have drawn many parallels. In fact, the shows are so similar that Basso and Centineo have done press to cross-promote them. The worlds might be slightly different and the presidents aren't the same (so you probably shouldn't expect a crossover anytime soon), but it's close enough that fans of one show would definitely be enticed by the other.

Along with both shows' central storylines, which prominently feature threats to the U.S. government, Peter's relationship with Rose is mirrored in the on-off romance between Owen and Hannah Copeland (Fivel Stewart). Both Peter and Owen go into Season 2 with more experience, but also carrying scars from their past that they have to work through.

In Season 1 of "The Night Agent," Peter races against the clock to save President Travers (Kari Matchett) from a terrorist attack. The British political thriller "Bodyguard" portrays a similarly disturbing and deadly plot. "Game of Thrones" alum Richard Madden plays Sergeant David Budd, a discharged army veteran who, despite suffering from PTSD following his service in the Afghanistan War, is working as a dedicated Principal Protection Officer, or bodyguard. David must put his personal politics aside when he's assigned to protect Conservative Home Secretary Julia Montague (Keeley Hawes). In the same way that Peter grows closer to Rose while protecting her, the boundaries between David and Julia's professional relationship start to blur. But is the friendship she offers him just a cover for an even more sinister plot?

As a six-part limited series, "Bodyguard" comes to a very clear-cut ending, but it takes viewers on numerous ups, downs, twists, and turns before it's done. As Madden put it to Variety: "This six hours of television is a really great way to show this chapter in this man's life." "Sherlock" alum Tom Brooke and "Doctor Who" actor Anjli Mohindra also star.

"Designated Survivor" chronicles a scenario in American politics which is so unfathomable that it makes for highly addictive television. After a stunning terrorist attack wipes out the Capitol Building and everyone in it on the night of the State of the Union address, the unsuspecting designated survivor, Secretary of Housing Thomas Kirkman (Kiefer Sutherland), finds himself running the country. FBI agent Hannah Wells (Maggie Q) is tasked with uncovering the details behind the deadly terrorist plot, while the newly sworn-in president attempts to lead the nation through an unprecedented tragedy.

Although it has a different premise than "The Night Agent," the tone of "Designated Survivor" will appeal to fans of political conspiracy shows. For a period of time, President Kirkman can only trust three people: Agent Wells, his chief of staff Aaron Shore (played by the late Adan Canto), and his Special Advisor Emily Rhodes (Italia Ricci). Like Peter, the new POTUS must figure out who he can really trust and root out any homegrown traitors in his midst. There are three seasons of the ABC-turned-Netflix show, and "Designated Survivor" is now complete, as Sutherland ruled out a fourth season.

A late addition to Netflix's 2024 slate of spy thrillers, "Black Doves" follows Helen (Keira Knightley), the wife of British politician Wallace Webb (Andrew Buchan), who is secretly a sleeper agent and spy for hire. The series begins with Helen out of the game, but her identity as a spy becomes compromised after her lover, Jason Davis (Andrew Koji), is murdered. Now out for revenge, Helen finds herself drawn back to the Black Doves, an organization that sells classified secrets to the highest bidder. But she's not alone: accompanying her on her mission is assassin-for-hire Sam Young (Ben Whishaw).

When it comes to a spy thriller, the name of the game is to keep audiences guessing, and "Black Doves" does just that. Similarly to Peter in "The Night Agent," Helen is never quite sure who she can trust, and that's probably because Knightley didn't know herself. The series was constantly evolving, to the point that the final two episodes were still being written while filming was underway. 

"We had a shape, and we had a direction, but exactly how we got there — it came into being as we were filming," Knightley explained in an interview with Netflix's Tudum. This kept most of the cast and crew guessing about the way the season would play out, which means the highly compulsive thriller is anything but predictable. A second season is also in the works, with the show being renewed by Netflix before it even premiered.

Night Action, the organization Peter works for in "The Night Agent," is one of the U.S. government's secret spy organizations. But in the world of Jason Bourne, that's Operation Treadstone. After five films in the "Bourne" franchise, fans finally got a deep dive into the CIA's deactivated covert black-ops program in the 10-part series "Treadstone."

The series doesn't directly follow Bourne's time with the agency, but instead delves into its past and present. "Treadstone" is set against the backdrop of the Cold War, with events rippling into the present. The show follows CIA agent John Randolph Bentley (Jeremy Irvine) and chronicles the inception of Treadstone in the 1970s. After escaping from KGB agents operating under a program called Cicada, the CIA is able to reverse engineer a behavior modification protocol which eventually becomes Operation Treadstone.

As viewers learn more about the protocol, which enhances the performance of American agents by making them more dangerous and taking away their memories, a deadly plot is enacted in the present, with Cicada sleeper agents being activated around the world and an old nuclear warhead from the Cold War back in play. This critically underrated single-season conspiracy thriller is perfect for "The Night Agent" fans who want complex, high-stakes drama.

Unlike "The Night Agent" protagonist Peter Sutherland, who dreams of working for Night Action, British army vet Jonathan Pine (Tom Hiddleston) has deliberately stepped away from espionage in "The Night Manager." Putting his past in the Iraq War behind him, Pine works as a hotel night manager in Cairo. But after the death of his lover Sophie (Aure Atika), who provides him with classified weapons intel — which he in turn passes along to International Enforcement Agency officer Angela Burr (Olivia Colman) — he opts to live an even more secluded life as the night manager at a hotel in Zermatt, Switzerland.

After stumbling upon more relevant information in Switzerland, Burr convinces Pine it's his duty to go undercover as part of arms dealer Richard "Dicky" Onslow Roper's (Hugh Laurie) crew. Soon Pine is plunged back into a world of danger and espionage as he is tasked with investigating and preventing the sale of deadly chemical weapons.

Hiddleston gives a compelling performance throughout the show's six episodes. The actor admitted he was immediately drawn to the role, telling the BBC, "The character appealed to me because I knew, as an actor, I was going to have to operate at the highest level of my intellectual and physical ability, because he is a field agent, but also has to be smart enough to go undercover." "The Night Manager" boasts a stellar cast, with David Harewood and Elizabeth Debicki also sharing the screen with Hiddleston, Colman, and Laurie.

The fictional CIA agent Jack Ryan has been an enduring presence in print, film, and TV media. The "Ryanverse" was first created by Tom Clancy in 1984, when he introduced the character in the novel "The Hunt For Red October." Actors like Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, Ben Affleck, and Chris Pine all took on the moniker in a series of films before John Krasinski transformed into the former Marine-turned-spy for Prime Video's political action thriller, "Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan."

Like Peter Sutherland, the titular intelligence analyst is wrenched out of the safety of being behind a desk and thrown into the middle of the action, as he races against the clock to stop a terrorist as he plots a series of deadly attacks across the globe. The first season sees him investigate some conspicuous wire transfers that lead him right into the center of an Islamic extremist plot. There are four seasons for fans to enjoy, each with a thrilling new mystery that places Ryan dead center in any number of dangerous situations with global implications. As the series continued to evolve, it welcomed some of Clancy's other popular characters to the small screen, including Domingo Chavez (Michael Peña). 

The dramatic ending of "Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan" Season 4, a run of episodes which found Ryan promoted to acting deputy director of the CIA and fighting enemies both within and abroad, brought the entire series to a close — although Krasinski's version of the character may make the jump to the big screen next.

"Homeland" is another long-running spy thriller for fans of "The Night Agent" to sink their teeth into. Similar the latter show's Peter, who discovers a mole close to home, it follows CIA officer Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes), who is convinced a former Marine has been indoctrinated into Al-Qaeda after becoming a prisoner of war and is working against his homeland. Having been rescued and returned to the U.S., double agent Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis) plays his part in a plot to kill the vice president.

Convinced of his involvement in the conspiracy, Carrie begins hunting Brody. But as she finds herself in the midst of a bipolar episode, she is left questioning everything and the lines of her relationship begin to blur. Thankfully, her friend, mentor, and boss Saul Berenson (Mandy Patinkin) is always there to pull her back from the edge. Their bond mirrors elements in Peter's relationship with Diane Farr (Hong Chau), but viewers can rest assured that he never turns on Carrie in quite the same way.

"Homeland" evolved far beyond Carrie's investigation into Brody, as the entire "Homeland" timeline sees Carrie traverse the globe in service of her country. Throughout its eight seasons, the political thriller manages to continually portray high-stakes storylines as both Carrie and Saul take turns going undercover.

Justin Hartley has swapped the romantic drama "This is Us" for an action drama in CBS' "Tracker." He stars as Colter Shaw, a professional tracker and skilled survivalist who makes a living helping law enforcement and private citizens find people in exchange for a healthy reward. The series, which is based on the novel "The Never Game" by Jeffrey Deaver, has Colter racing against the clock while tracking down countless missing persons, from lost family members to key trial witnesses.

Although "Tracker" doesn't quite fit in the category of spy thriller, there are strong parallels between lone wolf Colter and Peter Sutherland of "The Night Agent," who has broken procedure more than once. Especially in Season 2 of "The Night Agent," Peter often sees no other option but to work alone and feels he's better for it. This is also the case for Colter. But despite his tendency to complete one job and move on to the next, Hartley sees great qualities in him. "You know what I love about him is I think he's a good man," he explained to Showbiz Junkies. "He's a good man and he wants to do good things for people in need ... I don't think he intentionally runs away. I just think it's how he is." At least you know that with Colter always chasing the next missing person, things will never get boring.

Swap Washington D.C. for Paris in this action-packed series, which is a spin-off of Gerard Butler's "Has Fallen" movie franchise. "Paris Has Fallen" explores a new world — and a new terrifying threat — within the movie and TV universe. "The Umbrella Academy" star Ritu Arya and French actor Tewfik Jallab front the series as Zara Taylor and Vincent Taleb. Zara is a new-to-the-job MI6 agent, while Vincent is a hardened protection officer. Although they work together as partners, the pair have just been thrown together for a relatively short time, and now this unlikely duo must prevent a devastating terrorist attack from a homegrown assailant in Paris.

Like Peter Sutherland, who struggles to trust anyone after being betrayed by his mentor, trust is a major theme in "Paris Has Fallen." There are a lot of walls up between Zara and Vincent, even as they are tasked with hunting down their terrorist assailant. "There's a lot of blurred lines with honesty and trust issues," Arya explained to ScreenRant. "She's complicated, and she learns to sort of work as a team with Vincent and their relationship develops."

Although Arya insists that the tone of the eight-episode thriller is very different from its big screen predecessors, Butler was involved behind the scenes, so fans of the "Has Fallen" franchise can expect a level of continuity in "Paris Has Fallen."