The Agency, previously known as The Agency: Central Intelligence, is an American spy thriller television series created by Jez Butterworth and John-Henry Butterworth, executive produced by George Clooney and Grant Heslov and starring Michael Fassbender, Jeffrey Wright, Jodie Turner-Smith, and Richard Gere. The series premiered on December 1, 2024, on Paramount+ with Showtime, and is a remake of the acclaimed French television series The Bureau.
In December 2024, the series was renewed for a second season, which was released on June 21, 2026, on Paramount+ as a Paramount+ Original, with a subsequent airing on Paramount+ with Showtime on June 27.
Contents
Premise
CIA officer "Martian" is ordered to abandon his undercover life and return to London Station. A past love unexpectedly reappears, pitting his mission and his real identity against his heart, hurling them both into a deadly game of international intrigue and espionage.
Cast and characters
Main
Michael Fassbender as Brandon Colby, codename "Martian", previously CIA NOC operative in Africa for six years, and now Deputy Director of Operations at London Station. He is known to Zahir by his former cover name Paul Lewis.
Jeffrey Wright as Henry Ogletree, Martian's boss, mentor and CIA London Deputy Station Chief and Director of Operations. His official cover is the Foreign Service Support Attaché.
Jodie Turner-Smith as Dr. Samia Fatima "Sami" Zahir, a Sudanese anthropology professor and Martian's love interest
Katherine Waterston as Naomi Ford, Martian's former and Danny's current CIA case officer
Harriet Sansom Harris as Dr. Rachel Blake, a CIA clinical psychologist assigned to London Station from Langley
John Magaro as Owen Lublin, also known as Owen Taylor, Coyote's CIA case officer
Saura Lightfoot-Leon as Daniela "Danny" Ruiz Morata, codename "Gremlin", a new CIA field officer undercover as a geophysics graduate to get on an exchange program to Tehran to identify Iranian nuclear engineers. Her cover identity is Daniela Moreno Acosta, a Spanish national.
Andrew Brooke as Nick, codename "Grandpa", a CIA field agent and former Marine assigned with keeping tabs on Martian
India Fowler as Poppy Cunningham, Martian's daughter
Reza Brojerdi as Reza Mortazevi, an Iranian seismology professor secretly affiliated with the IRGC. Danny is assigned to get selected for his esteemed exchange program that will allow her to enter Iran with bona fide cover
Alex Reznik as Piotr Rybak (season 1–2), codename "Coyote", a CIA non-official deep cover agent in Belarus
Recurring
Adam Nagaitis as Grandma, a CIA field agent assigned with keeping tabs on Martian
Bilal Hasna as Simon, a CIA technician at London Station
Sabrina Wu as Raine Miller, a CIA analyst and Ogletree's personal assistant
Ray BLK as Barbara, codename "Dozer", a CIA field agent
Elena Saurel as Ms. Robinshaw
Hugh Bonneville as James "Jim" Richardson, a senior MI6 official in charge of China Desk, later Chief, suspected MSS mole
David Harewood as Dalaga, an RSF aligned Sudanese official negotiating a peace deal with China over control of East Africa
Tom Vaughan-Lawlor as Ben, a senior CIA technician at London Station
Edward Holcroft as Dr. Charlie Remy, Ogletree's brother-in-law, a Delta Force operator and deep cover agent in occupied Ukraine
Sergej Onopko as Dr. Koval, SOF soldier undercover with Remy in Ukraine
Oleksandr Rudynskyi as Sasha Boutenko, a SOF soldier undercover with Remy and Koval in Ukraine
Kurt Egyiawan as Osman Abdel-Aziz, a Sudanese GIS operative assigned to keep track of Sami by her estranged husband
Curtis Lum as Guo, a Chinese MSS operative
Clayne Crawford as Vernon Crawford, an American codename "Viking", a former Marine working as a mercenary for a Russian PMC wanted by the CIA
Guest
Dominic West as the director of the CIA
Alex Jennings as Frank, a senior CIA case officer and the previous London Station Deputy Director of Operations who originally recruited Coyote
Annabel Mullion as Emily Ogletree, Henry's wife
Violet Verigo as Sandy
Marcin Zarzeczny as Alexei Orekhov, a trucking company owner and CIA asset in Belarus
Jessie Mei Li as Rose
Tim Samuels as Alex Kent-Jones, a professor at the Royal College of World Heritage
Episodes
Production
Development
The Agency is based on The Bureau, a French espionage show created, directed and produced by Éric Rochant. The storyline of its first two seasons closely follows that of The Bureau. The Agency initially had the title of The Department.
An American remake of The Bureau was first announced in April 2017, developed by Pascal Breton's Federation Entertainment. In February 2023, the project received a straight-to-series order from Showtime, now known as the Paramount+ with Showtime channel which is a part of the Showtime Networks portfolio.
The series is produced by George Clooney and Grant Heslov's Smokehouse Pictures, MTV Entertainment Studios and 101 Studios. It is executive produced by Keith Cox and Nina L. Diaz of MTVE Studios, David C. Glasser, Ron Burkle, David Hutkin and Bob Yari of 101 Studios, Alex Berger for The Originals Productions in France, and Ashley Stern and Pascal Breton for Federation Studios/Federation Entertainment of America.
Joe Wright directed the first two episodes with Jez Butterworth and John-Henry Butterworth writing all 10 episodes for season one. Clooney was originally set to direct.
In December 2024, the series was renewed for a second season. In June 2025, it was reported that the second season would be retitled The Agency: Central Intelligence. The Central Intelligence suffix was dropped prior to the release of second season.
Casting
Production started in June 2024, with the title changed to The Agency. Michael Fassbender is an executive producer, as well as in a starring role, played in the French series by Mathieu Kassovitz. Shortly afterwards, Jeffrey Wright, Richard Gere, Jodie Turner-Smith, Katherine Waterston and John Magaro joined the cast. Further cast members were revealed in August 2024, including Alex Reznik, Andrew Brooke, Harriet Sansom Harris, India Fowler and Saura Lightfoot-Leon.
In June 2025, Christian Ochoa Lavernia was cast as a new series regular while Keanush Tafreshi, Medalion Rahimi, Raza Jaffrey, and Tessa Ferrer were cast in recurring roles for the second season.
Filming
Filming took place in London in 2024. Brutalist buildings like the Barbican Estate illustrate the dark atmosphere.
Filming also took place in Tallinn, Estonia, in September 2024.
Filming also took place in Tangier, Morocco, in September 2025.
Broadcast
The Agency premiered with the first two episodes on Paramount Global's premium streaming service Paramount+ for subscribers of the Paramount+ with Showtime plan on November 29, 2024 in the United States, before making its Showtime Networks debut which includes the Paramount+ with Showtime channel two days later, with worldwide streaming on Paramount+ on November 30.
The second season was released on June 21, 2026 on Paramount+, now labeled as a Paramount+ Original, before airing in its entirety on Paramount+ with Showtime on June 27.
Reception
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 68% approval rating for the first season with an average rating of 6.1/10, based on 40 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus is, "Emphasizing spycraft's heavy toll to both intriguing and tiresome effect, The Agency situates its all-star cast in a sumptuously-shot world of espionage." The second season has a 92% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes. Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 66 out of 100 based on 22 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
In January 2025, Michael Fassbender was nominated for Lead Actor in Drama at the Irish Film and Television Awards.