| Creator: | Jez Butterworth & John-Henry Butterworth |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Num Series: | 1 |
| Num Episodes: | 2 |
| Producer: | Simone Goodridge |
| Runtime: | 50–60 minutes |
| Network: | Showtime |
| Last Aired: | present |
The Agency is an American espionage thriller television series for Showtime produced by George Clooney and Grant Heslov and starring Michael Fassbender. The series premiered on November 29, 2024, and is based on the critically acclaimed French series Le Bureau des Légendes, created by Éric Rochant, that aired on Canal+ from 2015 to 2020.
In December 2024, the series was renewed for a second season.
An espionage thriller set within the department responsible for training and handling deep-cover officers on long-term missions who live under false identities for years, aiming to identify and recruit intelligence sources.[1]
The project received a straight to series order from Showtime in February 2023. It is based on The Bureau a French espionage show created, directed and produced by Eric Rochant. It initially had the title of The Department.[2]
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 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 the Paris-based company Federation Studios/Federation Entertainment of America.[3]
Joe Wright is set to direct the first two episodes with Jez Butterworth and John-Henry Butterworth writing all 10 episodes.[4] Clooney was originally set to direct.[5]
In December 2024, the series was renewed for a second season.[6]
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.[7] [8] Shortly afterwards, Jeffrey Wright, Richard Gere, Jodie Turner-Smith, Katherine Waterston and John Magaro joined the cast.[9] [10] [11] [12]
Further cast members were revealed in August 2024, including Alex Reznik, Andrew Brooke, Harriet Sansom Harris, India Fowler and Saura Lightfoot-Leon.[13]
Filming took place in London in 2024.[14] [15]
Filming also took place in Tallinn, Estonia in September 2024,[16] and Cairo, Egypt in October 2024.
The Agency premiered with the first two episodes on Paramount+ with Showtime on November 29, 2024 in the United States, before making its air debut two days later, with worldwide streaming following on November 30.[17] [18]
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 67% approval rating with an average rating of 6/10, based on 30 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."[19] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 66 out of 100 based on 21 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[20]