In a remake of the French series The Bureau, The Agency is an American take on the undercover spy thriller. For this second season, we are left waiting to see the consequences or rewards facing protagonist Brandon “Martian” Colby (Michael Fassbender) after making a deal to become a double agent for MI6 while continuing to work behind a desk for the CIA. He does this because the woman he loves, a Sudanese woman named Samia (Jodie Turner-Smith), is trapped in a war zone due to her allegiances, and Colby has made it clear multiple times that he will do virtually anything to bring her to safety. Now, in this second season, we wait with bated breath to see the results of his agreement to betray his nation.
The editing and pacing of the show rely heavily on the audience’s investment in the characters at risk. While many scenes consist primarily of conversations, the fate of someone as important as Samia hangs in the balance throughout, even as updates on her condition remain sparse. Meanwhile, the show builds a subplot unfolding in Iran, hinting at a slowly escalating conflict while focusing on powerful individuals at a university who may be developing dangerous technology. Although this may be an awkward time to release a show featuring a fictional conflict involving Iran, given real-world events, the series does improve upon the genre’s tendency toward stereotypes in its portrayal of non-Western characters, even if the primary point of view remains centered on predominantly Western, mostly white protagonists. In this way, the show never claims, conceptually, visually, or in execution, to be groundbreaking, but it does succeed at what the spy genre does best: placing characters in situations defined by tension, deception, and intrigue.
The show also leans on the staples of television production, especially within the action-spy genre. Dialogue scenes frequently rely on over-the-shoulder shots and familiar visual rhythms, punctuated by action sequences that heighten adrenaline and provide physical stakes to the espionage unfolding in conversation. Like many series attempting to maintain an epic scale, The Agency works hard to establish the many countries and locations in which the story unfolds. Even while many settings are clearly soundstage productions, the show does an excellent job of constructing convincing environments and cleverly masking the limits of its filming locations.
For Michael Fassbender, playing Brandon Colby feels familiar territory. Having recently portrayed a spy in Black Bag and a solitary assassin in The Killer, this role feels like a continuation of work he has already refined, both in S1 and elsewhere. He plays Colby with an effortless control, though this season, more than the first or his recent films, asks him to portray a man on the brink of emotional collapse. Fassbender remains convincing as a menacing, intelligent, and ruthlessly effective agent, while also revealing the cracks beginning to form beneath the surface.
That tension forms the crux of the show. When your work carries the magnitude of Colby’s responsibilities, how can life ever be separated from work or love? Colby cannot manage that separation. He attempts to maintain both, and the consequences become increasingly muddled. Watching him try to weave together every thread of his life on his own terms is thrilling, occasionally frustrating, and sometimes even bewildering. Yet it proves that The Agency is reliable television that will certainly satisfy spy fans, even if its attempts to go beyond genre conventions are imperfect. It is certainly worth starting if the premise sounds up your alley.
The Agency S2 begins streaming on Prime Video on June 21st, 2026.
