Late last year, Showtime debuted The Agency, a new spy thriller produced by George Clooney and Grant Heslov based on the French series Le Bureau des Légendes – or The Bureau in international markets.
The Agency premiered with some real buzz because it features a genuine movie star, Michael Fassbender, in the leading role and as a producer of the series. However, The Agency hasn’t quite broken through as a mainstream hit yet. A big reason is that the show isn’t quite like your typical spy adventure. It’s neither Jason Bourne nor James Bond, but something different.
Real spies would be able to speak to the authenticity of The Agency more than the Watch with Us team, but it feels real and grounded in a way that few shows in the genre have. Certainly more so than Homeland, which was one of Showtime’s signature series for just under a decade.
Here are five reasons why The Agency is the most underrated TV show streaming right now.
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Michael Fassbender’s Character Is the Anti-James Bond
Earlier in his career, Michael Fassbender could have been a great James Bond. At 48 years old, Fassbender may have aged out of that role, but he’s perfect as the lead character of The Agency. The character’s real name is Brandon Colby, but everyone he knows in the CIA calls him by his codename, Martian.
The Agency establishes pretty early on that Martian is not some super spy like Bond. There are no crazy gadgets or Bond girls to be found in this series. Instead, Martian is an undercover operative who uses more subtle tactics to gather intelligence. He’s also more openly psychologically damaged than Bond. Martian’s been in the game for so long that he doesn’t trust anyone completely, and he’s justifiably paranoid that his own agency is spying on him.
Martian’s Relationship With His Daughter is Unexpectedly Forthright
One of the most refreshing things about The Agency is that Martian doesn’t have to put up a front with his daughter, Poppy Cunningham (India Fowler). She knows he’s a spy, and his double life isn’t a secret from her.
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Poppy may not be privy to the operational details around her father’s work, but she’s the only one who really seems to know him. Their bond is real, even when he’s reeling from everything else that’s happening around him. But because Martian loves and cares about his daughter, that also makes Poppy a potential target for his enemies.
The Spy Who Loved Me
There’s no shortage of stories about spies in love, especially from the James Bond franchise. The Agency turns that on its head by revealing that Martian had a six-year romance with Dr. Samia Fatima ‘Sami’ Zahir (Jodie Turner-Smith) while undercover as Paul Lewis in Sudan. As soon as the CIA called him back to London, he ghosted her even though he was in love with her.
Martian lies to his superiors about how much Sami means to him, but once he learns that she’s in London as well, he breaks all protocols by resuming his relationship with her. That would be sweet if Martian’s paranoia didn’t also make him suspicious of Sami. Was it really a coincidence that Sami just happened to come to the city he lives in? Or has Martian been the target of a psyop for years? You’re going to have to watch the show to get those answers.
It’s Not Just Fassbender Who Is Great
Landing a movie star like Fassbender was impressive enough, but the casting director for The Agency went even further by adding other established stars to the primary cast. The Batman’s Jeffrey Wright co-stars as Martian’s CIA mentor, Henry Ogletree, while Richard Gere plays their boss, James Bradley, the man in charge of the CIA’s spies in London.
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Fantastic Beasts’ Katherine Waterston also appears as Naomi, the woman who served as Martian’s case officer. Naomi is primarily connected to undercover agent Daniela ‘Danny’ Ruiz Morata, who is played by American Primeval standout Saura Lightfoot-Leon.
Danny has to go undercover in Iran, and it’s one of the show’s most intriguing subplots. Martian is able to give Danny some guidance before the mission, but she’s largely on her own in that part of the world. In some other incarnation, this show could have been about her.
The Story Is a Slow Burn That Pays Off At the End
Perhaps one of the reasons why The Agency hasn’t become the second coming of Homeland on Showtime is that its pace is deliberately slow, especially in the early episodes. It’s not that there isn’t some action on the show — it’s just not action-oriented. This is a series that’s far more interested in testing the loyalties of its characters than putting a gun in their hands or blowing something up.
Without spoiling the details, the pace picks up considerably in the final episodes of Season 1, and sets the stage for a new dynamic in Season 2. The Agency has already been renewed, so it has the potential to run as long as The Bureau did. The French series ended its five-season run in 2020, so there are years’ worth of stories to explore if it does.
The Agency is streaming on Paramount+ with Showtime.
