When The Agency was first announced at Showtime, it felt like it was predestined to be something great. It’s bolstered by an outstanding ensemble cast, including Academy Award nominees Michael Fassbender and Jeffrey Wright, and spearheaded by the award-winning writing team of John-Henry and Jez Butterworth. It’s also based on a criminally underrated French series, titled The Bureau, which examined the world of spycraft under a far more realistic lens.

Spy shows are typically a reliable presence on television; just look at Slow Horses. In fact, The Agency feels like it was cut from the same cloth as Apple TV+’s Gary Oldman series. What might be even more impressive is that the series began filming this past June, and merely five months later, it’s set to premiere this Thanksgiving weekend. The Agency has all the right ingredients to be a winner, and the appropriate use of Jack White’s cover of “Love is Blindness” as the theme song seems to hint at Fassbender’s character being a far more vulnerable spy. Yet something’s a bit off about The Agency.

What Is ‘The Agency’ About?

CIA agent “Martian” (Fassbender) has spent quite some time in Ethiopia, where he had a long-standing affair with married college professor Sami Zahir (Jodie Turner-Smith). After receiving word that he is to be sent back home to England, Martian abruptly cuts things off with her before stepping onto a plane and jetting off back to Europe.

Back at London Station, Martian attempts to readjust to his civilian life, and the series offers a more mundane look at working for the CIA. There are even bickering co-workers — Director Henry (Wright), and Chief Bosko (Richard Gere) constantly argue with one another. Martian’s plans to lie low are disrupted by Sami’s reappearance, which thrusts him into a moral crisis where he will be forced to choose between his commitment to his career or love.

While this might initially sound intriguing, The Agency chooses to tell its story at a slow pace, to the point where not much even happens in the first episode outside of simply introducing the characters. Visually, The Agency retains an interesting aesthetic. Even simple scenes of Fassbender riding in a car with either Wright’s Henry or Harriet Sansom Harris’ Dr. Blake are weirdly pleasing to the eye. (Although the involvement of a high-caliber director like Joe Wright definitely might’ve helped in that regard.)

Related Michael Fassbender’s ‘The Agency’ Just Got a Big Update Fassbender stars in the remake of ‘The Bureau’.

‘The Agency’ Plays It Too Safe
Image via Paramount+

The Agency had all the potential to be something truly special. After all, the mere fact that Showtime chose to remake the original French series is proof that the story holds promise. However, this Americanized version is merely playing things a bit too safe. It’s not that this is a bad show — far from it. It’s competently directed, and everyone in the cast does their best with the material they’re given.

Wright is The Agency’s biggest standout as Henry, inhabiting all the charm that we’ve come to love him for. While his role in the series is nothing we haven’t seen from him before, it’s the kind of role Wright has always excelled in: to-the-point and hyper-intelligent. While we don’t learn as much about Martian in the first three episodes, he’s very similar to some of Fassbender’s previous characters, particularly his role in The Killer. He’s mysterious, calculated, and cold, yet with an actor like Fassbender playing him, he’s never not compelling. Turner-Smith, who’s been having quite the year on the small screen between The Acolyte and Bad Monkey, turns in some of her best work yet as Sami Zahir. While, thus far, she plays a character who can simply be viewed as underwritten, it’s clear that she will bring something far more interesting to the table as the series progresses.

While The Agency’s entire cast is great, the story itself doesn’t do enough to keep the viewer invested. The series attempts to weave in real-world geopolitical issues, such as the Russo-Ukrainian War, but it never knows what it wants to say. Name-dropping figures like Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin aren’t enough to get the viewer to perk up. The sense is that the writers may have wanted to offer deeper commentary about surveillance and world policing, but stopped short of including anything that could be viewed as too provocative or alienating.

‘The Agency’ Is Full of Wasted Potential
Image via Paramount+

Despite all the things that The Agency has going for it, the series is ultimately a mixed bag, as it struggles to decide between being something more gritty and grounded or a pulpier spy series. Both of these ideas could have been interesting as their own pursuit. Martian’s unlikely reunion with Sami lends itself to a classic espionage story, one ripe for twists, suspense, and steamy chemistry. The Agency’s attempt to paint a more realistic and mundane look at spycraft is also interesting. It bears shades of being a workplace drama, as the employees at London Station, including John Magaro’s Owen and Katherine Waterston’s Naomi, are tasked with communicating with foreign assets for intel. While The Agency does recognize the high stakes within its plot, this isn’t some origin story either; many of these characters have dealt with these kinds of situations before.

What hurts The Agency the most is that it has all of these intriguing ideas and characters, but never commits itself to delivering anything that goes the extra mile to make itself stand out among the rest of the pack. Despite having a talented creative team and A-list cast behind it, The Agency turns into a lesser version of far better spy shows. It’s not poorly done, but considering the other options in the realm of espionage television, you’ll likely find yourself longing to rewatch Slow Horses instead — or at least wishing that Fassbender and Wright were cast in the next season of that series, rather than lumbering through a fairly dull series that feels like a waste of their talents.

Despite some promising concepts and a committed cast, The Agency squanders its potential with slow pacing and a conflicted tone that seems to be at battle with itself. It never knows whether it wants to be popcorn entertainment or something more thought-provoking and vulnerable.

The Agency premieres November 29 on Paramount+ with Showtime.

Despite the best efforts of its talented cast, The Agency feels like a dull imitation of better spy shows.ProsMichael Fassbender, Jeffrey Wright, and Jodie Turner-Smith all turn in compelling performances.The storyline between Fassbender and Turner-Smith’s characters is intriguing. ConsThe series struggles between whether it wants to be something more pulpy or grounded and realistic.The series wants to include real-world conflicts without taking a stance.The Agency fails to find a compelling hook to keep you invested in the story.

The Agency is a 2024 espionage thriller following covert CIA agent Martian, who is recalled to London Station, disrupting his undercover life. As a former romance rekindles, Martian’s career and true identity are jeopardized, leading him into a high-stakes world of international intrigue and deception.Release Date November 29, 2024 Cast Jeffrey Wright , Michael Fassbender , Jodie Turner-Smith , Saura Lightfoot Leon , Katherine Waterston , John Magaro , Alex Reznik , Harriet Sansom Harris , India Fowler , Reza Brojerdi , Richard Gere Network Paramount+ with Showtime Directors Joe Wright Producers Bob Yari , David Glasser , David Hutkin , George Clooney , Grant Heslov , Jez Butterworth , Michael Fassbender , Ron Burkle , Pascal Breton , John-Henry Butterworth , Nina L. Diaz , Grant Heslov

Watch on Paramount+