Per Deadline, Netflix has released the premiere date for the upcoming second season of The Recruit. While the spy thriller series starring Noah Centineo (Good Trouble, T@gged) was delayed by the 2023 Hollywood strikes, the wait is finally over as the streamer has announced the official return date for its six-episode sophomore season: January 30, 2025.
The first-look images released by Netflix offer clues for the series’ second installment. The new season will find CIA lawyer Owen Hendricks, portrayed by Centineo, pulled into a life-threatening espionage situation in South Korea, only to realize that the bigger threat just might be coming from inside the Agency. It picks up from last season’s cliffhanger ending where Owen and Max, portrayed by Laura Haddock (Grace, White Lines) are captured, and their lives endangered.
Two photos show Owen and Nichika, portrayed by Maddie Hasson (Mr. Mercedes, Impulse), in the tense moments after she shot her mother, Max. The two will likely stay in touch, given the fact that Hasson was promoted to a series regular for the second season. However, the news is not so good for Max, whose fate is kept ambiguous in the finale. She is not in any of the released photos, and Haddock is not listed among returning cast members.
“Owen’s headspace is complete chaos,” Centineo told Netflix’s talk-show Tudum via Deadline about where the character is at the start of season two. “He has just witnessed Max, the former CIA asset whom he almost died multiple times trying to protect, get shot by her daughter Nichka. Owen is wondering how in the hell he is going to survive the next few seconds of his life.”
In the season premiere, Owen also will reunite with his girlfriend Hannah, portrayed by Fivel Stewart (Alert: Missing Persons Unit, Roar), after being dramatically snatched from a Prague street as he walked to meet her.
The photos also show new series regular Teo Yoo (Love to Hate You, The Window) as Jang Kyun Kim, along with several new recurring cast members. Back by popular demand, Nathan Fillion (The Rookie, Monsters at Work) will be reprising his season one cameo as CIA Director Alton West. Series regulars include Aarti Mann (The Good Doctor, All Rise), Colton Dunn (Star Trek: Lower Decks, Krapopolis), Kristian Bruun (Snowpiercer, Orphan Black), Kaylah Zander (Don’t Scream, It’s Me!, Reginald the Vampire), Angel Parker (Superman & Lois, Zooptopia+) and Vondie Curtis-Hall (Justified: City Primeval, Evil). Additional key cast members include Young-Ah Kim (Maestra: Strings of Truth, Behind Every Star), Felix Solis (City on Fire, The Rookie: Feds), James Purefoy (Land of Women, The Veil), Do Hyun Shin (Brewing Love, Doom at Your Service) and Sanghee Lee (Daily Dose of Sunshine, Unlock My Boss).
Alexi Hawley (The Recruit, Castle) serves as showrunner and executive producer alongside Centineo, Doug Liman (Don’t Look Deeper, Suits), Gene Klein (Pearson, Nightflyers), David Bartis (Captive, I Am Rebel), Adam Ciralsky (Dr. Death, Vice Investigates), Charlie Ebersol (Rooster & Butch, The Tap) and Julian Holmes (Reacher, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters). Lionsgate Television is the studio.
“Owen rolls into this season basically screwed,” Hawley continued. “Owen knows that if he does not walk away with a win this season, his career is going to be over. He might go to prison. Depending on what people are into, they can show up this season for the big, flashy, splashy action stuff, but they can also be on a journey with this guy who’s just trying to fix something that he broke.”