Don't Count on a Season 3 of Netflix's 'The Recruit'

The numbers are in for the first weekend of Noah Centineo’s The Recruit on Netflix, and they are… not great. Despite being the superior series to the dreadful The Night Agent—a show that audiences hate more than critics—its streaming numbers were significantly lower.

That may have something to do with Netflix viewers not wanting to watch another spy series the week after The Night Agent, or perhaps some viewers even confused the two. Whatever the case, The Recruit managed just 5.9 million views in its first weekend, far below the 15.2 million views the second season of The Night Agent pulled this week. Even the first season of The Night Agent, which is over two years old, garnered 5 million views.

Granted, these numbers only reflect The Recruit’s first weekend, not a full week. However, The Night Agent was seen by 13.9 million viewers in its first weekend last week, meaning The Recruit’s audience was less than half of that. For comparison, the first weekend of XO, Kitty — part of the franchise that launched Noah Centineo’s career — drew 14.1 million views, while Harlan Coben’s Missing You got 15.2 million last month. Even Peter Berg’s limited series American Primeval received 10 million views in its first weekend. And going back to December 2024, another spy series, Black Doves, debuted with over 10 million views.

Of course, all of these pale in comparison to the 68 million first-weekend views of Squid Game season two—but no other show, save for the upcoming second season of Wednesday, is expected to compete with that.

What is clear, however, is that the second season of The Recruit isn’t resonating with audiences. After just one week, the spy series has fallen to fifth place, while The Night Agent remains third in its third week. That show, of course, was renewed for a third season before its second even premiered. It’s a real bummer, considering how much better The Recruit is than The Night Agent.