The Recruit will be back for Season 2 on Netflix, and it seems that Owen Hendricks' mission is far from over.
Created by Alexi Hawley, the action-packed spy series explores the story of a CIA lawyer named Owen Hendricks who accidentally becomes involved with a dangerous criminal that leads to a globe-trotting adventure where he is forced to make uneasy alliances.
The Recruit made its debut on Netflix on December 16, 2022.
The Recruit Season 2 Release: When Will It Come Out?
In January 2023, Netflix renewed The Recruit for Season 2.
To celebrate the show's return to the small screen, series creator and showrunner Alexi Hawley expressed his excitement about the renewal while speaking with Netflix's TUDUM:
“I’m thrilled to dive back into the fun, funny, action-packed world of The Recruit. Seeing how invested our audience became in the show’s adventurous take on the spy world and Noah’s turn as Owen has been incredibly rewarding, and I can’t wait to turn it all up to 11 in Season Two.”
Noah Centineo, who portrays the lead character, Owen Hendricks, also told TUDUM that he's "thrilled" to return for Season 2:
“I know I speak for our entire cast and executive team at eOne and Netflix when I say that we’re thrilled to be returning to 'The Recruit' for a second season. I’m looking forward to seeing what [showrunner] Alexi Hawley has in store for us all.”
Centineo is also confirmed to return as one of The Recruit's executive producers.
The Recruit's Season 2 renewal came after an impressive viewership performance in its debut run, being viewed 95.59 million hours during its first week of release.
It remains to be seen when The Recruit Season 2 will premiere on Netflix, but it's likely that it will be a while before cameras will start rolling due to the fact that the writers' strike by the Writer's Guild of America recently ended and the actors' strike by the Screen Actors Guild is still ongoing.
In April 2023, it was reported by the Hollywood North Buzz that The Recruit Season 2 was supposed to start filming in June 2023, but it was ultimately delayed to August 2023.
However, given the Hollywood actors' strike began in July 2023, the production start date was delayed indefinitely.
In Season 1, filming took place in Quebec, Canada and Los Angeles, California from October 2021 to March 2022.
Based on that timeline, production for Season 2 could have a similar window of five to six months.
That said, if filming begins sometime in early 2024, then it would wrap around June at the least. This could hint that The Recruit Season 2 may likely premiere around November or December 2024.
Who Is Cast in The Recruit Season 2?
The Recruit features a stellar cast headlined by Noah Centineo as Owen Hendricks.
Alongside the To All The Boys I've Loved Before and Black Adam alum, Season 2 is expected to bring back some of the key characters from Season 1, such as Aarti Mann as Violet, Fivel Stewart as Hannah, and Daniel Quincy Annoh as Terence.
Despite the fact that Season 1 ended with a game-changing cliffhanger where Laura Haddock's Max was shot by Karolina, some have theorized that she will return to potentially seek revenge against her own daughter.
In Season 1, Nathan Fillon also made a surprise appearance as the CIA director.
Speaking with TUDUM in December 2022, The Recruit showrunner Alexi Hawley teased that FIllion may return in Season 2, joking that he controls his schedule on The Rookie:
“Yeah, the good news is it’s up to me, because I control his schedule on 'The Rookie,' so I’ll just write him late in an episode and then he can come do 'The Recruit.'”
For a quick overview, here's a list of the main actors and their respective characters who will make a comeback in Season 2:
- Noah Centineo - Owen Hendricks
- Colton Dunn - Lester
- Laura Haddock - Max
- Aarti Mann - Violet
- Fivel Stewart - Hannah
- Daniel Quincy Annoh - Terence
- Vondie Curtis-Hall - Walter Nyland
- Kristian Bruun - Janus Ferber
- Maddie Hasson - Nichka Lashin (Karolina)
- Nathan Fillon - CIA Director
What Will Happen in The Recruit Season 2?
The Recruit Season 1 ended with a high-stakes cat-and-mouse chase after Owen and Max were taken hostage by Max's daughter, Karolina. Adding fuel to the fire, Karolina shot her own mother.
This massive cliffhanger is expected to be addressed in Season 2. It's possible that the show's sophomore run will begin with Karolina explaining her family heritage while Owen tries to escape while also helping Max recover.
In December 2022, The Recruit creator Alexi Hawley spoke with Collider to tease what's next for Owen's story in Season 2, noting that he has a clear idea of the narrative's trajectory:
"I know things about where I would want to take it, and where I'd want to go with it. I mean obviously, you hope for success, but as you could see with that ending, I didn’t plan for failure because I feel like in this day and age you just have to be bold, you have to be dramatic, to the expense of everything else."
The shocking twist surprised many. Laura Haddock, who plays Max in the series, told Variety in December 2022 that she was also shocked when she first saw the major reveal about Karolina in the script:
"Do you remember when Ross in 'Friends' saw Monica and Chandler snogging, and he was like, 'No, no, no'? That was me in the apartment reading it. Got to the last page. 'No!' Threw it. Then I just left my apartment."
Haddock then teased that Max may be in cahoots with Karolina all this time, which doesn't bode well for Hendricks in Season 2:
“What I love about this show is that there’s always another little back pocket secret card to play. Who knows? She may have even organized this with her daughter.”
As for the show's different tone and style in terms of embracing the low-key approach in spy films, Centineo (via IOL in January 2023) appears to tease that this outlook will continue in Season 2:
“If we were trying to do ‘Bourne [Identity]’, it would have been sick to have all those gadgets and gizmos. But we’re just doing a show about a kid that wants to be a lawyer that gets thrown into the world of espionage, and I loved it for what it was.”
It seems that Hendricks will be placed in a more precarious situation in Season 2 as he tries to survive many dangerous enemies and even allies.
The Recruit Season 1 is streaming on Netflix.
