There are several top-notch original streaming series featuring spies, whether they be current or former CIA operatives, British MI-5 agents, or members of other international organizations. Some are action-packed from start to finish, while others are more deliberately paced. Here are six that are among the most bingeworthy. There are some spoilers ahead, but I tried not to give away too much.
Hanna (Prime Video 2019-2021)
Based on the 2011 film of the same name, the first season introduces us to 15-year-old Hanna (Esme Creed-Miles), who has been raised in the Romanian forest by her ex-spy “father” (Joel Kinnaman). He trained her to be a hunter and killer, as well as an expert in hand-to-hand combat. Hanna was part of a secret government experiment to create genetically superior female assassins. He rescued her when she was a baby and they went into hiding (after the CIA killed her mother). Now discovered, they must evade the relentless pursuit of off-the-book CIA agents led by Marissa Wiegler (played by Mirielle Enos, who teamed with Kinnaman in AMC’s The Killing).
The second season revs up the stakes and emotional content as Hanna and her one-time pursuer, Marissa, now an apparent ally, try to free Hanna’s new friend Clara (Yasmin Monet Prince) from the secret and secluded boarding school known as The Meadows. The school is designed to train elite assassins by molding young girls into amoral killing machines. They develop undercover identities in preparation to become sleeper agents around the world, blending into society until they are activated and ordered to kill their targets. Mirielle Enos shines in the role of Hanna’s former adversary and new mother figure and protector, as she plays a complex cat and mouse game with her former employers.
In the third and final season, Hanna and Marissa continue their efforts to bring down The Meadows, while at the same time trying to protect the many targets of the female assassins, who are now in the field all over the world. These targets are all under 30, some as young as 13, whom the CIA has determined are potential “subversives” and pose a future threat. Ray Liotta joins season 3 (in one of his last roles) as the boss in charge of The Meadows, known only as The Chairman.
The action is constant and thrilling during the six-episode final season (the previous two seasons each had eight episodes), as seconds and picking up on the smallest, seemingly insignificant details, separate escape and disaster. A single sideways glance, alerts the viewer that they sense danger and are about to either spring into action or go into hiding. As they use their wits, situational awareness, and a trove of other talents to out-maneuver and out-fight numerous teams of agents with orders to kill, Creed-Miles and Enos give performances that elevate this beyond what could have been just another cliched action series. Season 3 was reportedly the final season, but the ending sets the stage for more if they ever decide to continue the series.
Jack Ryan (Prime Video 2018- )
John Krasinski is the fifth actor to portray Jack Ryan, a CIA analyst first introduced in a series of best-selling Tom Clancy novels in the 1980s. This is the character’s first incarnation for television, and the best since Harrison Ford starred in the popular feature films, Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger. It covers his early years in the CIA, as he’s just starting to make a name for himself (updated to take place in present day).
The first season sees Jack being pulled from his financial analyst desk job into the field with his boss, James Greer (Wendell Pierce) to investigate Islamic extremists and go after a terrorist mastermind. Jack is the only one to notice suspicious monetary transactions, and persuades his skeptical bosses that this requires further investigation. We quickly discover that despite no field experience, Jack can take care of himself just fine (he fights off a hired killer), as they race to prevent a chemical attack in the U.S. and an assassination attempt on the President.
The second season takes Jack to Venezuela, where he goes against company orders to help topple the corrupt President and his thugs, free political prisoners held in a secret jungle compound, and uncover a global conspiracy. He is once again teamed with James Greer, as well as CIA station chief Mike November (Michael Kelly), as the three of them go rogue to bring down the bad guys despite being ordered by their higher-ups to leave the country after the U.S. embassy is evacuated.
Season 3 finds Jack investigating a plot to recreate the former Soviet Union by detonating a nuclear explosion in a former Soviet country and blaming the West. Once again, Jack defies his superiors’ orders to stand down, and once again he takes down the evildoers, aided by James Greer and Mike November (now a private “consultant”).
Part of the character’s appeal is that Jack Ryan is no Jason Bourne-type super spy. He’s a regular guy (although smarter than most) who works in an office. As a former marine he can defend himself if he needs to, but he wins the day more with his head than his fists. A buffed John Krasinski, a long way from his The Office days, always looks like he’s observing, thinking, and evaluating every situation in real time. Jack Ryan’s unwavering confidence that his analysis is correct and worth risking everyone’s lives, despite skepticism from his bosses and colleagues, provides the catalyst for his rogue actions that invariably end up saving the day.
The fourth and final season has already been filmed – so there won’t be a three-year wait as there was between season’s two and three.
The Old Man (FX, Hulu 2022- )
Spy thriller based on the 2017 Thomas Perry novel of the same name. Jeff Bridges is spot on as Dan Chase, a highly trained former black ops CIA operative who has been living off the grid for 30 years. When he kills an intruder who breaks into his home, he goes on the run and into hiding – “they found me” he tells his daughter Emily (who is living under a secret identity for her own protection). Harold Harper (the always great John Lithgow), FBI Assistant Director for Counter-Intelligence, with whom Chase has a complicated past, is assigned to track him down and bring him in. He is assisted by his protégé, Angela Adams (Alia Shawkat), who has a secret connection to Chase – the details of their relationship unfold over the first few episodes.
Dan Chase was a feared and brutal CIA assassin working to undermine the Soviet Union in Afghanistan during the 1980s. (Bill Heck, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Bridges, plays a young Dan Chase in flashbacks). He was like a ghost, never seen by the enemies he eventually slaughtered. His nickname was “the beast who eats everything.”
He winds up crossing an Afghan warlord Faraz Hamzad (Pej Vahdat) he had been working with, and escapes to the U.S., where he takes an assumed name and disappears, building a life with his wife and young daughter. Years later, Faraz (Navid Negahban), now powerful, feared, and virtually untouchable, seeks revenge on Chase.
The current older version of Dan Chase might be a bit rusty, but he has not lost any of his survival instincts or fighting skills, which are on full display in several intense, well-choreographed combat sequences. He also has two Rottweilers, who spring into action whenever their master is attacked.
When the government discovers where he is Harper sends a hitman, Julian Carson (Gbanga Akinnagbe),to kill him. Chase manages to escape and goes into hiding. He rents a room from lonely divorcee, Zoe (Amy Brenneman). But this puts her in danger, so she is forced to accompany him when he has to go on the run again. The highly trained Carson continues to pursue Chase, which put him and Zoe in even greater jeopardy.
What otherwise might have been a generic spy thriller is elevated to something much more exciting by the stellar cast. Jeff Bridges’ age (and acting chops) makes his tortured, flawed, and seemingly gentle (but brutally efficient) anti-hero a compelling character. John Lithgow has perfected an air of tension and menace, which are on full display here. And the emotional depth of his conflict – should he help Chase or kill him – will keep you guessing.
Alia Shawkat manages to hold her own with the two award-winning veterans, as FBI agent Angela Adams. While Harper has been her mentor at the FBI, she also has a deep connection to Chase, of which Harper is not initially aware. The always good Amy Brenneman brings a world-weary, attitude to the role of Zoe, not sure whether to help Chase or run as far away from him as possible.
The series is genuinely thrilling and thoroughly entertaining. Bridges is just as believable in his more gentle, weary (and wary) everyday demeanor as when he is fighting off younger assassins sent to kill him. It’s been renewed for a second season.
The Recruit (Netflix 2022- )
This fun political spy thriller stars Owen Hendricks (Noah Centineo) as a fledgling CIA lawyer who gets thrust into dangerous political and international waters when Max (Laura Haddock), a former agency Russian asset threatens to expose secret information unless she is exonerated. She had been abandoned by CIA higher-ups and is now in prison. As Owen negotiates with Max, he finds himself in peril from within and without his organization – everyone has their own agenda and it’s nearly impossible to know who to trust, even among his CIA colleagues. When the CIA decides to re-insert Max as an asset, the chaos and danger escalate dramatically.
Owen might be in over his head when it comes to field operations and knowing agency protocols, but he is a brilliant lawyer, whose smarts (and bravado) get him out of one precarious situation after another (until it doesn’t). He and Max, who is his intellectual match but can also be unpredictable and brutally violent, form an uneasy alliance. Twists and turns ensue.
The series seamlessly shifts from workplace comedy to tension-filled drama. The Recruit dropped in December 2022. My wife and I were scrolling through Netflix’s original series (the streamer still has by far the best user interface), and came across this gem – which I had never heard of. Netflix has a tendency to debut excellent series with virtually no promotion, which wind up becoming word-of-mouth hits. It’s been renewed for a second season.
Slow Horses (Apple TV+ 2022- )
Based on Mick Herron’s 2010 novel of the same name. British MI-5 agents who screw up, are exiled to Slough House, a decrepit London building that serves as an administrative purgatory, where drudgery and paperwork are the tasks of the day. Known derisively as “slow horses,” these outcasts report to the notorious Jackson Lamb (played with relish by Gary Oldman). Seemingly past his prime, slovenly, borderline alcoholic, and contemptuous of those he is forced to oversee, Lamb’s acerbic and obnoxious demeanor belie the keen mind of a legendary intelligence officer (still respected by the higher-ups at MI-5). As the opening song, Strange Game (by Mick Jagger) goes, “Surrounded by losers, misfits and boozers…”
The motley crew of agents who were deposited at Slough House because of embarrassing failures or just bad luck are a surprisingly talented bunch (when properly motivated), and somehow keep being pulled into investigations of major threats to Britain.
In season 1, when MI-5’s Deputy Director-General Diana Taverner (Kristen Scott Thomas) tries to blame Slough House for a failed MI5 false-flag operation that results in potential disaster, the slow horses spring (or trot) into action in an effort to uncover the truth and save a hostage (and themselves) in the process – all the while trying to stay one step ahead of elite MI5 operatives determined to stop them and blame them for the mission’s failure.
Season 2 may be even better than the first season, as they no longer needed to spend time introducing us to all the characters and the dynamics of Slough House (each season is just six episodes). We get right down to business here. When former field agent Richard Bough (Phil Davis) recognizes a man who tortured him during the Cold War, he follows him to a bus, where he dies of an apparent heart attack. Jackson Lamb finds Bough’s hidden phone under his seat with the single word message, “cicada,” on the screen, and gets his team to investigate. Cicada is a theory that Russian sleeper agents have been embedded in British society, which MI-5 had previously dismissed as a hoax.
The agents are in considerably more danger as one of their own dies suspiciously and they investigate and go all out to find the killers, and at the same time discover the Russians’ plans and race to stop them before they set off a chemical attack on the streets of London.
Part taut conspiracy thriller, part workplace comedy, the sharp writing and Gary Oldman’s terrific performance make Slow Horses a winner. It’s been renewed through a fourth season.
Tehran (Apple TV+ 2020- )
Israeli spy thriller about a young Mossad agent, Tamar Rabinyan (Niv Sultan) on her first field mission in Iran’s capital. She was born in Iran, but moved to Israel when she was a child. She’s an expert computer hacker, whose undercover mission is to infiltrate Tehran under a false identity and help disable a nuclear reactor before it goes online. The plan is to neutralize Iranian air defenses so that the Israeli Air Force can bomb a nuclear plant to prevent Iran from developing an atomic bomb.
Through the first two seasons, virtually every episode is fraught with tension and anxiety as Tamar is exposed, goes into hiding, and is hunted by Faraz Kamali (Shaun Toub), lead investigator of Iran’s feared Revolutionary Guard.
Tamar’s season 2 mission is to assassinate the newly promoted head of the Revolutionary Guard. Glenn Close joined the cast in season 2 as one of Tamar’s key allies. When the Mossad calls off the mission after an initial failure, they decide to proceed anyway, with tragic results – leaving Tamar trapped in Iran with no one to trust.
This is one of those rare series that attempts to show the humanity of both sides – and also the ruthless disregard for the collateral damage to innocent life in the pursuit of what each side sees as its righteous cause. No one on either side is safe. The series is captivating, intense, and exhilarating.
The show received an award for best drama series at the 2021 International Emmy Awards. It’s been renewed for a third season, with Hugh Laurie set to join the cast..
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