The Recruit

Noah Centineo stars in the new spy drama, out December 16.

It was enough to make me wish that the rest of the series’ narrative lines were cleaner and that its vision for what it could be and do were less bogged down in flaccid humor. And Owen’s relationships with his social circle — along with recriminations that his very busy schedule of espionage keeps him from being a fully involved friend — feel like a 20-years-later reboot of the least interesting parts of “Alias.” [The Recruit](https://variety.com/t/the-recruit/),” a new Netflix drama created by Alexi Hawley, thrusts Centineo’s character Owen Hendricks into the midst of international spyjinks, throughout which he runs the emotional gamut from benignly interested to mildly nervous.

Noah Centineo's graduation from "To All the Boys I've Loved Before" teen heartthrob to adult (but still boyish) action hero is off to a slow start, as he ...

But as “The Recruit” inadvertently reminds us, good TV series are too. Other than that, “The Recruit” comes across as a slightly whimsical but mostly generic vehicle to showcase Centineo (who also receives an executive producer credit), without zeroing in on why his gruff boss (Vondie Curtis Hall) keeps entrusting him with such treacherous and pivotal assignments. Indeed, the most interesting character is a more worldly colleague (Kaylah Zander) who is so eager to parlay her CIA experience into a TV talking-head gig that she’s built a studio in her home so she can practice her delivery.

The Recruit's creator Alexi Hawley reveals how they managed to bring Nathan Fillion on board for a cameo in the finale.

What follows is a globe-trotting conspiracy that has Hendricks pushed past his limits as he navigates the complicated political landscape and international adversaries to uncover the truth. The Recruit is available to stream now on Netflix. And Nathan is just such a great actor, and so charismatic, and he got excited 'cause he's like, "I get to curse." He's found acclaim for appearances in series like Firefly and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, films like James Gunn's Slither, and for his voice roles throughout the Halo and Destiny game franchises. Fillion is a fan favorite known for his roles across films, television, and even video games. [Noah Centineo](http://collider.com/tag/noah-centineo)-led project The Recruit and fans who reached the end would've noticed a special cameo during the finale.

In a slightly different role for Noah, the crime series sees him starring as Owen Hendricks, a young but unprepared CIA lawyer thrown into the deep end of the ...

The season one finale sees Max shot by Karolina, who turns out to be her daughter. Netflix's decision to renew will likely be influenced by viewing figures, plus how many people actually complete the series, so here's hoping it's a yes! Brand new on Netflix, the series is made up of eight episodes, with fans already calling for more.

Noah Centineo fans have loved the actor's new spy comedy-drama The Recruit, and are hoping to see season 2 released on Netflix.

[Netflix](https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81396545). [subscribe now](http://radiotimes.com/magazine-subscription?utm_term=evergreen-article). For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the [Radio Times View From My Sofa podcast](https://www.radiotimes.com/audio/podcasts/). Is there a trailer for The Recruit season 2? Check out more of our [Drama](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/) coverage or visit our [TV Guide](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/tv-listings/) and [Streaming Guide](https://www.radiotimes.com/streaming-guide/) to find out what's on. [Never Have I Ever](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/comedy/never-have-i-ever-season-4-release-date-netflix/)), Colton Dunn ( [Superstore](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/comedy/superstore-season-6-netflix-uk-release-date/)) and Fivel Stewart ( [Atypical](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/comedy/atypical-season-4-netflix-release-date/)), helping to give the show its comedic edge. [The Recruit cast](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/recruit-cast-netflix-noah-centineo) also counted [Daredevil](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/sci-fi/daredevil-revival-disney-plus-release-date/) star Vondie Curtis-Hall along with Kaylah Zander ( [Chilling Adventures of Sabrina](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/sci-fi/chilling-adventures-of-sabrina-part-4-review/)), Kristian Bruun (Orphan Black) and Laura Haddock ( [White Lines](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/white-lines-season-2-release-date-netflix/)) among its top names in season 1. [To All The Boys](https://www.radiotimes.com/movies/to-all-the-boys-3-review/) trilogy. Will there be The Recruit season 2? Who could return for a possible The Recruit season 2? Will there be The Recruit season 2 on Netflix? Based on Hawley's previous work, it seems likely that The Recruit is intended to run for multiple seasons (as opposed to being a limited series) and there is certainly potential to take the premise further.

Noah Centineo pivots from high school hunk to rookie CIA lawyer in "The Recruit" -- and he's woefully miscast in this misguided, wannabe spy thriller.

There’s not a lot of coherence to why certain events are happening, with the car chases and guns seemingly added because they’re part of the spy-thriller scenario. Centineo seems eager to graduate from high school roles without first putting in the work. Still, he plays the Owen with the same Golden-Retriever energy that he used to play a high school jock. The show’s plot is essentially, “hapless new guy bumbles his way through the CIA.” It’s hard to pin down tonally, since that sounds like a slapstick comedy, and it does have humorous moments. The plot gets convoluted as Owen runs around from locations ranging from Yemen to Phoenix, but it moves at a brisk pace. It’s awkward that he hasn’t changed his style to adjust to an older character or a shift in genre.

With all respect to the actual pencil pushers and desk jockeys at Langley, I'm sure that working at the CIA isn't inherently the Jack Ryan, Jason Bourne, ...

Centineo is curiously still figuring out his groove as an actor, and this project might get him more exposure on the Netflix homepage. Centineo rides this series for how it lets Owen be quick-witted at some points and woefully naive in other places (whatever the current scene needs). But "The Recruit" is far too amused with its wordiness in sharing the stuff that happens between cubicles at Langley, and it kills what little momentum the series gathers. There are fleeting moments of mildly rendered action, accompanied by peppy music, in which his lack of physical training leads to some improvisation the script uses lazy shortcuts for (at one point, he unscrews a toilet to escape from a bathroom in the fastest way one could do that, ever). As part of his hazing, Owen is given stacks of "graymail," written letters by people who threaten to release government secrets. Of course, someone has to do the paperwork and the bureaucratic acrobatics to protect assets, vet threats, and the like.

Episode 3 of The Recruit starts with Owen swimming out of the river. As soon as he is clear, 3 agents come up to him asking about his attack.

Nyland alerts him to the fact that the Attorney General is waiting for him in his office. He describes Xander to her and she tells him that she called him Pastry king and has so much dirt on him. They decide to pay him a visit at the base and try to convince him to sign it. Owen meets with Terence for drinks and runs into Sarah who he wanted to ask about the subpoena but never got a chance before. On his way out, he meets Lester and confides in him that he is feeling paranoid. At the courthouse, he runs into a lady he met at the motel in Phoenix. Lester warns that everyone is out to get him and he should always be on alert. While there, he calls Max and asks if she had anything to do with the attempt on his life. They offer to help him figure out who is trying to kill him – if he reveals why he is in Vienna. Nyland asks him to go to Max’s hearing and make sure nothing goes wrong. Max insists that the deal is to get her out of prison or she will start naming people in two days. As soon as he is clear, 3 agents come up to him asking about his attack.

Episode 2 of The Recruit starts with a five-year flashback in Minsk, Belarus. Max was still an active double agent and was meeting some people at the opera.

Owen is new to this so he is still trusting and naive which is sad because the wolves are close by and can smell blood, coming in the form of his inexperience. He follows her advice and swims his way to freedom from the assassins. The next morning, Owen calls Max (she is a connected criminal, she has a secret phone under her bed.) to tell her he found the leverage she has on them. Owen is hesitant to commit murder so he overpowers her and makes a run for it. However, Owen forgets Nyland’s advice and misses the fact that he is being followed on his way to meet with the case officer. At that moment, Owen realizes that his driver is a female assassin and Max tells him to kill her. He orders Owen to fly to Phoenix and handle the situation. In the meantime, Owen chooses to stay at a motel in Phoenix and gets attacked by Talco. Owen tells her that the subpoena is the least of his problems and refuses to clarify further. Owen worries that the CIA might have something to do with it and Nyland finds it offensive that he even asked. In the meantime, Violet and Lester are snooping around in his office and they lie to him that they are trying to support him. Max is left with no choice and only asks not to be abandoned in the US.

"The Recruit" is all about Noah Centineo looking next-door-neighborly cute, flying around the world for missions, and getting away from every trouble with.

Max is one of the most important characters in “The Recruit,” and we can expect her to return to demystify the truth behind losing her daughter to the rival gang. The operation’s plan was to send Max to Prague, and after the buyout, they would reinstate her in Belarus. After overpowering a member of the rival group, he grabbed his machine gun and managed to enter the building with the assistance of Dwan and her team. Hannah was a witness to the kidnapping. He jumped out of the car in a desperate attempt to get away from Max. It was evident that she was not making blank threats, and it was of immediate priority for the Agency to deal with her case. After studying the CCTV footage in and around the hotel, it was confirmed that the assassin was Nichka Lashin, a Russian mafia enforcer. After learning that her case had a witness, Owen with the help of Amelia, figured out that they could place the witness under the CIA’s relocation program for retired assets, and he could start a new life with a new identity and a job. Owen shared a room with Max and, in the process, learned about her past, but he refrained from sexually indulging with her. After her release from prison, Max escaped from her safe house to get back into her business and earn the money that would be required for her to pay to enter the mafia again. She wrote a letter, blackmailing the CIA to release her from prison in return for protecting vital information that she withheld about the Agency and its agents. After losing his father in the war in Afghanistan and promising his mother not to walk down the same path, Owen joined the CIA as a lawyer to work for his country without getting involved in the violence.

The Recruit, Noah Centineo's new Netflix spy series from The Rookie's Alexi Hawley, premiered Dec. 16. Here's everything we know about a potential Season 2.

[Angel Parker](https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/angel-parker/3030724184/)) was tracking Max when the pair were picked up, Owen knows a lot of secrets and the CIA might not want to get their hands dirty to rescue him. [Read the full interview here](https://www.tvguide.com/news/noah-centineo-and-the-recruit-boss-tease-the-fallout-from-that-game-changing-finale/). "If he picked up a gun and was suddenly Jason Bourne in Episode 2, that would be a different show," the producer said. That would carry on, in theory, in a Season 2 as well." "It's hard for him to pull that trigger and the repercussions of what happens when he does has impact in a way that I think is really human, for him to have to deal with that moment. Who else will return out of the series regular cast, which includes Fivel Stewart (Hannah), The streaming service usually gives out renewals within a 90-day window of the release. By the end of the season, Owen finds himself held captive by Max's allegedly dead daughter (surprise!) without any idea of whether he'll see home or anyone he ever loves again. 16 and introduced the world to Noah Centineo's Owen Hendricks, a baby-faced lawyer for the CIA who quickly finds himself in way over his head at the nation's most secretive agency. When Owen establishes that Max's threats are legitimate, he's roped into the field to try to save Max, his job, and, most importantly, his own life. It's a brand new show and Netflix will be evaluating its viewership numbers before making a final decision. In the series' first episode, Owen comes across a piece of graymail from a Russian former asset, Max Meladze (

There is a scene in the upcoming Noah Centineo Netflix series "The Recruit" where Noah Centineo's character Owen finds himself in the middle of a shootout.

[Shadow of I-T Dept Looming Over Charities](/epaper/delhicapital/2022/dec/17/satet-front/shadow-of-i-t-dept-looming-over-charities/articleshow/96288306.cms) These scenes set "The Recruit" apart as a different [CIA](/topic/cia)drama. [Peter Kavinsky](/topic/peter-kavinsky). [Owen](/topic/owen)recognizes a member of the opposing side as a woman he previously met at a bar. In the first film, which was a love story based on Jenny Han's book To All the Boys I've Loved Before, he portrayed Like Jack [Ryan](/topic/ryan), Centineo' [s Owen](/topic/s-owen)is a CIA official who finds himself in the field, but unlike Ryan, this CIA agent is an attorney who quickly gets into trouble.

The Recruit follows Owen, a freshly hired lawyer at the CIA who finds himself over his head as he works with burned asset Max Meladze (Laura Haddock) to ...

The Recruit reads like a network show with the time to fill a season with 22 episodes; as a Netflix show with fewer episodes per season, they don’t have the luxury of a slow build. Centineo can also throw punches with the best of them in action scenes, battling his way out of a double-wide trailer with nary a weapon other than cleaning fluid. Centineo’s had a streak of playing cute fast-talking boys in Netflix’s To All The Boys trilogy. Adding to the mess is a dead dad complex (his dad died serving in Afghanistan) and a roommate situation as she shares an apartment with his ex-girlfriend, Hannah ( [Alexi Hawley](https://thespool.net/?s=alexi+hawley), producer of network action comedies such as The Rookie and Castle. Netflix looks to add to the roster with the new series The Recruit, which follows a dashing but stumbly new CIA lawyer Owen ( [Noah Centineo](https://thespool.net/?s=noah+centineo)), as he falls deeper into internal espionage.

Noah Centineo and Laura Haddock reveal whether they think Maxine Meladze is dead. Showrunner Alexi Hawley teases ideas for Season 2.

Should “The Recruit” land a second season order, though, Hawley states that he’s well-prepared. “It seems like Owen would be a perfect person for her to explore that with,” she says. Duplicitous and savvy, Max carries herself throughout the show as one who’s constantly two steps ahead of her enemies; Owen, a new hire in the Office of the General Counsel at the CIA, is always racing to catch up. Yes, you can worry about what happens after, but at the same time, I think you have to be bold, especially in this day and age where there’s 9,000 shows.” “And what the fuck are you doing running around with my mother?” “Karolina?” Max gasps, uttering the name of her long-lost daughter.

The Recruit's creator Alexi Hawley discusses working with The Bourne Identity's Doug Liman on the Netflix series, Nathan Fillion's cameo, and more.

And also the Nietzsche of it all in the CIA office when they're going through who we got to kill and who we don't have to kill, and all that kind of stuff. "You have a daughter, I have a daughter," that kind of thing. But can you talk a little bit about the process of building to that jaw-dropping finale? 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 ending of the season had me wanting to find a number to call Netflix and be like, "You have to renew this for a second season." Can we actually talk about that cliffhanger ending and the way it all kind of comes together? Because even though he is the lead of the show, there is a strong ensemble and we found phenomenal actors to fill those roles. And it's rare that the people that you love and really want to get are available, that’s the same thing with Doug. the black site in Yemen, we shot in a parking lot in Montreal at the sound stages, and the world around it is created, but again, in a way that's seamless. And Nathan is just such a great actor, and so charismatic, and he got excited 'cause he's like, "I get to curse." But that seemed like a really fun way in, and a fresh way into the world. COLLIDER: I love this genre of storytelling, and I specifically love how millennial The Recruit feels.