Dominic West Joins 'The Bureau' Remake 'The Agency'
Dominic West in "The Crown" Season 5
(Photo: Netflix)
With less than a month until it debuts, the Paramount+/Showtime spy series The Agency is still announcing cast members as it races to complete filming. Starring Michael Fassbender (12 Years a Slave) and Jodie Turner-Smith (Anne Boleyn), this English-language remake of the French series The Bureau (Le Bureau des Legendes) was initially announced in early 2023. It then disappeared off the radar until mid-2024, when it suddenly gained Fassbender, writers, and director, and fast-forwarded into production with Paramount+ stating it would arrive before the end of the year.
In fairness, Paramount+ and Showtime kept that promise to have the series debut before 2025; the premiere is set for the final Friday of November 2024. However, last-minute arrivals are still joining the cast, like The Crown's Dominic West, who Variety revealed would be part of the show's inaugural season. Amusingly, West will play the American Director of the CIA, one of the few Brits in the cast playing an American. (The other two central American characters from the CIA are played by American actors Jeffrey Wright (Westworld) as Martian's contact, Henry, and Richard Gere (Pretty Woman) as his boss, Bosko.)
West's casting is almost certainly due to his role in The Wire, where he starred as a Baltimore cop. (For a good decade after, American viewers erroneously mistook the actor for a native Marylander.) It remains to be seen how many episodes West's character will appear in.
Here's The Agency's synopsis:
A fresh take on the critically acclaimed hit French drama Le Bureau des Legendes, the all-new political thriller follows Martian, a covert CIA agent ordered to abandon his undercover life and return to London Station. When the love he left behind reappears, romance reignites. His career, real identity, and mission are pitted against his heart, hurling them into a deadly game of international intrigue and espionage.
Michael Fassbender (12 Years a Slave), Jodie Turner-Smith (Anne Boleyn), Jeffrey Wright (Westworld), and Richard Gere (Pretty Woman) lead the cast. The agency boasts an extensive roster of co-stars as well: Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey), David Harewood (Sherwood), Katherine Waterston (Fantastic Beasts), Adam Nagaitis (The Responder), Ambreen Razia (Starstruck), Bilal Hasna (Extraordinary), John Magaro (The Umbrella Academy), Ray BLK (Champion), Tom Vaughan-Lawlor (The Ipcress File), Andrew Brooke (Criminal Record), Harriet Sansom Harris (Atlantic Crossing), India Fowler (The Nevers), Kurt Egyiawan (House of the Dragon), and Saura Lightfoot-Leon (Hoard).
Jez & John-Henry Butterworth (Edge of Tomorrow) wrote all nine episodes, and Joe Wright (Pride & Prejudice) directed the first two. The Butterworths, Wright, and Fassbender are executive producers along with George Clooney & Grant Heslov via their Smokehouse Pictures; Keith Cox & Nina L. Diaz of Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios; David C. Glasser, Ron Burkle, David Hutkin & Bob Yari of 101 Studios; Alex Berger for TOP-The Originals Productions; and Ashley Stern & Pascal Breton for Federation Studios/Federation Entertainment of America.
The Agency debuts with two episodes on Paramount+ with Showtime on Friday, November 29, 2024, followed by one a week through the end of the year.
