Paramount Amends 'The Agency's Title to Include 'Central Intelligence'

When Paramount+ stole MobLand out from under Showtime less than a month before the series premiered, it probably wasn't as shocking as it felt. After all, Showtime is a legacy pay-cable channel, and Paramount+ is a struggling streaming service that will likely be first on the chopping block or merger table as soon as the pending Paramount+/Skydance acquisition closes in mid-2025. One of these needs to be shored up before that happens, and robbing Showtime to program Paramount is an easy option. Hence, hit show The Agency's sudden switch from Showtime to Paramount+ for Season 2, and its eyebrow-raising (and hilarious) title alteration.

Critics weren't impressed with The Agency's first season. (Well, our critic was, but only in how a cast this good could be made so dull.) However, the cast was enough to get viewers in the door, and enough of them stuck with it that the series was commissioned for a second season. But now Paramount+ is hedging its bets that more viewers can be convinced to tune in to the series by implying it's somehow connected to the two extremely popular series it receives from its sister broadcast network, CBS: CSI and FBI, but renaming it The Agency: Central Intelligence.

FBI's newest spin-off, FBI: CIA, may be hilarious to anyone who knows anything about how the bureaus work, but it's also bound to be a massive hit when it arrives on CBS and Paramount+ in late 2025. Adding "Central Intelligence" to The Agency will mean viewers will automatically group the series in with the hit procedural. Moreover, Paramount's marketing is notably using "Agency: CI" as the series' designated nickname, and no one would be shocked if viewers mentally add an "S" in there and think it's the newest variation on the long-running Crime Scene Investigation franchise. 

However, The Agency has nothing to do with either series. Instead, it is a remake of the hit French series The Bureau (Le Bureau des Légendes), streaming on AMC+, which thematically set out to counter the romanticization and glorification of the spy business found in shows like FBI and CSI.

Here is the second season's synopsis:

Season 2 follows Martian, a CIA agent living undercover in his own life. Samia, his lover, is a political prisoner in Sudan, and he will do anything to try and save her, even past the point of treachery. The only way out is deeper in. A knife-edge Martian must walk if he is to save love, life, and his mission. 

The cast confirmed to return for Season 2 includes the main quartet of Michael Fassbender (12 Years a Slave), Jodie Turner-Smith (Anne Boleyn), Jeffrey Wright (Westworld), and Richard Gere (Pretty Woman). Co-stars confirmed to be returning for a second engagement in the start of production photos include Katherine Waterston (Fantastic Beasts), Ambreen Razia (Starstruck), and John Magaro (The Umbrella Academy). 

Also returning (though not pictured): Harriet Sansom Harris (Atlantic Crossing), India Fowler (The Nevers), Andrew Brooke (Criminal Record), Saura Lightfoot-Leon (Hoard), Reza Brojerdi (SOKO Wismar), and Alex Reznik (Babylon). Guest cast is expected to be announced in due course.

Jez & John-Henry Butterworth (Edge of Tomorrow) once again pen all episodes; directors for the new season were not included in the press release. The new season was inspired by the critically acclaimed hit French drama The Bureau (Le Bureau des Légendes), a Création CANAL+ original series produced by TOP – The Originals Productions and Federation Studios, created by Eric Rochant.

The Butterworths, Wright, and Fassbender continue to 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: Central Intelligence Season 2 is slated for a late 2025 release on Paramount+.