15 Best Shows Like The Recruit To Watch While Waiting For Season 2

For viewers seeking entertaining options while enjoying the return of The Recruitseason 2, there are several thrilling shows that share qualities with the distinctive Netflix spy series created by Alexi Hawley. Blending action, comedy, and romance, The Recruit stands out for its ability to combine multiple genres into one appealing show. Centered around novice lawyer Owen Hendricks who is thrust into the world of international espionage after joining the CIA, the show evolves into an exciting globetrotting adventure. As Owen takes on a complex case, he must quickly learn to navigate internal politics and determine who to trust.

Unsure of what secrets this asset plans to expose, Owen sets off on an investigation that tests his limits as a new CIA officer. With The Recruit season 2 underway, there are a variety of series that offer thrilling plots, multidimensional characters, and sharp dialogue to entertain viewers while waiting for the Netflix drama’s return. Whether one craves more action, comedy, romance, or a mix of all three, the following shows provide engrossing stories to fill the void left behind after binging the first season of The Recruit.

15 The Equalizer (2021-)

A Former CIA Agent Helps People On The Streets

The Equalizer is the rebooted franchise that started as a TV show in the 1980s before becoming a Denzel Washington movie franchise. This series, which premiered in 2021, changes Robert McCall into Robyn McCall, a former CIA agent played by Queen Latifah. She has left the CIA and now lives with her daughter and sister while privately helping people in need by placing an ad for anyone who feels that they can't defend themselves to contact her, and she will come to help them.

Owen learned at the end of the first season that there was no clear way out of the CIA.

Queen Latifah is much more experienced than Owen in The Recruit, but she must deal with the CIA, which demands that she do things that she might not feel comfortable about. Just like how Owen learned at the end of the first season that there was no clear way out of the CIA, Robyn learned that fact throughout the series as she keeps getting called back in to help clean up messes that get in the way of her goal of helping people on the streets, which is where her heart truly lies.

14 The Day Of The Jackal (2024-)

A British Intelligence Officer Hunting Down A British Assassin

The Day of the Jackal (2024)

8/10

The Day of the Jackal is a Peacock spy thriller series that sees a British intelligence officer tracking down a ruthless assassin. Oscar-winner Eddie Redmayne plays the assassin, known as The Jackal, while Lashana Lynch (Photon from The Marvels) stars as Bianca, an MI6 agent investigating him. This is a cat-and-mouse battle between the two, with the Jackal the more experienced and Bianca often realizing she is over her head against the seasoned killer.

It is very similar to Owen throughout all of The Recruit. While he is even less experienced than Bianca, he often feels one step behind both Max and her daughter Karolina in the end. Both series also ends with the law enforcement agents getting one-upped by the villains and being forced to continue on in their journey. There is a difference, as Bianca is obsessed with chasing down The Jackal while Owen ends up wanting out in the end, but there is a lot to love about both spy shows.

13 The Terminal List (2022-)

A Former Navy SEAL Hunts Down The People Who Killed His Team

There is a big difference between The Recruit and The Terminal List, but the two shows share a lot in common as well. The Terminal List stars Chris Pratt as James Reece, a former Navy SEAL whose entire team was betrayed and left for dead. He survived, and when someone came to his home to try to kill him but murdered his wife and child instead, he realized that deception and betrayal go high in the United States government. He then sets out to kill everyone involved in the betrayal one by one on his own Terminal List.

That is a big difference. Owen works for the CIA, and he has to kill when the time comes, but he does not want to kill anyone. He felt that it was a life he wanted, but ultimately learned it wasn't. However, both Owen and James are people who realize they can't even trust the people closest to them, and they both know there are dark secrets that people in high places don't want uncovered. While the two men couldn't be more different, the mysteries they uncover play out in a similar manner.

12 Citadel (2023-)

Former Global Spy Agents Are Called In To Stop A New Threat

Citadel is another spy/espionage series, and this one is streaming on Amazon Prime Video. Richard Madden is Kane, a top-class Citadel spy who has his mind wiped after the organization shuts down. However, when a new evil terrorist organization begins to rise, he is called in and sent back into action once again along with another agent named Nadia (Priyanka Chopra), who also had her mind wiped. Stanley Tucci stars as one of Kane's old colleagues who is the person who sends them back into action.

For anyone who loves shows about espionage and spies, CItadel is a nice companion piece to The Recruit.

Both Kane and Nadia are more experienced than Owen ever had a chance to be, and they are killing machines when needed. However, with the dark secrets and betrayals around every corner, it shares a lot in common with The Recruit as well. For anyone who loves shows about espionage and spies, CItadel is a nice companion piece to The Recruit.

11 Bodyguard (2018)

A Former Military Man Serves As Bodyguard To A Politician

Richard Madden stars as David Budd, a Scottish veteran of the Afghanistan war who is now working for Protection Command as a Principal Protection Officer. While he has a strong distrust of politicians, he finds himself ordered to serve as the bodyguard for Julia Montague (Keeley Hawes), the Home Secretary and Conservative Party Member of Parliament. The big selling point here is that David disagrees with most of Julia's political beliefs, but he has a job to do and will protect her at all costs.

Seeing David forced to work with Julia in Bodyguardis very similar to Owen having to work with Max in The Recruit. Both shows have the duos learning more about each other and being forced to build trust, all while they realize there might be some people in their inner circles who can't be trusted. These are shows about political intrigue and betrayals and have some great thriller action, making them a good fit for fans of the other series.

10 The Rookie (2018-)

The Oldest Rookie On The LAPD Joins The Force

For those who love The Recruit’s mix of action, comedy, and high stakes, The Rookie brings similar aspects to the table. Also created by Alexi Hawley, this police drama centers on John Nolan, a 40-year-old man who becomes an LAPD rookie cop. The Rookie brings plenty of guest cameos, as John patrols the streets of LA, appealing to those who enjoy The Recruit’s spy missions and Owen’s globetrotting adventures.

Though the backdrop changes from the CIA to the LAPD, both shows feature an underestimated rookie placed in dangerous scenarios where unpredictable threats lurk around every corner. Throughout The Rookie, John experiences growth and goes from his role as a rookie to someone who has a strong understanding of the LAPD and is able to train young officers on his own watch. If The Recruit continues, Owen could expect a similar trajectory.

9 Archer (2009-2023)

An Adult Animated Independent Spy Agency

Those looking for another humorous take on the spy genre while awaiting The Recruit season 2 may appreciate the over-the-top approach of Archer. This long-running animated series centers on Sterling Archer, an incompetent yet oddly capable spy, and his snarky colleagues at a covert intelligence agency. Though Archer acts vain and reckless on missions, somehow he wins when it counts. Similarly, The Recruit’s Owen bumbles through cases as a CIA newbie but has underlying smarts.

Fans of The Recruit are bound to enjoy watching Archer’s parody and antics. Archer’s 14-season run provides entertaining perspectives on organizations tasked with espionage. While The Recruit never went into a full comedy situation, there were plenty of awkward and unexpected laughs in the first season, and for anyone who wants to see nothing but these ridiculous situations, there isn't a better place to start than with Archer.

8 The Americans (2013-2018)

Russian Sleeper Agents Living In America

Set during the Cold War in the 1980s, The Americans follows Elizabeth and Philip Jennings posing as a suburban American couple while secretly working for the KGB. Living a double life strains their family dynamic, similar to the internal CIA politics The Recruit’s Owen must navigate. Viewers who appreciate the risky, enigmatic nature of undercover work and complex interpersonal dynamics may find The Americans is the perfect espionage drama to binge while waiting for The Recruit’s return.

The two shows also offer a lot of deceit and mistrust, and the struggle to know who a person can trust and who they can't lead to many mysteries.

Both shows offer insight into the mental toll this career takes through tensions arising on missions and in the agents’ personal lives. The two shows also offer a lot of deceit and mistrust, and the struggle to know who a person can trust and who they can't lead to many mysteries. While the protagonists in The Americans are technically the villains, it is a show that plays along the gray areas of political thrillers, and if the Max and Karolina twist says anything, they should be similar to The Recruit.

7 Homeland (2011-2020)

The CIA Believes A POW Was Turned By The Enemy

The Recruit is great at exploring the psychological toll of CIA work. Homeland also accurately focuses on high-pressure spy games. The show revolves around Carrie Mathison, a brilliant yet unstable case officer coping with bipolar disorder while trying to catch threats to national security. Similarly, The Recruit examines the characters’ motivations and morality in the face of tremendous mental stress.

Viewers will witness Carrie and The Recruit’s Owen struggle internally with whom to trust as they navigate complex conspiracies and obstacles that test their abilities as intelligence agents under life-or-death conditions. In Homeland, no one knows who they can and can't trust in any situation, and this is something that is always on display in The Recruit, especially when it comes to Max and Karolina and their strange and mysterious relationship as mother and daughter.

6 Slow Horses (2022-)

A Low-Level British Intelligence Agency Who Handles The Dirty Work

The Recruit expertly blends dysfunction and danger within an intelligence agency, and Slow Horses follows a similar vein. The spy drama centers on an MI5 team of disgraced agents whose career blunders have landed them under the leadership of the disheveled Jackson Lamb. Similar to the internal politics Owen faces, this group must learn to cooperate despite wildly different personalities and motives.

In The Recruit, danger lurks at every corner. The dysfunctional "slow horses" must figure out how to turn the tide before they lose their jobs. With bumbling protagonists, Slow Horses aptly mirrors the CIA misfits headlining The Recruit. The two shows also reveal how the people involved in the missions are never sure what their ultimate goal is because there is always something that their superiors are not revealing to them as they fight for their country and their own survival.

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