Netflix Cancels The Recruit After Season 2’s Shocking Ending
Despite generating billions of minutes viewed, and landing near the top of the streaming charts, Netflix has cancelled The Recruit after two seasons. Noah Centineo produced and led the spy dramedy from series creator Alexi Hawley, which focused on Centineo's CIA lawyer Owen Hendricks often jumping into dangerous situations that he isn't prepared for. The show's second installment, which debuted in late January, turned the action to South Korea and added Past Lives star Teo Yoo to The Recruit cast.
Colton Dunn confirms on Threadsthat The Recruit has been cancelled by Netflix. Dunn, who played Owen's reluctant ally Lester Kitchens in both seasons, called the news “such a bummer” and adds that he'll soon share photos and memories from filming. Check out Dunn's post below:
Post by @captdopeView on Threads
Why Netflix Cancelled The Recruit
Season 2 Saw A Viewership Decline (When Season 1 Was Already A Modest Hit)
By some metrics, The Recruit season 3 seemed like a decent possibility because the second installment performed well enough. For the week of January 27 to February 2, the Netflix Original came in second on Nielsen's Streaming Top 10 and generated close to 1.2 billion minutes viewed. It was just behind The Night Agent, another Netflix spy drama, which had close to 3 billion minutes viewed.
Looking specifically at Netflix's own data, there were reasons to worry about the show's fortunes. Although the series trended on the charts, the numbers represented a decline from season 1. In its first week, according to What's On Netflix, season 2 had 5.9 million views compared to the 7.3 million start for season 1.
This is combined with the fact that The Recruit season 1 was one of the smaller series, in terms of viewership, to get a season 2 renewal. The cost of filming overseas might have also played a factor, though that could have been alleviated by keeping the season 3 story to more limited locations. In any case, the conflicting data is a reason there should be more transparent audience numbers from streaming platforms that paint a clear picture of a title's performance and completion rates with subscribers.
Our Take On The Recruit's Cancellation
The Better Show Was Cancelled
There's an argument to be made thatthe superior spy saga was cancelled. Depending on what the viewer is looking for, Centineo gave a lively performance that was comedic and dramatic in fitting measure. Despite the abruptness of The Recruit's season 2 ending, which tied up the main threads but kept the door open for Yoo to reunite with Cententio, there was a lot of potential in allowing that pairing to move forward. There's an argument to be made, as well, that subscribers aren't truly connecting with many Netflix shows as most returning originals have seen declines in viewership.
Source: Threads/What's On Netflix
The Recruit
- Release Date
- 2022 - 2025-00-00
- Network
- Netflix
- Directors
- Doug Liman
- Writers
- Alexi Hawley, George Ghanem, Amelia Roper, Hadi Deeb, Niceole R. Levy, Maya Goldsmith
Cast
Noah CentineoOwen Hendricks
Colton DunnLester Kitchens
The Recruit follows a young attorney recruited by the CIA, navigating the perilous realm of international espionage.
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