Mere weeks after the second season arrived on Netflix, The Recruit has been cancelled. First revealed by one of the show’s stars, the platform has since confirmed the decision, ending the thriller series after season 2's twist ending.
Word broke of The Recruit receiving an untimely dismissal from Colton Dunn, a co-star on the TV show. "The Recruit has been cancelled y'all. Such a bummer. Thanks if you watched," he wrote on Threads, adding that he’s now available for work.
Netflix then gave confirmation to TVLine. The series starred Noah Centineo, of To All The Boys fame, as the fresh-faced CIA lawyer Owen Hendricks who becomes drawn into various diplomatic nightmare through his cases.
The eight-episode first season arrived in December 2022, jumping straight in at number three on Netflix's own charts, remaining in the top 10 for eight weeks in total. The second season, slightly shorter at six episodes, premiered this past January, landing in second place this time on the streaming service's in-house metrics.
The 2023 Hollywood strikes caused some delays to The Recruit season 2, hence the almost three-year gap between new episodes. It wound up in the relatively undesirable position of playing second fiddle to The Night Agent, another episodic bit of espionage on Netflix that's proven to be a smash.
Creator Alexi Hawley, who's worked on several successful shows including Castle and The Rookie, was optimistic about getting another renewal in an interview with Deadline for season 2. "There’s a lot of goodwill inside Netflix towards the show and towards Noah; I think they very much feel like Noah is a homegrown star, which he is," he said. "So, I’m feeling super positive about it, as positive as you can feel in this town at this time."
Alas, it wasn't to be. You can check out both seasons of The Recruit on Netflix now, and we have a list of all the other cancelled TV shows so far in 2025.
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