Michael Fassbender to Topline Paramount+ Spy Thriller ‘The Agency’

Paramount+’s spy thriller The Agency has found its lead agent.

Michael Fassbender will star in the espionage drama (formerly titled The Department), which is based on the French series Le Bureau des Legendes and has started production. The two-time Oscar nominee will also serve as an executive producer of the show, which will stream on the platform’s Paramount+ With Showtime tier.

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The series from Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios and 101 Studios earned a straight-to-series order at Showtime in February 2023, before the premium cable outlet was effectively folded into Paramount+. George Clooney and Grant Heslov are executive producing the show; Jez and John-Henry Butterworth are writing all 10 episodes, and Joe Wright will direct the first two installments.

Fassbender will play a CIA agent who’s ordered to abandon his undercover life and return to London Station. When the love he left behind reappears, romance reignites. His career, his real identity and his mission are pitted against his heart, hurling them both into a deadly game of international intrigue and espionage.

“Michael Fassbender is one of the most gifted actors of our time,” said Chris McCarthy, Paramount Global co-CEO and president/CEO of Showtime & MTV Entertainment Studios. “He brings a gravitas and nuanced complexity to every character he inhabits, which is why we are so excited for him to star in The Agency as we start to roll out our new slate of Showtime originals.”

Fassbender is coming off Taika Waititi’s Next Goal Wins and David Fincher’s Netflix movie The Killer. He recently wrapped production on Steven Soderbergh’s Black Bag.

Along with Clooney and Heslov (via their Smokehouse Pictures), the Butterworths, Wright and Fassbender, the executive producers of The Agency are Keith Cox and Nina L. Diaz of Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios; David C. Glasser, Ron Burkle, David Hutkin and Bob Yari of 101 Studios; Alex Berger for TOP-The Originals Productions; and Ashley Stern and Pascal Breton for Federation Studios/Federation Entertainment of America.

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