Growing up, one of the games that I loved to play the most as a kid was “I-Spy.” If you’ve never played it, it’s basically a game you play with your friends in that you say the words “I-spy” and then proceed to vaguely describe something that you’re looking at, and the others would have to guess what you’re describing. I was basically the LeBron James of “I-Spy.” No one could guess what I was describing. If they ever made this a sport (and, seeing that pillow fighting is a “sport” not, it may not be so far-fetched), I would take home first place, every single time.
My love for “I-Spy” was born out of the love I had for spy shows. Series such as MacGyver and Alias were mainstays on my TV screen, and, even as an adult, I can still appreciate a great espionage show. Lately, however, it seems that the spy show subgenre is going through changes, departing from the traditional “spy on bad guy, kill them with a No. 2 pencil” routine, and digging more into the nuances of spy work, how it makes people paranoid, and exploring conflicts that are not exactly published in the “War on Terror” brochure. To put it simply, these six spy shows are not your father’s espionage shows, and they’ve brought a fresh, if, arguably, more terrifying twist to this long-standing subgenre.
6
‘The Madness’ (2024)
Created by Stephen Belber
So, I want you to imagine something. You’re a TV personality who, unexpectedly, gets framed for the murder of a right-wing militant. You don’t know what’s going on. You don’t know why you were framed for this murder, or how the people who pinned this on you found you and decided to choose violence against you. All you know is, you’re now a pawn of a sinister game by Big Tech, and you have to prove your innocence; all the while, outrunning both the feds and a psychotic hit lady. Sounds pretty terrifying, doesn’t it? You wouldn’t wish that on anybody, not even your worst enemy. Unfortunately, that is the life Muncie Daniels (Colman Domingo) lived in the hit Netflix miniseries The Madness.
The Madness is a masterclass in political paranoia, with each episode having you on the edge of your seat wondering whether-or-not Muncie was going to put all-of-the pieces together and clear his name before he sees his maker (or the inside of a prison cell). Sure, it gets bogged down at times by political didacticism, but overall, The Madness brought a fresh take to a genre that is trying to scrub out any residue the War on Terror-inspired 2000s had on it.
5
‘Slow Horses’ (2022–)
Created by Will Smith
Let me say something right off the bat: Britain has America beat when it comes to espionage shows. Heck, this is the country that gifted us the greatest spy of all-time, and some timeless TV classics such as The Professionals, The Avengers, and The Little Drummer Girl. So, it should come as no surprise that Slow Horses would add to Britain’s lauded espionage history. Mixing the thrills of espionage with black comedy, Slow Horses follows a division within MI5 (Britain’s Secret Service) who have failed at their tasks, but not to the point where they will be fired.
The “Slow Horses” live in work purgatory, which is a place that no one would want to be in, and they do some of the most mundane, unappreciated tasks in the agency. On its face, the premise of Slow Horses would sound dull and uninspiring, but creator Will Smith and his team of writers prove that dull and uninspiring can bring out the best thrills and laughs, and make even the most skeptic of the spy subgenre sit up and binge an episode, or two.
4
The Night Agent (2023–)
Created by Shawn Ryan
When I first turned on The Night Agent, the first thought that came to my mind was “this is a total ripoff of 24!” I mean, think about it: If you grew up watching the iconic Fox thriller in the 2000s (like me), there is little that would separate the Kiefer Suderland-led serial thriller from this Netflix series that’s trying to take the basic concept of 24 and make it appeal in the era of binge-watching adults. Having said (or, wrote) this, the bingeable nature of The Night Agent is precisely what adds a new wrinkle to the spy subgenre.
Each season of The Night Agent is part of a bigger arch, which means that you can’t pick this Netflix conspiracy thriller up from Season 2 and expect to get the premise, which centers on FBI agent Peter Sutherland (Gabriel Basso) who serves as a phone operator for the Buerau’s “Night Action” program, which oversees specially-trained FBI agents as they do covert operations foreign and domestic (apparently, the CIA doesn’t exist in this world?). Peter is dragged away from his boring desk job and pulled into the field when a cybersecurity entrepreneur (Luciane Buchanan) needs to be protected as dangerous criminals are after her, and the plot unfolds into something bigger and more sinister. Yes, The Night Agent is by-the-book, but it’s also younger and hipper than its predecessor, and the twists and turns the series takes viewers more than justify its ranking as one of the more unique spy shows on streaming.
The Night Agent
- Release Date
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March 23, 2023
- Network
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Netflix
3
Zero Day (2025)
Created by Eric Newman, Noah Oppenheim, and Michael Schmidt
There is something fundamentally terrifying about Netflix’s Zero Day that will make your skin crawl. The miniseries focuses on a government commission that is set up after a brief, but devastating cyberattack wreaks all sorts of havoc in America, and causes the deaths of thousands of innocent civilians. It’s up to the commission’s leader, George Mullen (Robert De Niro), and his team to find the people behind the deadly attack, and stop any future attacks. When I saw the trailer for Zero Day, two things popped into my head: This looks kind of cool, and, why did they make this a miniseries? Honestly, Zero Day’s premise could have been covered in a two-hour movie, but, we got it in miniseries form, and I’m glad they did it as one as it dove more into the backstory of the attack, and made the payoff at the end much sweeter.
Zero Day is more than a scary look at the damage cyberterrorism can do to a country. One can look at this series and see it as a harbinger of the times we’re heading into. Zero Day hits so close to home because it can realistically happen (heck, it’s already happened). Yes, the premise was kind of goofy, but cyberterrorism is a real and scary thing, and this thriller showed what even a two-minute blackout of all systems can do to a country’s psyche. Not only that, but it also shows how far the government is willing to go in order to restore “law and order,” which is even scarier.
Zero Day
- Release Date
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2025 – 2024
- Network
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Netflix
2
The Agency (2024–)
Created by Jex Butterworth and John-Genry Butterworth
Being a spy can be the coolest job in the world, as TV has taught us over the years. But, recently, spy shows have taken on a different take on the life of a spy, that it’s not as glamorous and thrilling as Hollywood makes it out to be. The spy world is not filled with Ethan Hunts, they’re filled with people like The Agency‘s Brandon Colby (Michael Fassbender), codename “Martian,” a CIA agent who spent six years undercover in Ethiopia and was traumatized by his experience there. He’s pulled back to London Station where he tries to re-adjust to life outside undercover work, until he’s pulled back into life to rescue an undercover field agent and get info on Iranian nuclear weapons.
The Agency is a brutal look into the world of the secretive CIA, and the toll undercover life can take on its agents. You can’t help but feel sympathy for Martian. He’s trying to get back to a normal life, struggles at that, and then gets pulled back into a life filled with lying for the greater good. As dour as The Agency can get, it doesn’t hold a candle to the final entry in this list.
1
Lioness (2023–)
Created by Taylor Sheridan
Taylor Sheridan has made some great shows that reinvented the genres they were made for. Yellowstone reinvigorated the modern Western, Tulsa King brought a fresh and funny take on crime dramas, and Mayor of Kingstown is a crime thriller renowned for its grittiness. As great as those shows are in their own rights, Lioness is Sheridan at his best, taking a gritty look at spywork and the toll it takes on the psyche of all those involved in it.
Zoe Saldaña stars as Joe McNamara, a CIA senior case officer who leads the Lioness program, which recruits female operatives to infiltrate criminal networks. From the outset, we see how her position affects Joe’s personal life, and not in a good way. Joe is probably the most unlikable character Sheridan ever created. She’s brutally mean and manipulative to her operatives and is basically absent from her family. If there’s one quote that sums up Joe’s personality, it’s this one from Season 2, Episode 2, “I Love My Country”: “I choose the asset. I chose the cover. I build the f*****g plan. And I run it! Me!” Ladies and gentlemen: Joe McNamara!
“I choose the asset. I chose the cover. I build the f*****g plan. And I run it! Me!”
That quote, in which she dresses down a joint special operations committee with the U.S. Navy, sums up how badass Joe is, but it’s a cynical type of badassery that doesn’t leave you inspired. It leaves you terrified. Let’s be clear: there is nothing positive or uplifting about Lioness. It’s just a tour-de-force of psychological brutality, which is the central point of this series, and why it’s just so freaking good.