Jack Ryan Meets Jason Bourne In Netflix's 3-Part Espionage Thriller

Published Jul 28, 2026, 5:59 PM EDT Cathal Gunning has been writing about movies, television, culture, and politics online and in print since 2017. He worked as a Senior Editor in Adbusters Media Foundation from 2018-2019 and wrote for WhatCulture in early 2020. He has been a Senior Features Writer for ScreenRant since 2020. Sign in to your ScreenRant account One Netflix show functions as a blend of the gritty Jason Bourne movies and the Prime Video spy series Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, so it’s no surprise that this hit has become a massive success with audiences. The spy thriller has a long history on the small screen as well as in movie theaters. While readers might instantly think of James Bond as the archetypical screen spy, shows like Get Smart, Mission: Impossible, and The Man from U.N.C.L.E prove that the ‘60s had no end to its major spy shows. In recent years, spy series have made a massive comeback thanks to the bigger budgets and increased ambition of streaming services. From Taylor Sheridan’s two-season hit Lioness to the four-season run of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan on Prime Video, there is a plethora of spy shows for the discerning viewer. Prime Video is also home to 2024’s darkly comic Mr. & Mrs. Smith reboot series, as well as the costly but divisive Citadel franchise. However, that doesn’t mean that the streaming home of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan is the only player in the spy show game. Right now, the most exciting spy series on streaming blends the everyman protagonist of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan with the urgency and brutality of the Jason Bourne movies for an unmissable genre treat. Based on author Matthew Quirk’s 2019 novel of the same name, The Night Agent centers on Gabriel Basso’s unassuming titular FBI agent Peter Sutherland. The Night Agent Is An All-Time Great Spy Show From Netflix Like the upcoming Reacher season 4, The Night Agent plunges its protagonist straight into the middle of a government conspiracy from its opening scene. The show has this in common with the Jason Bourne movies, wherein Matt Damon’s amnesiac assassin can’t trust anyone and ends up fighting a one-man war against his former handlers, the CIA, and eventually, corrupt agents at every level of the US government and international establishment. While Sutherland is also tasked with revealing hidden truths after he stumbles upon a conspiracy that is way above his humble pay grade, The Night Agent’s off-grid hero isn’t a complete carbon copy of Jason Bourne. Part of what makes Bourne such a compelling antihero is his training as a professional hitman and his mysterious past, which mean viewers are often reminded that he is capable of killing in cold blood without a second thought. In contrast, Sutherland is more of an everyman protagonist viewers are expected to relate to and root for, making for a more likable and grounded hero than Bourne or the lead character of Prime Video’s darker spy series The Terminal List. Although that Jack Carr adaptation has a fairly similar story to The Night Agent on paper, the grim tone of The Terminal List and its spinoff Dark Wolf means the show doesn’t function as escapist fun the way Netflix’s hit series does. The Night Agent Has The Best of Both Bourne and Jack Ryan The biggest problem with Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan is that the show’s wide-eyed admiration of the CIA can be cloying at times and, despite hinting at corruption within the extra-governmental agency, the show lacks any real edge or subversive charge. In contrast, the Jason Bourne movies have the opposite issue, as their depiction of the CIA’s endemic corruption is both refreshingly accurate and painfully downbeat. It is tough to view the Jason Bourne movies as pure fun in the vein of a Dad TV classic like Reacher, since they repeatedly remind the viewer of real-life political problems. In contrast, The Night Agent is less idealistic than Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan and less intensely grounded than the Jason Bourne franchise, making for a perfect middle ground sure to satisfy fans of small-screen espionage adventures. Release Date 2023 - 2026-00-00 Network Netflix Showrunner Shawn Ryan Cast Luciane Buchanan Rose Larkin Directors Adam Arkin, Guy Ferland, Millicent Shelton, Ramaa Mosley Writers Seth Fisher, Munis Rashid, Corey Deshon Creator(s) Shawn Ryan