Netflix's Most-Watched Action Thriller Series Is Still One Of Its Best

Published Oct 14, 2026, 9:30 AM EDT

Zach Moser has been writing for ScreenRant since 2022, covering movies, classic TV, and streaming TV. His areas of expertise cover a wide range of genres with a particular interest in horror and drama, and the conversations around the TV and film industry. When he's not covering the latest film releases or chronicling the latest season of a new show, he's writing humor pieces for McSweeney's Internet Tendency, Slackjaw, and Points In Case or working on short stories and his second novel. 

Netflix's most-watched action thriller series, at least according to some sources, is also one of the best original shows in its library. Netflix makes a lot of original content, and while it has a bit of a quantity-over-quality vibe to everything, the streamer still has its share of fantastic programming.

There have been quite a few excellent thriller series that have been streaming recently on Netflix, including Black Doves, The Lincoln Lawyer, and The Diplomat. While Netflix isn't bound to the thriller genre in the same way Apple seems to be to science fiction, its best shows do seem to be in the genre.

Case in point, one of the most popular shows on Netflix is an action thriller. The Night Agent is an ongoing series based on Matthew Quirk's novel of the same name. Gabriel Basso stars as Peter Sutherland, an FBI agent who works at the White House as the Night Action telephone operator, eventually becoming a Night Agent himself.

Season 1 premiered in March 2023, season 2 came along in January 2025, and season 3 premiered in February 2026. Now The Night Agent will return for a fourth and final season, and it will be looking to continue its streak as one of the most-watched shows on Netflix ever.

The Night Agent Season 1 Is One Of The Most-Watched Seasons Of A Netflix TV Show Ever

Image via Netflix

The Night Agent is one of the most-watched series in the history of Netflix, according to FlixPatrol, which uses Netflix's What We Watched report. This report only began in 2023, which means FlixPatrol only has data from that year. While the numbers may not be exact with that in mind, each show's relative position to other shows in the rankings should be about the same.

The Night Agent is the 17th most-watched series on Netflix, with a collective 297,900,000 views. Above it are shows like Cocomelon, Stranger Things, Squid Game, Bridgerton, and other massively popular shows. When it comes to the season-by-season count, The Night Agent season 1 ranks third all time with 189,900,000 views all time (via FlixPatrol). The only seasons above it are Squid Game season 2 and Wednesday season 1.

The Night Agent Is A Highly Bingeable Series

Courtesy of Netflix

The Night Agent is an excellent action thriller, and it's not a huge surprise that it has such high viewing numbers. It's a highly bingeable series, with a gripping plot that's not too complex, and a sense of style and thrust that keeps the story going even when the plotlines get a bit routine.

The series gets more and more ridiculous as the show goes on, throwing Sutherland into increasingly outlandish plots and conspiracies, but Brasso's command of the character and the fun writing make the whole experience an enjoyable ride rather than a turbulent flight.

What's Next For The Night Agent?

The Night Agent has been renewed for its fourth season, which has been confirmed to be its last. The series will return at some point in 2027, though an exact date has not been released just yet. A behind-the-scenes teaser for the season has been released, though, with a scene of characters battling it out in what looks like an airfield.

At the end of The Night Agent season 3, Peter asked for a new partner, and Aiden Mosley (Albert Jones) told him he had just the partner in mind. Who this partner is has been left up in the air but will surely be a big part of the final season of The Night Agent.