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In recent years, the streaming platform Netflix has been producing and acquiring a vast array of original content, captivating audiences from all over the world. One of the most recent additions to this library of television series is "The Night Agent," which has rapidly risen to the top of the English-language most-watched list.
"The Night Agent" is based on the novel of the same name by Matthew Quirk and was created by Shawn Ryan. The series follows the story of an FBI agent, Gabriel Basso, who works in the basement of the White House and is tasked with operating a phone that never rings.
However, this all changes when the phone finally does ring, plunging the agent into the middle of a far-reaching conspiracy.
A Global Sensation
Since its release on March 23, "The Night Agent" has been viewed for over 168 hours on Netflix, making it the third-best premiere week for a series in terms of hours watched in its first season.
This new addition to the Netflix library has also made its way into the top 10 most popular charts in 93 countries around the world. Shawn Ryan, the creator of the series, spoke about his inspiration for the show on The Hollywood Reporter's The Top 5 of Television podcast.
He said, "I like the idea of ??an outsider, someone who is the least important person in a very important place, in this case, a low-level FBI agent working in a windowless room in the basement of the White House. Everyone around him is more important than him.
He stumbles on this thing and suddenly, like in classic Hitchcock films, he’s someone who is an ordinary person who finds himself in an extraordinary situation."
Competition in the Streaming World
It should be noted that Netflix only started publishing Global Top 10 lists in June 2021, which means that first seasons of blockbuster series like "Stranger Things" or "Bridgerton" are not included in these measurements.
Currently, "Wednesday" holds the top spot for new series debuts on the platform, after clocking a whopping 341.23 million hours in its first week. Second on the list is "Dahmer," which had 196.2 million hours in its first week in September.
In the world of non-English language series, the Korean drama "The Glory" spent a third straight week at No. 1 following the March 10 release of the second half of the first season. With 413.05 million viewer hours in the first four weeks of release, the show now ranks sixth on Netflix's all-time chart for non-English language shows.
