X-Men Star Michael Fassbender to Lead Political Espionage Thriller From George Clooney

Fassbender will play a CIA agent in the espionage thriller set to air on Paramount+ with SHOWTIME.

By Cameron Bonomolo

Michael Fassbender is reporting to The Agency. On Monday, Paramount+ with SHOWTIME announced that production is underway on the political espionage thriller with X-Men actor Michael Fassbender set to star and executive produce. Based on the French TV drama Le Bureau des Légendes (The Bureau) and previously titled The Department, the Americanized version was commissioned by Paramount's Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios (Yellowjackets, Dexter: Original Sin) and produced in association with 101 Studios (Yellowstone, Mayor of Kingstown).

In his first television role since 2008, two-time Oscar nominee Fassbender will play Martian, "a covert CIA agent ordered to abandon his undercover life and return to London Station," per the synopsis. "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." 

Actor and filmmaker George Clooney — whose credits as a producer include The American, Michael Clayton, Argo, and The Art of Political Murder — returns to SHOWTIME after executive producing the Kirsten Dunst-starring series On Becoming a God in Central Florida. Clooney and Grant Heslov (The Ides of March, The Boys in the Boat) serve as executive producers through their Smokehouse Pictures. 

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Golden Globe nominee and BAFTA Award-winning filmmaker Joe Wright (Pride and Prejudice, The Darkest Hour and The Atonement) will direct and executive produce the new drama series. Tony Award winner Jez Butterworth and John-Henry Butterworth (Ford v Ferrari, Edge of Tomorrow) will executive produce and write the 10-episode series, which will stream on Paramount+ with SHOWTIME before making its on-air debut. Internationally, The Agency will stream on Paramount+ in the UK, Canada, Australia, Italy, Germany, Latin America, Brazil and Japan.

"Michael Fassbender is one of the most gifted actors of our time," said Chris McCarthy, Paramount Global Co-CEO and President/CEO, 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."

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Fassbender recently completed production on Black Bag, from Clooney's Ocean's Eleven director Steven Soderbergh, and he'll next be seen in Kneecap, about the rise of the Belfast-based rap trio. After starring as Magneto in the Fox-made Marvel X-Men movies, Fassbender returned to screens last year with David Fincher's The Killer and Taika Waititi's Next Goal Wins.

The Agency joins a lineup of upcoming SHOWTIME originals that includes the Dexter prequel series Original Sin, Billions spinoffs set in Miami and London, and Nurse Jackie and Weeds sequel series. You can sign up for a free Paramount+ with SHOWTIME trial here.

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