The Recruit Season 2: Cast, Spoilers, and Everything Else You Need to Know

[Warning: The following contains spoilers from Season 1 of The Recruit. Read at your own risk!]

The Recruit dropped on Netflix on Dec. 16 and became the No. 1 show on the platform in the following week. The series introduced the world to Noah Centineo's Owen Hendricks, a baby-faced lawyer for the CIA who immediately finds himself out of his depth at the nation's most secretive agency. Owen comes across a piece of graymail in the first episode from a Russian former asset, Max Meladze (Laura Haddock), who is threatening to bring the CIA to its knees if the agency does not help her get out of prison in Phoenix. When Owen establishes that Max's threats are legitimate, he's roped into the field to try to save Max, his job, and, most importantly, his own life. 

By the end of the season, Owen finds himself held captive by Max's allegedly dead daughter Karolina (surprise!) without any idea of whether he'll see home or anyone he ever loves again. After killing a Russian mobster earlier in the episode and getting steps away from escaping the CIA for good, he's left in a terrifying cliffhanger as Karolina holds a gun to his head. 

Those who dug into the new series and made it through Season 1 this quickly are undoubtedly champing at the bit to find out if and when there will be a Season 2, and what answers they can get when it arrives. Here is what we know so far. 

Has The Recruit been renewed for Season 2?

Not yet, but that is no reason to worry. It's a brand new show and Netflix will be evaluating its viewership numbers before making a final decision. The streaming service usually gives out renewals within a 90-day window of the release. 

Season 2 cast

If the show is renewed, we expect Centineo to return as the titular recruit. Who else will return out of the series regular cast, which includes Fivel Stewart (Hannah), Colton Dunn (Lester), Aarti Mann (Violet), Daniel Quincy Annoh (Terence), and Vondie Curtis-Hall (Nyland), remains to be seen. 

The biggest question mark lingers over Laura Haddock, whose character Max was either killed or incapacitated in the final moments of the finale. 

Spoilers

While series creator Alexi Hawley (Castle, The Rookie) and Centineo could not reveal Max's fate after the Season 1 cliffhanger, they did tell TV Guide a lot about what they hope to cover in Season 2 if the series is renewed. Read the full interview here.

Max and Karolina's backstory will likely be explored: "We didn't reveal the whole backstory, and that's obviously something that we could do more of going into the next season," Hawley told TV Guide. "I do think that [Max] was very much aware that [Karolina] was alive," the showrunner continued, "but in her mind, she lost her, which she [made] equivalent with death." 

There's no guarantee that anyone is coming to save Owen: Even though Hannah saw Owen get kidnapped, and Dawn (Angel Parker) was tracking Max when the pair were picked up, Owen knows a lot of secrets and the CIA might not want to get their hands dirty to rescue him. "If there's anything that he has learned, it's that if the CIA needs to abandon him, it's standard operating procedure if he no longer serves the agency," Centineo explained. "That was something that Xander told him early on, and that I think it gets confirmed over and over again."

Owen's guilt over killing someone will stick with him: Owen was completely shell-shocked by having to kill someone to save Max. That was an important turning point for his character, and it's something that still needs to be explored, according to Hawley. "If he picked up a gun and was suddenly Jason Bourne in Episode 2, that would be a different show," the producer said. "It's hard for him to pull that trigger and the repercussions of what happens when he does has impact in a way that I think is really human, for him to have to deal with that moment. That would carry on, in theory, in a Season 2 as well."

The Recruit Season 1 is now streaming on Netflix.