Academy Award Nominee Jeffrey Wright Joins the Agency for Paramount+ With Showtime
New Political Thriller Starring Michael Fassbender is Commissioned by Showtime Studios and Produced in Association with 101 Studios
June 26, 2024– Paramount+ with SHOWTIME today announced that Academy Award® nominee and EMMY® and Golden Globe winning actor Jeffrey Wright (American Fiction) will join the cast of the espionage political thriller THE AGENCY (formerly The Department) for Paramount+ with SHOWTIME as a series regular. THE AGENCY, currently in production in London, is commissioned by Showtime Studios and produced in association with 101 Studios. George Clooney and Grant Heslov will executive produce through Smokehouse Pictures.
The all-new political thriller follows Martian (two-time Academy Award nominee Michael Fassbender), a covert CIA agent, ordered to abandon his undercover life and return to London Station. 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. Wright will play Henry, the Director of Operations and mentor to Martian.
“Jeffrey Wright doesn’t just portray characters – he inhabits them completely, infusing each role with raw, emotional power and profound, psychological insight,” said Chris McCarthy, Paramount Global Co-CEO and President/CEO, Showtime & MTV Entertainment Studios. “We are thrilled to have him join Michael Fassbender and our creative dream team of Joe Wright, Jez and John-Henry Butterworth, Grant Heslov and George Clooney.”
Jeffrey Wright is a Tony, Emmy, AFI, and Golden Globe Award-winning actor who has enjoyed an illustrious career spanning the worlds of theatre, film, and television. Wright can currently be seen giving one of the best performances of his career in Orion Pictures/Amazon MGM Studios’ American Fiction, written and directed by Cord Jefferson. Wright received nominations from the Academy Awards, Gotham Awards, Golden Globe Awards, Critics Choice Awards, SAG Awards and NAACP Image Awards and won the Independent Spirit Award, for his wonderful performance as protagonist, “Thelonious ‘Monk’ Ellison.” Coming up, Wright will star opposite Denzel Washington in the Spike Lee directed, Apple Original Films and A24 thriller, High and Low and he will join season two of the award-winning HBO drama “The Last Of Us.”
THE AGENCY is a fresh take on the critically acclaimed hit French dramaLe Bureau desLégendes (The Bureau internationally) and will debut on demand and on streaming for Paramount+ subscribers with the Paramount+ with SHOWTIME plan, before making its on-air debut. The series will also stream internationally on Paramount+ in the UK, Canada, Australia, Italy, Germany, Latin America, Brazil and Japan. The series is co-distributed internationally by Paramount Global Content Distribution and Federation Studios.
Le Bureau centers on the daily life and missions of agents within France’s principal external security service. It focuses on the “Bureau of Legends,” responsible for training and handling deep-cover agents on long-term missions in areas with French interests. Living under false identities for years, these agents’ missions are to identify and recruit good intelligence sources. The Bureau – Le Bureau des Légendes was created by Eric Rochant and is a CANAL+ Creation Originale series produced by TOP – The Originals Productions and Federation Studios.
Golden Globe® nominee and multi-BAFTA® winner Joe Wright (Pride and Prejudice, The Darkest Hour and The Atonement) will direct and executive produce the new drama series and Tony®Award-winning writer Jez Butterworth and John-Henry Butterworth (Ford v Ferrari, Edge of Tomorrow) will executive produce and write all ten episodes.
Commissioned by Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios and produced in association with 101 Studios,THE AGENCY is executive produced by Keith Cox and Nina L. Diaz of Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios; David C. Glasser, Ron Burkle, David Hutkin and Bob Yari of 101 Studios (Yellowstone); George Clooney and Grant Heslov for Smokehouse Pictures; Alex Berger for TOP-The Originals Productions;Ashley Stern and Pascal Breton for Federation Studios/Federation Entertainment of America; and Michael Fassbender. Jez and John-Henry Butterworth are writers and executive producers; Joe Wright is executive producer and director of the first two episodes.
