One of the most popular Netflix action thrillers is still dominating the platform for a second week in a row, having not budged from its spot at the top of Netflix’s weekly global Top 10 chart of the biggest shows in the world.
The Night Agent, based on the novel of the same name by Matthew Quirk, returned with a new season on Jan. 23. It promised more of the same pulse-pounding intrigue, high-stakes conspiracy, and relentless action that made the first season such a hit. Netflix publishes its ranking of the hottest TV shows each week, and we’ll take a closer look at the new season of The Night Agent below, as well as the rest of what’s hot on the streamer at the moment.
Netflix Top 10 shows
Here’s this week’s complete list of the Top 10 English-language shows on Netflix, based on the latest updated data from the company:
- The Night Agent (Season 2) — 15.2 million views
- The Recruit (Season 2) — 5.9 million views
- American Manhunt: O.J. Simpson (Season 1) — 5.5 million views
- The Night Agent (Season 1) — 5 million views
- Ms. Rachel (Season 1) — 4 million views
- American Primeval — 3.7 million views
- XO, Kitty (Season 2) — 3.7 million views
- The Recruit (Season 1) — 3.1 million views
- Raw: 2025 (January 27, 2025) — 2.9 million views
- Royal Rumble 2025 — 2.1 million views
To learn more about some of this week’s other most-watched series, you can go deeper by checking out our previous coverage of some of the Netflix originals above, such as the dark and super-violent new Western American Primeval from showrunner Eric Newman and starring Taylor Kitsch (which I’ve previously argued was Netflix’s first must-watch hit of 2025). For now, though, let’s focus on the biggest Netflix TV release in the world at the moment.
The Night Agent (Season 2) — #1 on Netflix
The current top-ranked Netflix title in the world by viewership, The Night Agent, first shot to #1 with a little less than a full week’s streaming availability under its belt. This week, the show is #1 in 68 countries.
That said, the new season hasn’t exactly been met with universal approval. The split between critics and fans on Rotten Tomatoes, for example, really tells the story (as does many the emails I’ve gotten from disappointed viewers about the show). The critics’ score for Season 2 of The Night Agent currently stands at a strong 83% on Rotten Tomatoes. The audience score, however, is half of that — a terrible 40% as of this writing.
There’s a lot that goes into this sort of thing. Some critics might not want to dump on one of Netflix’s most popular shows, for fear of falling out of favor with this streamer. Netflix also doesn’t always make every episode of a season available for the press to screen; moreover, critics sometimes just watch an episode or two and then crank out a positive review that doesn’t encompass a season’s totality — but which, nevertheless, gets fed into the overall Rotten Tomatoes critics’ rating.
Here’s some of what viewers have to say about the new season (which, again, is the #1 show on Netflix at the moment):
- “Storyline was good, but the Rose character was RUINED. In the first season, she was a rule-breaker, non-conformist and helped uptight Peter loosen up in his decision making. This season she acts naive and taking weird moral stands that 1) don’t advance the story and 2) are TOTALLY ludicrous. I will watch season 3 bc looks like NO Rose!” (2.5/5 stars)
- “The story is very contrived where the plot is unnaturally forced to prolong the show to 10 episodes. It’s like watching a horror flick where the characters make decisions and say things like an 8 year old, very silly and stupid.” (2/5 stars)
- “Ridiculous storyline. Stale acting. Seems like the writers were forced to get something out the door without one iota of creating thinking. Season one was terrific; season two contrived and not worth watching – a flop.” (1/5 stars)
