Is the Night Agent a real position in the FBI? Rumors debunked as Season 2 tops Netflix charts 

The Night Agent Season 2 has topped Netflix's charts once again, and people cannot get enough of the espionage series.

The show, based on a 2019 book by Matthew Quirk, follows a night agent named Peter Sutherland, who is housed in the basement of The White House in a night program by the FBI. He is a phone operator of a 24/7 line that is reached by undercover intelligence agents in case of emergencies.

However, since this situation is extremely rare, the phone never usually rings until it does, and Peter is embroiled in a government conspiracy involving stolen war weapons. Since the show's inception, fans have wondered whether The Night Agent program is an actual program in the FBI.

Since no known record of any such program exists within the FBI, it is safe to say that The Night Agent is not based on a true story. However, Quirk agreed that the plot was inspired by his conversation with a friend who worked the night shift in the FBI.

Read more on Quirk's inspiration for The Night Agent here.

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Exploring Peter's character from The Night Agent

The premise of this espionage thriller is set up on a night action program within The White House, where Peter remains on duty, manning the phone lines meant for undercover agents in dire emergencies.

In Season 1, Peter works a low-profile job for the FBI as the night agent, till one day a call comes and the subsequent events plunge him into a government conspiracy to assassinate the President. He finds himself in a race against time to the attempt.

In Season 2, Peter gets embroiled in an International conspiracy involving the crime family of Viktor Bala. Peter discovers that Viktor Bala is a convicted war criminal who is hell-bent on taking revenge on the UN, who supplied them with the lethal Fozglove gas but later cleared their name out of it.

Throughout Season 2, he attempts to save the UN from blowing up, which he does but he is forced to steal a confidential file from the UN for Jacob Monroe, which will set up his story for Season 3.

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Exploring Matthew Quirk's inspiration behind The Night Agent

In an interview with The Real Book Spy, Quirk revealed that the inspiration behind Peter's character came from a friend who worked an overnight shift in the FBI:

“The plot was inspired by a friend of mine in DC who worked an overnight shift at the FBI. He didn’t talk much about his job back then, but from what I was able to pick up, he was part of a night watch, charged with staying on top of any breaking crises...''

He added:

''That idea really stuck with me: a young guy sitting by a phone all night every night, waiting for his moment. What happens when the phone rings, and he’s suddenly dropped into the middle of an emergency, face-to-face with the most powerful people in Washington?

"I also talked to FBI and CIA people about what happens on these night watches and in the Situation Room during a crisis, and how a counterintelligence scenario like the one in the book would play out.”

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