‘It’s a Remarkable Underdog Story’: Shawn Ryan Revels in Post-Strike Return to Writers Room for Netflix’s ‘The Night Agent’
variety.comCynthia Littleton Business Editor Shawn Ryan feels like he’s picked up in mid-sentence. The seasoned showrunner is back in his element, leading a writers room and juggling two series, Netflix’s “The Night Agent” and the final season of CBS’ high-octane police drama “S.W.A.T.” The end of the Writers Guild of America strike late last month unleashed a torrent of work for Ryan and his teams based at Sony Pictures Television. “Night Agent” was a little more than halfway done with writing for the 10 episodes for Season 2 when writers went pencils down on May 2. “Night Agent” debuted with its 10-episode first season on March 23.
That was three days after the WGA began its contract negotiations with the major studios under tense circumstances. It was a hard time for Ryan to focus on getting promotional traction for a new property led by two actors relatively unknown to U.S.
audiences, Luciane Buchanan and Gabriel Basso. But to Ryan’s pleasant surprise, “Night Agent” punched above its weight, consistently ranking among Netflix’s top 10 most-watched scripted titles for months after its debut.
The significance of that feat came into focus for the showrunner as he returned to work late last month and plugged back in to the world of “Night Agent.” “It’s a remarkable underdog story,” Ryan told Variety.
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