While The Asset’s success is encouraging for anyone who enjoys a good spy thriller, one aspect of the Netflix hit’s critical acclaim is worth noting for future shows in the genre. The spy thriller has a long history on television. From The Equalizer and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. to the light-hearted parody series Get Smart, spy shows were a ’60s TV staple.
The same decade saw the arrival of The Prisoner, a self-contained miniseries so iconic that Christopher Nolan tried to remake it as a movie on more than one occasion. Later decades saw the arrival of Spy and MacGyver, as well as later hits like 24.
These spy shows varied in terms of tone and style, with some aiming for high camp while others were gritty and grounded. Even now, spy shows still bounce between relatively realistic depictions of espionage and goofy, self-aware takes on the genre that lean into their over-the-top elements.
The Asset Is Much More Realistic Than The Average Spy Show
However, this may soon change with the massive success of Netflix’s The Asset. A Danish thriller, The Asset soared to the top of Netflix’s most-watched chart in the days since its release on October 27, becoming the streaming service’s biggest title of the week in the process.
While it is not unusual for non-English-language productions to top Netflix’s streaming chart, there is something else notable about The Asset’s success. Following Clara Dessan’s secret agent Tea as she goes undercover and falls for a crime boss’s girlfriend, The Asset is an atypically grounded piece of spy media.
Like the earlier breakout hit Slow Horses, The Asset makes a point of avoiding the glamorous, cartoonish excesses of many spy stories. Instead, the show delves deep into the practicalities of espionage, focusing on the hard parts of Tea’s unexpectedly drudging job. This makes the eventual drama, when it does unfold, all the more thrilling.
In recent years, spy stories have taken a step away from the glitz and glamour associated with James Bond in favor of something darker, grittier, and much more in line with the on-screen adventures of Jason Bourne. One need only look at the outsized success and acclaim heaped on 2024’s Black Doves to see how well this has worked out for earlier Netflix shows.
Slow Horses and The Asset Prove Viewers Want More Grounded Spy Thrillers
Black Doves, The Asset, and Slow Horses all underline the same surprising reality about espionage stories, namely, that viewers want to see slower and more realistic depictions of spy craft. Apple TV’s Slow Horses centers on a group of disgraced spies tasked with lesser missions thanks to their spotty records.
Although The Asset’s storyline is more straightforward, the Netflix hit is no more predictable. Both shows know that viewers come in expecting a certain level of pace, pizzazz, and allowable absurdity from spy stories, and by skewing closer to 1974’s The Conversation than Octopussy, the shows completely subvert these expectations for the better.
Even though The Asset’s story might be a lot slower than viewers initially anticipate, this only makes the show stronger. Viewers expecting a thrilling, silly spy series are instead wrong-footed from the first episode, and immediately become more invested as a result.
Ironically, Netflix recently invested a lot of money and publicity into a superficially similar series entitled The Recruit, only to cancel this big-budget spy thriller after a mere two seasons. Starring Noah Centineo, this comparatively light-hearted series saw a rookie lawyer who works for the CIA get embroiled in a knotty plot involving a femme fatale.
The Asset’s Success Should Shape Future Spy Shows
Compared to The Asset, The Recruit seemed destined for inevitable success when the series arrived in 2022. Boasting a recognizable star in To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before’s Centineo, a killer premise, and a flashy, quippy trailer, The Recruit had all the ingredients of a major mainstream hit.
The problem is, the same elements were present in 2022’s The Grey Man, a Ryan Gosling vehicle about a spy that also flopped despite the involvement of MCU masterminds, the Russo Brothers. The Recruit’s cancellation and The Grey Man’s critical failure both prove that flashy, fun-forward spy thrillers are not what viewers want from the genre in 2025.
If stars like Gosling and Centineo couldn’t garner an audience for The Grey Man and The Recruit, it is because the spy genre isn’t in need of more campy, comedic thrillers. The comparatively muted fan response to Slow Horses season 5, the show’s most light-hearted outing yet, proves this once again. Right now, spy stories need to take themselves seriously.
When they do, they can enjoy breakthrough success as evidenced by The Asset. A Danish thriller with no major A-list stars to its name, The Asset still managed to top Netflix’s streaming charts by telling a straightforward spy story well and leaning more toward realism than the winking, self-aware silliness of a ‘90s James Bond movie.
- Release Date
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October 27, 2025
- Network
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Netflix
