THE RECRUIT: Alexi Hawley on the Season 1 Finale Cliffhanger, That ROOKIE Special Guest, and More

[Warning: This post contains spoilers for season 1 of THE RECRUIT.] Read more

THE RECRUIT Boss Alexi Hawley on the Unconventional New Netflix Espionage Drama

In the new Netflix drama THE RECRUIT, Owen (Noah Centineo), a young lawyer, joins the CIA. While he joins the agency looking for adventure, it becomes clear, quickly, he’s in over his head: Colleagues who are looking to sabotage him, a messy personal life that he can’t always keep separate from work, and potentially life-changing information that falls into his lap during the first days of his job.

And while there’s plenty of action, the show also blends humor (evident from the series-opening moments when Owen is singing at a very unexpected time) as well as the reality that Owen really is in over his head and won’t make all the right decisions when his back is up against the wall.

But for showrunner Alexi Hawley—who is also behind THE ROOKIE franchise on ABC—blending the show’s genres is part of what makes THE RECRUIT fun to explore.

“Even when you’re trying to turn a genre, or genres on their head, you have to understand the genre and you have to give the audience what they expect from the genre—you just have to do it a different way,” he tells Give Me My Remote. “For me, the show is actually a hybrid. It is an espionage drama, but it also is YA.”

Here, Hawley talks about the new series, crafting a show for streaming, making sure the stakes of the show were clear, and more… Read more