The Night Agent Creator's Next Show Revealed In First-Look Images Ahead Of Netflix Hit's Final Season

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By

Adam Bentz

Published May 5, 2026, 7:45 PM EDT

Adam Bentz is a senior news writer at ScreenRant, where he has authored nearly 5,000 articles, including features and lists. He studied creative writing and English with a concentration in screenwriting at Southern New Hampshire University and interned as a writer/journalist for The Borgen Project, an influential organization that fights global poverty.**

However, one of his proudest achievements is editing a Leonardo DiCaprio freakout compilation that has over 150K views on YouTube. Adam also fancies himself an amateur film reviewer on his website.

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Before The Night Agent_ signs off, its creator is already making moves, as first-look images from his next show have been unveiled.

Created by Shawn Ryan, based on Matthew Quirk's novel, Netflix's action thriller follows a low-level FBI agent who becomes involved in a dangerous conspiracy involving the Oval Office. _The Night Agent _premiered in 2023, has become one of Netflix's most-watched shows, and is currently filming its fourth and final season, set for release in late 2026 to early 2027.

Now, ahead of The Night Agent season 4, creator Shawn Ryan's next show, American Hostage**, has been unveiled via Entertainment Weekly. The first-look images reveal Jon Hamm as radio reporter Fred Heckman, reprising a role he previously played in the podcast of the same name, alongside his wife Barbara (played by Mireille Enos). See the images in the slideshow below:

Shawn Ryan has partnered with Eileen Myers (Big Love, Mad Dogs) for American Hostage, based on the first season of the 2022 podcast, which follows Jon Hamm as Fred Heckman, a respected Indianapolis radio journalist in the 1970s who becomes drawn into a tense situation when a hostage-taker insists on appearing on his widely followed news program.

Like the podcast, the series is based on a true event. In 1977, Tony Kiritsis (played by Giovanni Ribisi) took his mortgage broker, Richard "Dick" Hall (played by Kristoffer Polaha), hostage, strapping a shotgun to the back of his head after Hall denied him an extension on his overdue mortgage.

During the ordeal, Kiritsis repeatedly called into Fred's show on WIBC, demanding justice. Meanwhile, Fred's wife Barbara served as a go-between, communicating with Dick's wife, Ibby (played by Kat Cunning). The main cast also includes Jonathan Tucker (Kingdom) in a recurring role as FBI Special Agent Cormac McNally.

Talking to EW, co-showrunner and executive producer Shawn Ryan describes Fred as "a man of strong morals, with deep integrity," both of which are tested during the hostage situation. He continues:

** Fred believes in the mission of journalism, speaking truth to power and is a strong family man. In many ways, I think this is the most moral man I've seen Jon Hamm play. The trouble for Fred comes when his personal life intersects with this crisis... I think one of the strongest moments of the series is when Fred feels compelled to publicly reveal a family secret to earn Tony's trust and avert a deadly end to the crisis, but causes a rupture in his marriage as a result.

Jon Hamm is best known for playing Don Draper in Mad Men, and currently stars in Apple TV's Your Friends & Neighbors.

The podcast served as the foundation for the series, with Eileen Myers explaining that it allowed them to broaden the story's Indianapolis setting and introduce additional characters. "One of the pros was having Jon Hamm’s voice in our heads as we were writing," the co-showrunner notes. "I didn't feel like there were cons, just that we needed to rethink and reinvent."

American Hostage also departs from the original material by exploring Fred's relationship with his father and "how some painful experiences there inform his current dilemma," Myers explains:

Fred is pushed to his limit over these three days — he wants to do the right thing but it's at a great personal cost — Shawn mentioned the tension it creates in his marriage. It also puts his job and legacy at risk and jeopardizes his deep friendship with his colleague Ben Hairston [William Jackson Harper].

Ryan and Myers both credit their personal ties to the original podcast for giving the story a strong cinematic quality. Ryan draws on his own memories of growing up in Illinois during the 1970s, while Myers, whose father worked at ABC News, aimed to capture "the energy and excitement of a news station contrasted with the hushed tension of the dimly lit control rooms with all the switches and lights."

Ryan also reflects on how he "started conjuring what these conversations between Tony and Fred on live radio might look like," adding, "I got very excited by the intimate Playhouse 90 vibe of the whole thing. Tony leading Dick Hall by the end of a shotgun through wintery Indianapolis as police officers stood idly by, starkly contrasted by the intimate radio conversations between Fred and Tony all felt delicious to me."

American Hostage** is set to premiere on MGM+ this fall.