Update: Paramount has announced that the series is now titled The Agency and Fassbender is confirmed to star. It will premiere on Paramount+ with Showtime later this year and consist of ten episodes, with Jez and John-Henry Butterworth writing the series and Joe Wright directing the first two episodes.

“Michael Fassbender is one of the most gifted actors of our time,” said Chris McCarthy, Paramount Global co-CEO and president/CEO of Showtime & MTV Entertainment Studios. “He brings a gravitas and nuanced complexity to every character he inhabits, which is why we are so excited for him to star in The Agency as we start to roll out our new slate of Showtime originals.”

Original Story (February 27, 2024):

Michael Fassbender is in negotiations to star in George Clooney’s new thriller series, The Department.

Per Variety, Fassbender is currently in talks to star in The Department, a new Showtime series being directed by Clooney. Clooney and Grant Heslov’s Smokehouse Pictures are producing the series with MTV Entertainment Studios and 101 Studios.

The series is expected to begin filming this spring in London.

What do we know about The Department?

The Department is based on The Bureau, a French television series that was created by Éric Rochant. The Bureau originally aired in France in April 2015 before it came to the United States in June 2016. The series ran for five seasons and starred Mathieu Kassovitz, Sara Giraudeau, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, and Léa Drucker.

“Based on real accounts and inspired by contemporary events, this French spy thriller follows the daily lives and missions of members of the country’s external security service — France’s equivalent of the CIA,” the synopsis for The Bureau reads. “It focuses on intelligence officer Guillaume Debailly, code-named ‘Malotru,’ who is mysteriously recalled to Paris after spending six years undercover in Syria. As he tries to reconnect with his daughter, ex-wife, and colleagues, Debailly risks everything by resuming contact with his married lover, Nadia, who might have secrets of her own that jeopardize the agent.”

In 2023, Fassbender starred in David Fincher’s The Killer and Taika Waititi’s Next Goal Wins. He’ll soon be seen in Kneecap, an Irish movie directed by Rich Peppiatt that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2024, and Kung Fury 2, which is directed by David Sandberg and also stars Arnold Schwarzenegger and Alexandra Shipp.

Clooney, meanwhile, recently directed 2023’s The Boys in the Boat. He’s also directed movies such as 2021’s The Tender Bar, 2020’s The Midnight Sky, 2014’s The Monuments Men, 2011’s The Ides of March, and more.

A release date for The Department has not yet been set.