Reporter Matt Belloni has asserted that The Night Agent's season 2 renewal at Netflix may have been influenced by more than just the series' impressive popularity. The Night Agent follows FBI Agent Peter Sutherland as he uncovers a conspiracy involving a mole that has reached the highest level of the US Government. Despite being released just a week ago, Netflix has already renewed The Night Agent for season 2.In an episode of his podcast The Town, Belloni claims that The Night Agent's season 2 renewal may have been influenced by more than just the show's resounding success. He believes that a possible upcoming writer's strike may have influenced the show's quick renewal to ensure content can still be produced even after the writers go on strike. Check out what Belloni had to say below:

[The Night Agent] was just renewed by Netflix for a season 2 a week after it dropped. Now it was the No. 1 show on Netflix by their own metrics last week, but that is a pretty quick renewal for Netflix. They typically like to see how the data plays out for 28 days to see if it will last as a hit...

But I believe that with the looming writers strike, or the possibility of a writer's strike coming as of the end of April or early May, that they are trying to renew stuff quickly. And my prediction is that we're going to see a lot more of this stuff in the next 6 weeks. People trying to get stuff greenlit or into production. Or finish the writer's room. Or pick up the script or pass. All this stuff is going to come to a head in the next few weeks, because everyone expects the writers to go on strike in early May.

Why A Writer's Strike May Have Helped The Night Agent Get Renewed

Gabriel Basso as Peter Sutherland and Luciane Buchanan as Rose Larkin in The Night Agent Season 1 episode 8

If a writer's strike is looming as Belloni claims, then it would make sense for streaming services like Netflix to renew popular series as soon as they can. This is so screenwriters would be able to write scripts that can then be produced even while writers are on strike. Given that The Night Agent is based on a standalone book, the threat of a writer's strike may be what caused Netflix to renew the series despite having no source material to base season 2 on.

While a writer's strike may have sparked the show's early renewal, it doesn't mean the show never would have been renewed if a writer's strike wasn't imminent. The Night Agent likely would have still received a season 2 after 28 days of data given how successful the show has been since its release.

Related: The Night Agent Season 2's Surprising Plan Beats Netflix's Cancelation Problem

Since Netflix's renewal decisions are made internally, there likely won't be any public information about whether their decision was influenced by a possible writer's strike. If a writer's strike does transpire soon, then Netflix would likely want to have scripts written for upcoming seasons of successful shows ahead of time for the sake of production. It should prove interesting to see how The Night Agent season 2 plays out if a writer's strike was the main influence on its renewal.

Source: The Town with Matt Belloni/Spotify