Noah Centineo is teaming up with Teo Yoo in The Recruit Season 2. Centineo reprises his role as Owen Hendricks, a CIA lawyer who is thrust into the on-site world of espionage, while Yoo portrays Jang Kyun, an agent in the intelligence business based in South Korea. The two link up when Owen’s corner of intelligence receives mysterious communication from The Land of the Morning Calm, prompting a six-episode tale of tensity.

The Recruit continues Centineo’s string of action-adventure installments into his filmography. The longtime rom-com actor branched into fisticuffs in 2022, fronting The Recruit Season 1 and starring opposite Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as Atom Smasher in Black Adam. For Yoo, The Recruit Season 2 is another chapter in his growing American catalog, as the Korean-German actor had primarily worked on international projects before his critically-acclaimed performance in Best Picture nominee Past Lives.

In celebration of The Recruit Season 2’s premiere on Netflix, ScreenRant spoke with Centineo and Yoo to discuss how they built their on-screen chemistry when the cameras weren’t rolling, where Owen finds himself mentally going into his sophomore season, and what the future holds for the show as a whole.

Centineo & Yoo Bonded Over Donuts On The Recruit Set

“He’s like an older brother to me…”

ScreenRant: You guys obviously share the screen quite a bit in Season 2. You kind of have this yin and yang, good cop, bad cop dynamic. What did you two behind the scenes do to kind of establish this bond?

Teo Yoo: Lots of donuts on set. Teasing each other, watching our weight (laughs).

Noah Centineo: I either have all discipline or no discipline. And he knows that. And I’m training for this thing that I’m doing after this show and he is just… I would get back to the cast tent and there’d be a plate of donuts there and this guy! We would just joke around. I think that Teo and I got real lucky from the jump. The chemistry from the first time we met, the first time in real life we had brunch and it was a cast brunch and almost every other weekend we would do something like that. I think it was very natural. It’s very hard to fake an act, a foundational, biological level of chemistry. And so having that chemistry naturally, he’s like an older brother to me. I think that blends into the character side. I think that has something to do with it.

Yoo: You brought in the donuts first.

Centineo: Did I? Oh, I did. No, you’re right. I learned from you. That’s true. I forgot. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yours were more targeted.

Yoo: It was targeted (laughs). No, but I was just so lucky and grateful to be part of Season 2, knowing that he’s also an executive producer on set. I’m going to learn from him. I haven’t told him while we were working, but now I can say it. It was amazing. I mean, because that’s a position that I want to be myself in the future. And what he did, his code of conduct, the atmosphere he created for everyone, it’s one thing because acting is such a job of utility in terms of production and for the sakes of entertainment. It’s another thing to make an actor feel needed and wanted, that you’re contributing to something and he created that atmosphere for us. That was great.

Owen Hendricks Evolves In Season 2

“He’s learning to block, deflect, and actually fight back…”

In the first season, it feels like Owen is thrust into this world way more than he was expecting to. In Season 2, does he feel a little bit more comfortable in his skin, would you say?

Noah Centineo: I would say that he is learning to navigate the space more. I would say that if Season 1 is him getting punched and attacked constantly and relentlessly, Season 2 is still that. But he’s learning to block, deflect, and actually fight back. And so that’s exciting, right? You get a character that develops and evolves and starts to get his footing more, and he steals a couple moves from Jang Kyun for sure, because Teo’s character is a very well-established, clever NIS agent, the equivalent of the CIA in South Korea. And so Owen can’t help but learn from him as well.

Will The Recruit Season 2 End On Another Cliffhanger?

“The ending of Season 2 is radically different…”

Season 1 ended with a mᴀssive cliffhanger that we still don’t have fully resolved going into Season 2. Will we be left with more questions than answers this time around, or are we bow-tying this? Do you think there’s room to play with a Season 3?

Teo Yoo: I think for me, it feels like… I don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes. Noah’s the guy who knows a little bit maybe, but it’s more of a wrap-up compared to season 1, but then also the possibility of something more because there’s a dialogue.

Noah Centineo: Yeah, the ending of Season 2 is radically different than the ending of Season 1. I’ll say that much. And also it’s everything Season 1 is but elevated and adrenalized, it’s very high octane and a lot of it has to do just because of Teo’s presence. And he drives the narrative forward and the stunts are crazier. The action is quite elevated. And the other characters that you love so much come back and they come back with a vengeance and they’re fun and it’s great. I think as far as elevating for a second season, I think we did a pretty good job.

About The Recruit Season 2

Season Two of The Recruit finds CIA Lawyer, Owen Hendricks (Noah Centineo), pulled into a life-threatening espionage situation in South Korea, where he is paired with a National Intelligence Service agent named Jang Kyun (Teo Yoo), only to realize that the bigger threat just might be coming from inside the Agency.

Source: ScreenRant Plus