Is “The Recruit” a True Story? Meet the Real-Life CIA Lawyer Who Inspired Noah Centineo's Daring Character

Noah Centineo is back as CIA lawyer Owen Hendricks for season 2 of Netflix’s The Recruit.

Based loosely on the true story of former CIA lawyer Adam Ciralsky, season 1 of the comedic thriller found CIA newcomer Owen in a series of life-or-death situations as he fell deeper into the case of former Russian asset Max Meladze (Laura Haddock). Season 2 will pick up immediately after the shocking season 1 finale before sending Owen off to South Korea for more adrenaline-fueled espionage.

While it may sound unbelievable that a 24-year-old lawyer could be entrenched in the CIA, Ciralsky was that exact age when he was recruited during his third year of law school and 25 when he officially started the job. He then worked for the CIA from 1996 to 1999.

Related: CIA Lawyer Owen Hendricks Has a New Mission! All About Netflix's The Recruit Season 2, Starring Noah Centineo

Before the Netflix series premiered, Ciralsky helped set up a meeting with Centineo and real-life agents at the CIA headquarters in Virginia. He told Vanity Fair in 2022 that it was like a “homecoming.”

“It was that weird feeling of life imitating art imitating life,” Ciralsky said. “It had all the trappings of the CIA that I remember, but it’s a totally different institution.”

Centineo stars and executive produces The Recruit. According to Tudum, he was actually the one who brought the script to Netflix in the first place.

So, is The Recruit based on a true story? Here is everything to know about the real-life CIA lawyer who inspired Noah Centineo’s character in The Recruit.

What is The Recruit about?

The Recruit centers on Owen Hendricks, a 24-year-old CIA recruit and adrenaline seeker fresh out of law school.

Season 1 focused on the young CIA lawyer’s entanglement in a complicated case of graymail, with former Russian asset and accused murderer Meladze threatening to expose CIA secrets if the institution didn't exonerate her. To complicate things even further than the life-or-death situations he finds himself entangled in, the White Claw-loving Owen also had a messy personal life to contend with — like living with his ex.

“He thinks he’s working as a lawyer — the truth is you’re never just a lawyer at the CIA,” Centineo told Tudum in 2022. “There’s so many more things going on, and that’s the world we explored with The Recruit.”

Season 2 picks up directly after the shocking first season finale, then sends Owen into an espionage situation in South Korea. Among the new faces will be Teo Yoo, who joins the season as new series regular Jang Kyun, a Korean intelligence agent.

“This show lives in propulsion,” showrunner Alexi Hawley told Tudum in 2025. “So we immediately throw Owen in the deep end, which is where he’s the most fun. It seemed like a great way to start Season 2 — and then we just never let our foot off the gas.”

Is The Recruit based on a real story?

The Recruit is loosely inspired by the experiences of real-life former CIA lawyer Adam Ciralsky.

Ciralsky earned a bachelor’s degree in international affairs from George Washington University and his law degree from the University of Illinois. In 1996, he joined the CIA straight from law school, starting the job when he was 25.

The lawyer-turned-writer shared that people are often surprised to learn that the CIA has attorneys, admitting it’s “an unusual position.”

“As a lawyer, your job is obviously to make sure that people are compliant with the law,” Ciralsky told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in 2022. “At the CIA, you work for an organization that, by its very charter, is breaking the law in every country in which it operates."

Ciralksy told Tudum that CIA lawyers do travel overseas, partially to help their personnel with law knowledge and educate them so they know “where the red lines are.” He added that the lawyers help the organization operate “within the bounds of U.S. law.”

What happened to Adam Ciralsky during his time with the CIA?

Ciralsky was with the CIA from 1996 to 1999.

Near the end of his tenure, his security clearance was revoked, and he was terminated on Dec. 13, 1999. Ciralsky sued the CIA in July 2000, alleging he had been "interrogated, harassed, surveilled and terminated from his employment with the CIA solely because he is a Jew and practices the Jewish religion."

The case saw a series of amendments, motions and challenges over the years, and Ciralsky ultimately withdrew it in 2012.

“I am proud of my service with the CIA and have a deep and abiding respect for the organization and its mission,” Ciralsky said in a statement, according to The Daily Beast. “I am equally proud that by highlighting and confronting the misconduct of a few, I spurred positive change.”

Where is Adam Ciralsky now?

The attorney-turned-writer has spent over two decades working as a journalist and producer, including as an executive producer on The Recruit.

The Emmy- and Peabody Award-winning journalist also co-directed the 2013 documentary The Somali Project and is a Vanity Fair contributor.

Lionsgate Television optioned his June 2024 Vanity Fair piece on Roger Carstens, the special presidential envoy for hostage affairs. Ciralsky will reunite with The Recruit creator Hawley for a scripted series based on the article.

Ciralsky grew up in Milwaukee, Wisc., and returned to his hometown in 2007. He launched his company, P3 Media, from the Midwest city the following year. P3 has a first-look deal with ABC Signature, and Ciralsky keeps an office on the Disney lot, according to the Journal Sentinel.

Despite the West Coast digs, the writer told his hometown paper that staying rooted in the Midwest “keeps me grounded. And I think it affects how I write and what I write.”

Does The Recruit reflect the real-life CIA?

Part of the appeal of The Recruit is that unlike many spy shows, the Netflix series shows off some of the more day-to-day aspects of the CIA — like pencil-pushing office life.

“One of the things Adam said to me very early on was that the CIA is not sexy. It’s the post office with secrets,” Hawley told Vanity Fair, adding, “Bureaucracies are just inherently dysfunctional and absurdist and petty.”

Ciralsky pointed out that the CIA is not “one monolithic organization working toward the same goal.”

“What I think we wanted to focus on is that it’s an organization that has parts and sometimes they’re competing,” he told Tudum. “[Each part has] different missions, different interests and, like any other bureaucracy, those are sometimes aligned and sometimes they’re at odds.”

While much of the institutional elements are based on real-life — for instance, there really are black passports for those with diplomatic status — Ciralsky is quick to point out that the story is very fictionalized.

“I have all of my fingernails,” he told Vanity Fair.

One very cool, off-set nod? The series premiered in Los Angeles, as many do, but also at the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C.

Where can I watch The Recruit?

The Recruit is available to stream on Netflix. Season 1 premiered in December 2022 and season 2 came to the streamer on Jan. 30.

Read the original article on People