Night Agent’s Gabriel Basso Hit ‘Pretty Hard’ on the Head While Shooting Fight Scene with a John Wick Connection (Exclusive)

Gabriel Basso in ‘The Night Agent’ season 2. Photo:

Christopher Saunders/Netflix

When it comes to The Night Agent, giving it all is nothing new for star Gabriel Basso, who plays Peter Sutherland, a formerly low-level FBI Agent-turned-rookie Night Agent on the Netflix political action thriller. Since season 1, the 30-year-old actor has been committed to doing as many of the stunts and performing in as many of the action-packed sequences as possible. 

“I did all the fighting,” Basso previously told PEOPLE about season 1, revealing that only the “really gnarly stuff” was left to his stunt performer, who “would step in and do some of the line rigging and falls.” 

Season 2 is no different for the actor, who was committed to creating a seamless viewing experience for the audience — meaning, he did everything he could, especially when it came to those brutal fight sequences. “I wanna do it for the audience immersion factor,” he tells PEOPLE ahead of the release of the Night Agent‘s newest episodes. 

When it comes to those intense fight scenes, one of the standout moments takes place in episode four (“Desperate Measures,” written by Anayat Fakhraie and directed by Adam Arkin). Without spoiling too much, Peter goes undercover as a catering employee while infiltrating a diplomatic gala. But the spy is sussed out by the enemy and ends up in a basement with a group of henchmen determined not to let him go without a fight. 

Gabriel Basso filming ‘The Night Agent’ season 2. Courtesy of Netflix

According to Netflix, Basso initially read the script and it didn’t sound like anything special. But then there was an unexpected John Wick connection that elevated it into something really cool.  

Featuring handheld camera work by the same camera operator who worked on John Wick, audiences are in the middle of the action as Peter and the other guys toss each other around a tight space, delivering punches and slamming each other into walls and other objects within the room. 

Having someone who previously has worked on the Keanu Reeves-led action movie franchise and knew where to be and how to move within the moment enhanced both the on-set production and the final product. “It makes it a better experience,” Basso tells PEOPLE, adding that when it came to getting the shot, “there was one less thing you have to worry about.” 

“The stuntmen are putting their bodies on the line. I’m putting my body on the line to some degree. And so, the cameraman has gotta do his job well,” the actor continues, noting that “they all crushed it.” 

He goes on to praise the camera team, saying, “You should see these guys work with handheld — when they’re holding cameras — it’s crazy. They’re on the ground and they stand in it, and it’s wild.” 

Basso adds, “It’s just really cool to work with people that are really good at their jobs.” 

Gabriel Basso in ‘The Night Agent’ season 2. Christopher Saunders/Netflix

While the actor works with the stunt team and fight coordinator to make sure each sequence happens without a hitch, Basso admittedly still gets a bit nervous before each one — and has taken some hard hits along the way. 

“I always get kind of nervous before fights,” he says, explaining that fights in real life (“And I’ve had a few of those”) are “not as nerve wracking as fake fights for me, for some reason. Just because there’s so much more that goes into it and hurting the person is not actually what you want to do and you’ve gotta be able to replicate it.”

He notes, “There’s a lot more to think about in a stunt fight.” 

Of course, sometimes someone falls or someone swings too hard. And as a result, “people get banged up,” Basso says, explaining, “The style of fights on the show are definitely pretty visceral, like heavy. We’re tossing each other around, we’re hitting stuff.” 

While they pad up, “you’re taking those hits. You know, slamming each other in lockers and throwing each other into tables,” he says, revealing that when it comes to that scene in episode four, “I hit my head pretty hard when I kicked back off that thing in the basement fight.” 

“But you just get up and you treat it like a fight. And if you’re in that headspace, ‘This is a fight,’ you’re not gonna call cut and say, ‘Ouchie.’ You just sort of roll with it and hope it plays,” he continues. 

Gabriel Basso in ‘The Night Agent’ season 2. Christopher Saunders/Netflix

While Brasso did as much as he was allowed to do on set, there were some stunts that production said no to — and that’s when his stunt double, Josiah Nolan, who also previously worked on John Wick, stepped in. One such example is when Peter is scaling the exterior of a building in New York City. 

“Obviously, his job is to be the stuntman and take hits that insurance has not deemed safe for me to take,” Basso clarifies, noting that “there’s a reliance on one another and there’s a trust with what’s happening where he knows I’m not trying to put him out of a job for my own ego.” 

When it came to the rooftop jump from a warehouse, it was a 25 to 30-foot fall. “If I didn’t land on that little outcropping there, it could have been bad,” the actor says, explaining that he worked with Nolan and stunt coordinator Chris Cenatiempo to make sure “that it was safe to do.” 

“They had run through it and they were like, ‘Do you feel good doing this?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah.’ So they let me do it. But only after Josiah ran through it and told me where to land,” Basso says. “”We sort of trust one another. It’s cool.” 

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The Night Agent season 2 premieres Thursday, Jan. 23 only on Netflix.

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