Gabriel Basso Performs His Own Stunts in The Night Agent

Gabriel Basso enjoys performing his own stunts whenever feasible.

“I think that can kind of get misconstrued into the world of like, I do it because I want to say I can do it, and it’s really not about that,” The Night Agent star, 30, mentioned during his Tuesday, January 14, appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. “To me it’s about audience immersion.”

Basso portrays FBI agent Peter Sutherland in the Netflix series, who works in the White House as a Night Action telephone operator. He expressed to Fallon, 50, that he wants viewers to find his performance convincing while watching The Night Agent.

“I don’t want audiences to watch the show and then right as I’m about to get hit or thrown on my back to feel it’s not real. I feel like that’s a deception,” the actor noted. “I enjoy acting, but I don’t like being dishonest.”

For Basso, he believes there’s a distinction between performing stunts for “the sake of audience immersion” and for “the sake of believability.”

“They like Peter [and] witnessing him take hits is essential, I believe,” he elaborated. “And if that means I have to get thrown into a wall, then that’s fine. It’s not a huge deal.”

One stunt that Basso considered was skydiving — an activity he participates in personally.

“[Netflix] suggested it, and then I said, ‘Oh, I already skydive. I’m on board,’” Basso recounted. “But then the insurance company intervened and said, ‘Yeah, no.’”

Fallon then shared a photo of Basso mid-skydive.

“I went down to Skydive San Diego,” Basso described regarding the image of him in free fall. “I got my A-Class recertified.”

The late-night host then realized he was holding the photo of Basso upside down. Basso humorously remarked that the picture of him in the sky “looked cooler the other way” as it appeared his back was toward the ground.

“I like that. That’s quite challenging,” Fallon teased before mimicking the pose in his chair. “You really need to arch your back.”

Last month, Basso executed a thrilling jump from Netflix’s blimp during the Christmas Day football matchup between the Baltimore Ravens and the Houston Texans. Basso parachuted out of the blimp in Houston, and after completing the stunt, he revealed that the season 2 trailer for The Night Agent had been released.

“It was fantastic to see Houston from a blimp. Definitely a memorable experience!” Basso shared with Netflix’s Tudum in December 2024.

The Night Agent season 2 is set to premiere on Netflix on Thursday, January 23.