Netflix Canceled ‘The Recruit,’ but We Don’t Know What Happened to Nichka

There is only one thing that’s more frustrating than Netflix telling you that too many people are using your account, and that’s when Netflix cancels a beloved series. You truly can’t catch a break, because the streaming platform did it again. What a shocker. Remember our all-time favorite rookie CIA lawyer with a minor (or major) hero complex who is constantly putting himself in danger? Yes, the talk is about Owen Hendricks (Noah Centineo) from the Netflix spy thriller The Recruit.

The Recruit was first released in 2022 and followed Owen all around the world as he was caught in the middle of dangerous conspiracies, deadly shootouts, and twisted lies from all sides. The second season of The Recruit kept up the same momentum, sending Owen all the way to South Korea (among other places). Owen clearly would have had much more in store, and so would many of the other characters in The Recruit. In particular, Owen’s initial enemy turned colleague turned enemy again, Nichka (Maddie Hasson), had a highly captivating storyline. Now that Netflix has canceled The Recruit, though, we’ll never find out what happened to Nichka, and there are no words to describe how infuriating it is.

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Who Is Nichka in ‘The Recruit’?

Nichka Lashin didn’t appear much in the first season of The Recruit, and it made sense, since her mother, Max Meladze, believed her to be dead. Max was working closely with CIA lawyer Owen, but Nichka was spying on them the entire time. Her goal was to capture and kill her mother. Why? Well, nobody really knows. The series never went into detail behind their obvious feud, but they clearly had some huge fallout in their past. Hence, to bring her plan to life, Nichka tries to seduce Owen at a bar, where she introduces herself as Marta. Nichka then ends up following Max and Owen and ambushing them, but they are able to escape. However, Nichka eventually managed to get her hands on her mother and the CIA lawyer, capturing them and tying them up in a dark underground location.

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It is right there that Nichka simply shoots her mother in the chest just after she regains consciousness and is shocked to find out that Nichka (or, as Max named her, Karolina) is alive. Obviously, there wasn’t much time to do or say anything really. Nichka doesn’t know how to chill. After killing Max and almost shooting Owen as well, Nichka is stopped by the CIA and ends up as a rogue agent in the second season of this binge-worthy Netflix series, where she is given assignments (and she has to take them). In reality, though, she is loyal to the Russian mafia, and it shows until the very end.

What Happened to Nichka in ‘The Recruit’?

Even though Nichka is a CIA asset in The Recruit Season 2, she definitely didn’t get the memo about whose side she is supposed to be on. Or, rather, she simply ignored that aspect. It turns out that Nichka is actually the villain of The Recruit Season 2, and the stunts she pulls would easily qualify her to be the next Bond girl. Even though Nichka belongs to the Russian mafia, she plays three sides at the same time. The FSB, the CIA, and even the Yakuza, and ultimately, it’s all about who is the highest bidder.

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Owen’s chaotic rescue mission reaches a point where he enters Russia and is at high risk of being captured and spilling CIA secrets. This leads to green-lighting his execution, and his colleague, but also enemy, Dawn, is happy to take on the job. Luckily, though, Nichka also wants to capture Owen and deliver him to the Russian alive, which somehow saves him because Nichka kills Dawn in a knife fight. Despite all her efforts, Owen manages to leave Russia, which doesn’t mean anything good for Nichka. The last we see of her is when she gets hit with a gun by a Russian after she fails to successfully execute her mission. Even if it’s uncertain, there really are only two ways this could go. Either the Russians kill Nichka after failing her mission, or they realize how important she is to them, considering that this woman has insane skills. The latter seems more convenient.

Why Did Netflix Cancel ‘The Recruit’?

Obviously, whatever happened to Nichka is and will remain an unanswered question, and it’s frankly annoying. It is one thing to say goodbye to a series that ties up all the loose ends, but to cancel a series that ends on a massive cliffhanger is outrageous. The fact that The Recruit was canceled after two seasons probably hasn’t even sunken in yet, and the uncertain fate of Nichka definitely plays a big role in that.

Netflix’s decision to cancel The Recruit was based on two factors. For one, there was a decline in viewership numbers. Season 1 of The Recruit garnered an impressive 7.3 million viewers, while the second season of the spy thriller only counted 5.9 million. Simultaneously, there is another extremely similar Netflix series drawing all the attention, and that is the spy series The Night Agent. Sure, Gabriel Basso as FBI agent Peter Sutherland is brilliant, but there is no denying that Owen Hendricks will always be the most loved goofball out there. Both seasons of The Recruit are still available to stream on Netflix.