Nikita, a CW series that aired from 2010 to 2013, is highlighted as an underrated spy thriller blending sleek James Bond-style espionage with the visceral action of the John Wick films. Starring Maggie Q in the title role, the show ran for four seasons and combined international intrigue with hard-hitting fight sequences, making it a distinctive entry in the genre that has since faded from wider popular memory. Its revival in critical discussion matters because it offers viewers seeking both cerebral spy plotting and blockbuster-style combat a rarely matched hybrid.

The series is adapted from the 1997 Canadian show La Femme Nikita, itself based on Luc Besson's 1990 French film, and follows Nikita as she navigates Division, a covert US-funded agency that recruits troubled youths and trains them as assassins, and the even more shadowy Oversight organisation manipulating global affairs behind the scenes. Missions span multiple countries with shifting alliances, double agents and hidden safe houses, echoing the intrigue of Bond and the intensity of Wick. What sets Nikita apart, according to the article, is her personal motivation: unlike Bond or Wick's characters, she is driven not by duty or debt but by a personal vendetta against those who stole her life.