Noah Centineo Reveals How Former CIA Lawyer Adam Ciralsky's Real Life Stories Inspired The Recruit (Exclusive)

Noah Centineo seems to survive an unrealistic amount of attempts on his life in The Recruit — and even he knows the show's plot would be "absurd" if it wasn't so true.

The Netflix series stars Centineo as newcomer CIA lawyer Owen Hendricks, who is first brought into an international blackmail scandal in season 1 and then involved in a life-threatening espionage situation in South Korea in season 2.

"It's funny. If it wasn't so true, it would be absurdist," Centineo, 28, tells PEOPLE of the show's ability to push the boundaries with Owen's story. "It walks that line, But it's almost like — truth is stranger than fiction."

The Recruit is able to "walk the line" thanks to Adam Ciralsky, the retired CIA lawyer who serves as an executive producer on the show.

"There's a lot in our show that is actually based in stories that Adam Ciralsky – who the show was loosely based off of — has told us," Centineo says.

"And I think what [creator] Alexi [Hawley] does so beautifully is he walks this tightrope of drama and humor, and he kind of weaves it together. And so right when it gets kind of dark and deep, he's able to subvert that and make it funny again."

Centineo finds the balance that the show has been able to strike between danger and entertainment "cool." In his words, Owen is just "trying to survive in this bad world" — while running on a handful of hours of sleep, if that.

Having Ciralsky onboard is just one of the things that makes The Recruit feel as authentic as it does for the To All the Boys alum. He's also gotten some real immersion to help situate him in Owen's shoes.

"We shot at the CIA," he says, referring to the agency's campus in McLean, Va., just outside of Washington, D.C. "They gave us clearance, which is insane. I think we were the first show to shoot at the new headquarters too."

He'd "been there before for prep" ahead of filming, though, so he wasn't nervous walking on set. "It was like going home, weirdly," Centineo says.

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Season 2 of The Recruit is now streaming on Netflix.