It’s been almost a decade since The Night Managerfirst premiered, but Tom Hiddleston is finally back as “the man who will not explode,” as he describes himself in the teaser trailer. The long-gestating second season will premiere January 11 on Prime Video, and sees Jonathan Pine (Hiddleston) tangling with dangerous new characters in Colombia.
Olivia Colman also returns for the new season, in addition to new characters like Colombian businessman Teddy Dos Santos (Diego Calva) and business woman Roxana Bolaños (Camila Morrone), who “reluctantly helps him infiltrate Teddy’s Colombian arms operation,” per a synopsis (via Deadline). “Once in Colombia, Pine is plunged deep into a deadly plot involving arms and training of a guerrilla army. As allegiances splinter, Pine races to expose a conspiracy designed to destabilise a nation. And with betrayal at every turn, he must decide whose trust he needs to earn and how far he’s willing to go before it’s too late.”
The original Night Manager was based on the novel of the same name by John le Carré. When the BBC announced the second season, the show’s writer and creator said in a statement, “I did not tread lightly into extending The Night Manager beyond the original book, but an idea came to me a couple of years ago which felt truthful to that unique world of dark corners and shady identities. No one marries the suspense of espionage with a deep exploration of the human soul quite like le Carré. I hope that in some way we can pay homage to his uneasy genius in this new exploration.”
Similarly, Hiddleston explained in 2024 to Variety (via DigitalSpy), “We took the time to try and get the story right. Principally, [author] John le Carré seemed so happy with our adaptation the first time and that was such a relief. So if we were to go again we needed to find the right story.” He added that what he’s “really excited by is eight or nine years have passed since the first season and these characters have been alive in the world in the last eight or nine years, and hopefully our show will reflect that. So Jonathan Pine—le Carré calls him the close observer—has been alive in the world, and he will be eight or nine years older, just as I am.”
