Tom Hiddleston will reprise his role as Jonathan Pine in two further series of The Night Manager, based on characters created by John Le Carre.
Back in 2018, The Night Manager was a huge hit for the BBC, winning 36 awards including two Emmys, a BAFTA and several Golden Globes.
Adapted from the 1993 novel by John Le Carre, the show followed Jonathan Pine (Tom Hiddleston), the night manager of a high class hotel in Cairo, who is recruited by Angela Burr (Olivia Colman), the manager of a Foreign Office task force, to infiltrate the inner circle of sinister arms dealer Richard Roper (Hugh Laurie).
It was a glossy, big budget production, and writer David Farr expertly crafted Le Carre’s twisty plot into six exhilarating hours of drama.
A second series was announced in 2020, but now the BBC has confirmed that two series have been commissioned and will be filmed back to back, presumably owing to Hiddleston’s busy schedule. Farr returned to write the scripts, which will be directed by Georgi Banks-Davies. Stephen Garrett will also return to produce, with Hiddleston and Laurie executive producing. The series will pick up Pine’s story eight years after the finale of the first series.
Produced by The Ink Factory in association with Character 7, Demarest Films and 127 Wall, and in co-production with Spanish partner Nostromo Pictures, the new series is described as being “inspired by characters created by John Le Carre” – Le Carre did not write a sequel to the novel, but he did make a cameo in episode four of the first series. He sadly passed away in 2020.
Hiddleston said in the official announcement that “the first series of The Night Manager was one of the most creatively fulfilling projects I have ever worked on. The depth, range and complexity of Jonathan Pine was, and remains, a thrilling prospect. I’m so looking forward to reuniting with Simon and Stephen Cornwell, David Farr and Stephen Garrett, and to working with Georgi Banks-Davies to tell the next chapter of our story. I can’t wait”.
Farr said, “John le Carré’s work has long been an inspiration to me and working closely with him on Season 1 was an honour and a pleasure. 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. I am thrilled to be working again with Tom Hiddleston, Stephen Garrett and The Ink Factory team, and to be welcoming the brilliant director Georgi Banks-Davies into our ranks”.
Series two of The Night Manager will begin production shortly, and it will premiere on BBC One and iPlayer in the UK, where you can also find the first series. It will be available globally on Prime Video.
