A decade after its award-winning debut, the sleek espionage drama The Night Manager has made its long-awaited return to screens. The BBC series, which originally aired in 2016 and set a new benchmark for the genre, is back for a second season with Tom Hiddleston once again leading the cast as the enigmatic Jonathan Pine.
A Decade On: Can The Night Manager Recapture Its Magic?
When it first premiered, The Night Manager distinguished itself through sheer finesse. Based on a novel by the legendary John le Carré and boasting a pedigree cast, it traded in the world of corrupt, moneyed elites and luxury international locales. Its decision to remain a single, self-contained season only bolstered its reputation as an exclusive, classy affair. Now, a decade later, the show has been lured back, co-produced by Amazon and capitalising on the continued appetite for sophisticated spy stories.
The new season finds Hiddleston's Pine in a very different place. No longer in the field, he manages a backwater MI6 surveillance unit dubbed the "Night Owls," monitoring CCTV from London's top hotels. This mundane existence is shattered, however, when a familiar face from his past resurfaces, pulling him back into the dangerous world of high-stakes infiltration.
New Villains and Old Ghosts
The shadow of the first season's villain, the arms dealer Dickie Roper (played by Hugh Laurie), looms large. Pine's new mission, targeting a Colombian arms cartel with ties to Roper, is punctuated by flashbacks. Yet, the new antagonist, Teddy Dos Santos (Diego Calva), struggles to match the uniquely chilling presence of his predecessor, coming across as a more generic threat.
Olivia Colman returns alongside Hiddleston, with new faces including Indira Varma, Paul Chahidi, and Hayley Squires joining the MI6 ranks. Camila Morrone also stars as the potentially disaffected companion of the new supervillain. The series attempts to rebuild the dynamic that made the original so compelling, with Pine adopting another false identity and navigating a fresh web of deception.
A Still-Classy, If Slightly Blunted, Return
The production retains its luxurious sheen, evoking cashmere and silk, but some critics note the blade isn't quite as sharp. The show loses a certain naughty glint when Pine isn't pitted directly against the British upper classes he once infiltrated. Hiddleston's performance remains a point of division—viewers will either see a modern, sensitive Bond or find him overly smarmy.
Nevertheless, The Night Manager still operates far above most television thrillers. While it may not feel quite as pristine as its groundbreaking first outing, it delivers sophisticated, high-stakes drama. The Night Manager is available to watch on BBC iPlayer now and will begin streaming on Prime Video from 11 January.
