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When The Night Manager first aired on the BBC in 2016, it instantly established itself as a modern spy-thriller classic.
Based on the 1993 novel by John le Carré and adapted by David Farr, the series follows hotel night manager Jonathan Pine, played by Tom Hiddleston, who is recruited by British intelligence officer Angela Burr, portrayed by Olivia Colman, to infiltrate the inner circle of arms dealer Richard Roper, played by Hugh Laurie.
Hiddleston, Colman and Laurie each earned Golden Globe awards for their performances, and the series’ explosive finale was watched by more than 10 million viewers in the UK alone.
Almost a decade later, the series returns for a second season, with Hiddleston and Colman reprising their roles as Pine and Burr.
Hiddleston, 44, says he was delighted to return to the role as he is so inspired by the character.
“I love this character. I find his courage extraordinarily inspiring,” says the London-born actor.
“He has a kind of moral fire, a belief in what’s right and what this country should stand for that won’t be extinguished until the end of his lifetime, and I love playing him.”
Hiddleston says Pine is now operating under a new alias, which draws him into a mission in Colombia.
“He’s still very much a night manager, just managing the night in a slightly different way; he’s a nocturnal animal for sure,” he explains.
“In the first series, he was the night manager of a luxury hotel in Egypt and Switzerland before being recruited by the security and intelligence services at MI6 as a field agent.
“Now he is a night manager in the sense that, under his alias, he runs a surveillance operation, keeping track of various bad actors passing through London’s hotels and casinos, who MI6 might want to keep an eye on.”
He adds: “In running the Night Owls, he comes face to face with a confrontation that reminds him of his past and is inexorably drawn back toward danger, toward the fire. But I think what’s so interesting about Pine is that that’s his comfort zone. He actually feels most alive when he’s most at risk, and that’s a fascinating character to play.”
Also returning to the series are Alistair Petrie as Sandy Langbourne and A Quiet Place actor Noah Jupe as Daniel Roper, the son of Richard Roper. Joker actor Douglas Hodge reprises his role as Rex Mayhew, alongside Traces actor Michael Nardone as Roper’s former henchman, Frisky.
Joining the cast are Babylon actor Diego Calva, Daisy Jones & The Six actress Camila Morrone, Obsession star Indira Varma, Wicked Little Letters actor Paul Chahidi, and Adult Material actress Hayley Squires.
Mexican actor Calva plays Colombian businessman Teddy Dos Santos, Pine’s new adversary in this series.
The 33-year-old actor describes Teddy as a different kind of villain.
“There’s something about being the antagonist, you can do it in a very one-dimensional way,” explains Calva.
“With Teddy, I’ve tried to give him as many layers as possible, to make him complex and human.
“My director and my co-stars have helped me a lot with that. I think people can expect Teddy to be a pretty human, albeit bizarre, villain.”
Calva adds that with part of the series being set in Latin America it feels more “spicy”.
“I think Season Two has its own soul,” he explains.
“It’s The Night Manager, going to Latin America, going to Colombia, so it’s a little spicier.
“At the same time, it helps Tom’s character develop and creates more complex situations. The core is still there, you never quite know who’s telling the truth, who’s lying, or who the good guys and bad guys are, just like in any spy story.”
Show creator Farr, 56, says he received John le Carré’s (whose real name was David Cornwell) blessing to continue the story beyond the original novel before the author’s death in 2020.
“It was an amazing experience. What was most pleasing was that le Carré, David Cornwell, as I knew him, gave his blessing to continue the show, if I could find the right story, before he sadly passed away,” Farr explains.
“That was very important to me because it’s never been done before and he’s someone I revered since I was a kid.
“It was a very important moment for me when he said he loved the show and he wanted us to continue. It took a while, because I think you shouldn’t rush these things to get it right. And then an idea came to me about five years ago.”
Farr explains that they wanted to move the story to a new landscape from series one which is why he chose Colombia.
“We wanted to find a new landscape and a new world. And Colombia is that world. And with that came all sorts of wonderful challenges filming it and finding a whole fabulous new bunch of actors to support our wonderful Tom Hiddleston and Olivia Colman.”
Hiddleston adds that one of the greatest pleasures of filming in Colombia is that much of John le Carré’s original novel, The Night Manager, was set there.
“One of the great pleasures of taking the series to Colombia is that the novel by John le Carré is largely set there. It was almost like David Farr, our brilliant screenwriter, going back to the source material and thinking, this is something he would be interested in.
“But obviously we’ve gone in a new direction with it, and I loved it. Jonathan Pine is in a completely new environment. He’s not in Europe or the Middle East, he’s in Colombia. So it was great.”
The Night Manager Season 2 airs on New Year’s Day at 9.05pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
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