The Night Manager was a surprise hit for the BBC when it first aired in 2016. It earmarked Tom Hiddleston as a potential replacement for Daniel Craig's James Bond, getting drawn into Le Carré's world of espionage as a rather unlikely participant.
A lot has happened for Hiddleston in the intervening years and although his first appearance as Loki was in 2011's Thor, he's enjoyed no shortage of fame through the rest of the Marvel movies that dominated the last 10 years. It's hard to look at Hiddleston in the same way as in the original 2016 installation of The Night Manager.
Perhaps that's why it's taken so long to bring this thriller back to our screens, but coming back it is, to both the BBC and Prime Video. Although marked as a Prime Original in the trailer, the BBC appears to be in the driving seat so those in the UK will get to watch the new series on BBC 1 at 9pm on 1 January 2026, while it will also be streamed on BBC iPlayer.
It's going to be the perfect start to the new year for Brits. Everyone else will be able to watch it on Prime Video from 11 January. The BBC will likely run it on a weekly schedule, whether it will be available to binge on BBC iPlayer and Prime Video hasn't been confirmed.
Despite Hiddleston's profile, it was Hugh Laurie's Richard Roper that really captured me in the first series of The Night Manager. In the book, Roper escapes, but at the end of the first series his fate isn't exactly clear. It's also not clear what Laurie's role is in season two: his face is in the trailer, he's not listed in the cast, but is a producer on the show.
The Night Manager appears to be set some 8 years after the action of the first, with Jonathan Pine (Hiddleston) with a new identity - Alex Goodwin - back in London and working for MI6. When Pine spots an old Roper mercenary in London, he's drawn into a new mission that takes him to Columbia.
The Night Manager was John La Carré's first post-Cold War novel and the action of the second series expands beyond the novel, carrying the characters forward with a new plot. Olivia Colman returns as Angela Burr, with Alistair Petrie as Sandy Langbourne, while the trailer suggests that much of the action will circulate around Diego Calva's Teddy and Camila Morrone's Roxana.
There's a lot to live up to: the original series was a stealth hit, pulling in 10 million viewers (in the UK) for the final episode, and winning a BAFTAs, Emmys and Golden Globes. That it's taken so long to return is a surprise, but as we said previously, we're glad it's coming back.
I'm especially glad that it's going to be available a little earlier for those of us in the UK.
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