The Night Manager season 2 is an enthralling comeback after a 10-year wait

This review is based on the first two episodes of The Night Manager season 2.

Oh, how long I waited for the BBC’s The Night Manager to return.

It’s slick, it’s suave, it’s gripping, it’s full of suspense – in short, it’s everything that I want out of a spy thriller, especially one that I’ve been hoping would come back for a decade.

When the first season premiered on the BBC in 2016, I remember watching on the edge of my seat, gripped by the tension between Tom Hiddleston and Hugh Laurie, and anxious to find out how the explosive ending would unfold – and explode it did.

The series was perfectly brilliant as a standalone, having been based on the 1993 novel by the acclaimed espionage author John le Carré. If those six episodes were all we were ever going to get from a TV show about Jonathan Pine, then that would have been ok (even if it would have been a bitter pill to swallow).

But, thank goodness the creators of the series did decide to come back, because there is so much more of Pine’s story and his massive potential as a sleuthing secret agent to delve into in season two. The phrase ‘better late than never’ has never felt more apt.

This time around, Jonathan Pine is initially working as a low-key MI6 operative in a department that’s all about keeping a watchful eye on others – The Night Owls.

After everything that went down with arms dealer Richard Roper (Laurie), he’s now going by a different name: Alex Goodwin. His work is important, but he stays out of the limelight, remaining in the shadows. Just where he appears to like it.

Of course, we wouldn’t have a story if his life had remained this way. While speaking to Metro at the London premiere of season two, writer David Farr explained that the masterminds behind the series spoke about a possible return for years with le Carré’s blessing – but they didn’t want to just ‘bash it out’. First, he had to come up with a gripping story, which he eventually did.

The Night Manager season two goes beyond le Carré’s novel, but still picks up elements from the story. The novel was actually set in Colombia, where season two takes place – so the show is returning to its roots while also treading new ground at the same time.

Pine (aka Goodwin) has a quiet life in London, working completely unsociable hours. His work involves heading to an inconspicuous office to pore over hotel CCTV footage with his colleagues. He’s in charge of the department, whose sole purpose is to watch, not get involved in any action themselves.

Richard Roper is gone, as the trailer confirmed that he’s died since the events of season one. But his legacy lives on.

A decade later, a growing threat is looming in the arms industry, with one figure referring to themselves as ‘Roper’s disciple’. At the mention of Roper’s name, Pine can’t resist forgoing the desk job to get back into the thick of the action.

It doesn’t help that he’s suffering from constant lack of sleep and the nightmare of Roper haunting his every move. You can feel the tension brimming to the surface of Pine’s skin with every double-take and sideways glance that Hiddleston makes. He’s a man on edge, so it’s no surprise that he dives headfirst back into his old life at the first opportunity.

Just like the actor who plays him, Pine is an effortless chameleon. His new mission requires him to take on a new persona so that he can get close to Colombian arms dealer Teddy Dos Santos (Diego Calva), who’s presented as the new antagonist of the story.

Just like Roper, Dos Santos has a swagger and a charm that draws people to him like a moth to a flame, even when they know how dangerous he can be. He can be destructive, but he’s also seemingly irresistible, even to Pine.

Someone who shares that same charisma is businesswoman Roxana Bolaños (Camila Morrone), a person whom Pine crosses paths with first in London, and then again in Colombia when he’s adopted yet another new identity. He has to trust that she won’t spill the beans on his true intentions, despite not knowing if she is at all trustworthy.

They share a mutual distrust of one another, but there’s no denying that the chemistry is flying.

The Night Manager season two wastes no time in bringing all of us who’ve waited a decade for this story back up to speed. It feels real and tangible, unlike many other action dramas on streamers today.

Hiddleston told Metro at the premiere that Pine was originally a representation of le Carré himself, who then handed the reins to the actor playing his literary character – and that comes across in the Loki star’s performance.

‘He said a very generous thing early on,’ he told us of a conversation he had with the late author. ‘I asked him if there was anything I needed to know about playing Pine. He said, “Tom, you’ll have guessed by now, Jonathan Pine is me, and now he must be you.”’

Pine might be travelling the world, lavishing in riches while becoming pally with terrifying baddies, but he still has his feet dug into reality, one of the reasons why I feel he resonated so deeply with audiences in 2016.

He’s a man who’s been thrown to the wolves, but emerges a predator to be feared himself.

I know that today, on New Year’s Day, scores of people recovering from their antics the night before will be devouring the first two episodes of this thriller, just like I did. Watching Tom Hiddleston back in action is the perfect way to start 2026.

The Night Manager season 2 premieres on New Year’s Day on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

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