The long-awaited second season of The Night Manager is now streaming, a full decade after the original series captivated audiences. Tom Hiddleston returns as the spy Jonathan Pine, but the shadow of the first season’s villain, Hugh Laurie’s Richard Roper, looms large over the new story. This season introduces a fresh antagonist, Teddy Dos Santos, played by Diego Calva, as Pine is drawn into a dangerous new mission connected to Roper’s dark legacy.
The new season, which began airing on BBC One and BBC iPlayer on January 1, 2026, makes its global debut on Prime Video starting January 11, 2026. The story picks up years later, with Pine now working for MI6 under a new identity. His peaceful life is shattered when he spots a former mercenary linked to Roper, pulling him back into the world of international arms dealing.
Hugh Laurie’s Richard Roper Set a High Bar for Villainy
To understand the challenge facing the new season, one must look back at the character Hugh Laurie created. Richard “Dicky” Roper was not a cartoonish villain but a chillingly believable one. Described in the series as “the worst man in the world,” Roper was a billionaire arms dealer who hid his cruel business behind a mask of charm and sophistication.
Laurie’s performance was critically acclaimed, earning him a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor. He brought a predatory quality to the role, using wit and sarcasm as his main weapons. Roper’s evil was nuanced; he was a loving father, which made his capacity for profiting from global conflict and violence even more disturbing. As Laurie himself noted about the character, “I think this is one of le Carrรฉโs angriest books, and you see it in the villainy of this character”.
Season 2 confirms Roper’s grim fate: after Pine sabotaged his arms deal, Roper was captured by his furious buyers, imprisoned for four years, and eventually executed. However, his influence is far from over. The new season opens with Pine and his handler, Angela Burr (Olivia Colman), being called to identify Roper’s body, a traumatic event that continues to haunt Pine.
Meet Teddy Dos Santos, Season 2’s New Threat
Stepping into the role of the main antagonist is Diego Calva as Teddy Dos Santos. Calva is best known for his role in Babylon and Narcos: Mexico. Teddy is a powerful Colombian businessman who runs a violent arms operation with his own guerrilla army.
Early episodes show Teddy as a cool and calculated figure. In a preview from episode two, he is seen calmly ordering a General to deal with a business rival who is “making my life difficult,” instructing him to “make it quick”. Unlike Roper’s old-world charm, Teddy’s danger feels more direct and contemporary, rooted in the complex drug and arms trades of Colombia.
Calva has spoken about wanting to create a more human villain. He stated, “The idea of good and evil, black and white, is just too easyโฆ I hope I achieve with my character, to change that line. I donโt know if my character is good or bad, but I try to create a human villain”. This approach suggests Teddy may have layers and motivations that make him a formidable and complicated foe for Pine.
How Jonathan Pine Has Changed for His New Mission
Tom Hiddleston’s Jonathan Pine returns, but he is not the same man from ten years ago. He now operates under the name Alex Goodwin, running a small nighttime surveillance unit for MI6 called the Night Owls. While he is more experienced, the trauma of his past with Roper remains a powerful force.
โAt the end of the first season, I always believed that heโs seen behind the curtain, and once youโve seen behind the curtain, you canโt go back,โ Hiddleston explained. โA fire has been lit in his soulโฆ and that fire wonโt be extinguishedโ.
Hiddleston points out that this unresolved pain is now Pine’s potential weakness. โI think there are experiences of the first season that he went through, which sincerely logged his nightmares and those ghosts havenโt been exercisedโฆ It could be an Achillesโ heelโ. This emotional depth adds a new layer to the spy thriller, as Pine must battle external enemies while managing his own internal scars.
New Faces and Returning Favorites in the Cast
The cast for Season 2 blends original stars with exciting new additions. Olivia Colman is back as the determined intelligence officer Angela Burr, who once again pushes Pine into the field. Noah Jupe also returns as Daniel, Roper’s now-teenage son, who is struggling with the grief and legacy of his father’s life and death.
Newcomers include Camila Morrone as Roxana Bolaรฑos, a savvy businesswoman with ties to Teddy who becomes a complicated love interest for Pine. Indira Varma joins as Mayra, a high-ranking MI6 officer overseeing the operation. The show also introduces Hayley Squires as Sally, a junior MI6 employee who works closely with Pine’s team.
Fan Reactions and the Challenge of a Ten-Year Gap
The premiere of Season 2 has generated significant buzz, but the decade-long gap between seasons presented a unique challenge. Many viewers took to social media to express how difficult it was to remember the intricate plot of Season 1.
One fan joked on X (formerly Twitter), “Watching #TheNightManagerS2 when you already have a notoriously bad memory”. Another echoed, โI have no idea what is going onโฆ Not sure if it would be easier to follow if they didn’t keep cutting back to characters from 10 years ago that I have forgotten aboutโ. Despite the initial confusion, many others praised the new season, with one calling the first episode “outstanding” and “brilliant”.
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The Legacy of John le Carrรฉ and the Path to Season 2
Creating a second season was a unique challenge because John le Carrรฉ, the author of the original novel, never wrote a sequel. The author passed away in 2020, but his estate gave the creative team their blessing to continue the story.
Screenwriter David Farr, who had a key role in adapting the first season, reportedly conceived the idea for Season 2 in a dream the night before le Carrรฉ’s death. Simon Cornwell, le Carrรฉ’s son and a producer on the show, shared that his father’s guidance was to respect his values while finding a new path forward. This approval allowed the team to craft an original story that extends the world of the characters while honoring the spirit of le Carrรฉ’s work.
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