The highly anticipated second season of The Night Manager is here after a decade-long wait, but its debut episode has divided viewers. While many are happy to see Tom Hiddleston return as Jonathan Pine, a common complaint about the slow start and difficulty recalling the first season’s plot is flooding social media.
The new six-part season, which premiered on BBC One and BBC iPlayer on Thursday, January 1, 2026, sees Tom Hiddleston reprise his Golden Globe-winning role. He is joined again by Olivia Colman as Angela Burr. The story expands beyond the original John le Carrรฉ novel for the first time, picking up eight years after the events of season one.
“The Night Manager is really testing everyone’s memory right now,” one viewer posted on social media.
The New Season’s Plot and Key Complaints
The story finds Jonathan Pine living under the alias Alex Goodwin and working a quiet desk job. He runs a nocturnal MI6 surveillance team known as the Night Owls in London. His calm life is disrupted when he spots a mercenary linked to the late arms dealer Richard Roper, played by Hugh Laurie. This sighting pulls Pine into a dangerous new mission targeting Teddy Dos Santos, a charismatic Colombian businessman played by Diego Calva.
Pine’s journey leads him to Roxana Bolaรฑos, a businesswoman portrayed by Camila Morrone, who helps him infiltrate Dos Santos’s arms operation in Colombia. The plot involves a conspiracy to train a guerrilla army, with betrayal at every turn.
Despite the high-stakes setup, a significant number of viewers found the first episode’s pacing to be a hurdle. Many took to social media to describe the start as “slow moving” and “tedious,” hoping the action would pick up in later episodes. The most repeated issue, however, was the ten-year gap between seasons, which left many struggling to remember key details from 2016.
Viewer Reactions Focus on Memory Gap and Pacing
Immediately after the premiere, social media was filled with comments from viewers trying to recall the complex plot of the first season. The show’s own recap at the beginning of the episode did little to help some fans.
“Was going to watch #TheNightManagerS2 but I can’t remember #thenightmanager so will have to rewatch series one. Anyone else doing the same thing?” a fan asked on X.
“I have no idea what is going on,” another viewer wrote. “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 about”.
Other viewers were more forgiving of the slow build-up, noting that the episode laid important groundwork. “The Night Manager season 2 a bit slow to begin with but is getting interesting,” one fan commented. Another called the debut “outstanding” and “brilliant”.
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Season 2 Release Schedule and Viewing Details
For viewers in the United Kingdom, the season continues on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. The second episode airs on Sunday, January 4, at 9 PM, with subsequent episodes airing weekly in the same slot.
For international audiences, the show will be available on Amazon Prime Video starting Sunday, January 11, 2026. The first three episodes will drop on that date, with new episodes releasing each Sunday after that. The season finale is scheduled for February 1, 2026.
The premiere’s overnight viewing figures in the UK showed 3.3 million viewers, with a peak of 3.8 million. This is notably lower than the first season’s 2016 debut, which attracted 6 million overnight viewers. Industry reports suggest these numbers are expected to grow significantly as viewers catch up on iPlayer.
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