Amazon Prime viewers’ most binge-watched BBC thriller, The Night Manager, is set to release its season 2 on New Year’s Day. The Streaming chart in the UK has soared to the Top 10 days before the official release of the season.
Fans are excited for the series, which begins by following Tom Hiddleston as Jonathan Pine, a former British soldier turned night manager of a luxury hotel.
The series was first premiered in 2016. It immediately sparked speculation that Hiddleston could be a strong contender to become the next James Bond.
Many viewers drew comparisons between the two fictional spy worlds, with some saying that they thought The Night Manager was of a higher calibre.
One viewer wrote on Google reviews, “This show is what James Bond should aim to be. Sexy, fast and writing that is tongue-in-cheek but serious”.
With only days left until season two comes out, it’s no wonder fans are bingeing the first season to catch up. The series is set to release on January 1 2026, nearly a decade after its last season.
In the first season, Pine is recruited by Angela Burr (Olivia Colman), working for a Foreign Office task force, to infiltrate the inner circle of arms dealer Richard Roper (Hugh Laurie), a.k.a. ‘the worst man in the world’, who has ‘built an empire from his trade in human life’.
While completing the sting, Pine falls for Roper’s girlfriend, Jemima ‘Jed’ Marshall (Elizabeth Debicki), and attempts to use their relationship to his advantage. The closer Pine gets to Roper, the more dangerous the situation becomes, until eventually everything reaches a head.
When the series aired, it was praised as being more ‘realistic’ than the 007 franchise we so readily associate with British spy thrillers, making it ‘all the more believable’, wrote Dave Jackson on Google.