The Night Manager season 2 review: Hiddleston and Calva are TV’s next hot couple

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A star rating of 4 out of 5.

This review covers the first two episodes of The Night Manager’s second season, which critics were able to view in advance.

With John le Carré’s reputation and the success of the first adaptation, ‘The Night Manager,’ this new series had a lot to live up to. After watching the first two episodes, it’s still unclear whether it justifies its existence.

Season 2 brings back Tom Hiddleston as Jonathan Pine, the spy now known as Alex Goodwin, who is leading a relatively calm intelligence team in London. The season’s concept originated with a returning writer, Farr.

Honestly, the guy’s life was pretty routine until he stumbled onto something unsettling – a sign that the ruthless tactics of Richard Roper from the first season are being carried on by a new, equally unscrupulous player. It instantly reawakened that old instinct, and we see the undercover agent he once was starting to emerge again. It’s a compelling setup, and I’m really curious to see where it goes.

This time around, Jonathan needs to befriend a mysterious Colombian arms dealer named Teddy Dos Santos (played by Diego Calva). To do so, he pretends to be Matthew Goodwin, a loud and heavy-drinking businessman.

Calva immediately brings a refreshing energy to the story, and his scenes with Hiddleston have a captivating, playful tension. Their interactions, even when filled with deceit, are genuinely enjoyable to watch.

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Like Dicky Roper, Teddy can be both incredibly calm and deeply intimidating. However, he projects a warmer personality than Laurie, and his good looks definitely help him put people at ease.

I wouldn’t be shocked if these two characters quickly became popular on social media for their romantic chemistry. There’s already so much tension between them in just a couple of episodes that fans will likely create countless compilation videos—and I’ll probably be among those watching them.

By the end of the second episode, we still don’t really know who Calva’s enemy is, and that’s a good thing. It’s a welcome surprise, especially since the rest of the season feels a bit predictable so far.

The basic idea for season two of The Night Manager feels a lot like the first season: another arms dealer, operating in a similar way and seemingly bent on ridiculously villainous goals, is the focus.

Instead of turning Jonathan into a typical James Bond character with a new mission, The Night Manager feels more like a recent Hollywood sequel that revisits older characters, showing a lot of respect for the original story.

Some characters still need to develop more unique personalities and stand out from previous ones.

Camila Morrone’s character, Roxane, reminds you of Elizabeth Debicki’s Jed – another woman held captive but who fights back. Paul Chahidi as Basil brings a grounded, relatable quality similar to Olivia Colman’s Angela Burr, though her part is smaller this season.

Hayley Squires plays Sally, Jonathan’s new colleague, but she doesn’t have a clear parallel in the story and feels somewhat underused in the first two episodes. Her role is mostly to advance the plot without making a strong impression.

Like all genres, spy stories have familiar character types, and season two of The Night Manager relies on these tropes a bit too much. As a result, the new characters don’t quite stand out as much as they did in the first season – though that was probably inevitable.

The first season featured Hiddleston when he was incredibly popular from his Marvel work and seemed like a strong contender to be the next James Bond – though that possibility has since diminished. Hugh Laurie was also making a comeback to British television after ten years on the American show House, and both Olivia Colman and Vanessa Kirby were just starting to become major stars.

The Night Manager had a uniquely perfect cast, something this new series couldn’t quite match. A more daring script from the writer might have brought it closer to that level of success, instead of sticking too closely to the source material’s style.

We might see bigger differences emerge as the season progresses – there are still four hours left – but even if this season ends up closely resembling the first, it’s at least based on good content.

After such a long absence, fans will hardly be sorry to watch The Night Manager again.

The Night Manager season 2 premieres on BBC One and iPlayer on New Year’s Day 2026.

Don’t miss The Night Manager! Add it to your watchlist on the TopMob: What to Watch app. Download the app now for daily TV suggestions, exclusive features, and more.

Authors

David CraigSenior Drama Writer

David Craig writes about scripted TV dramas and comedies for TopMob, keeping fans up-to-date on the newest and most popular shows. Before joining TopMob, he worked at Starburst Magazine, hosted the podcast ‘The Winter King’ for ITVX, and earned a degree in Journalism from the University of Sheffield.

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2026-01-01 03:37