Eight years ago I watchedThe Night Manager (you can read my review here), after I read John le Carre’s book of the same name. Le Carre liked the production and encouraged Tom Hiddleston, Hugh Laurie, Olivia Colman, Tom Hollander, David Harewood and Elizabeth Debicki to make a sequel. Then John le Carre (aka, David John Moore Cornwell) died in 2020 but the plans for more episodes of The Night Manager progressed.
“In April 2024, it was announced that BBC and Amazon Prime Video had ordered a second and third series, with Hiddleston and Colman returning in lead roles and Laurie as an executive producer. Alistair Petrie, Noah Jupe, Douglas Hodge and Michael Nardone also reprise their roles from the first series, while Camila Morrone, Diego Calva, Indira Varma, Paul Chahidi and Hayley Squires joined the cast in lead roles. Georgi Banks-Davies serves as director for the second series.”
If you’re a fan of John le Carre’s books and enjoy spy stories, you might want to check out this new 6-episode series on AMAZON Prime Video. GRADE: Incomplete but treading towards a B+
Since it’s been almost 9 years since the first one, we’re watching the original series again before the new one. Watched the first episode last night.
Jeff, the new series is mostly set in Columbia.
Every time I see Tom Hollander I am surprised anew at how short he is – 5’5″ – especially when Tom Hiddleston is 6’2″.
Jeff, same here!
Not a fan of Le Carre but that’s on me. I read The Constant Gardener and was totally lost in space.
I’ll pass on this one.
Beth, THE NIGHT MANAGER, SEASON 2 is not based on a le Carre novel. It’s just a TV sequel to the original series which is nothing like THE CONSTANT GARDENER (a book I wasn’t fond of either).
My first thought was to rewatch the first season, but then I had another thought second thought, and that was to watch/rewatch ALL the Le Carre movies and tv shows. Some have been on our to-be-watched list forever. We’re only seeing one a week or so, but we’re off to a good start.
THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD stars Richard Burton as Alec Leamas, a worn-out spy who is used to look as someone who might be willing to defect. I like Burton’s acting, but he rarely appeared in anything I wanted to see. I watched this a long, long time ago, with very little memory of it, so it was like watching something new. Rupert Davies, who had been a tv Maigret back in the 60s, has a small role as George Smiley.
A DEADLY AFFAIR stars James Mason as Smiley — though for contractual reasons he’s named Charles Dobbs here. He’s very good as Smiley, and this film, directed by Sidney Lumet, is well worth watching. Smiley’s relationship with his promiscuous wife Ann is prominently featured in this one. This is based on the first le Carre novel, which actually contains some of the back-story for Spy Who Came in from the Cold. The two films don’t fit together like the novels do, but it’s interesting to see the somewhat askew connections.
I read a bunch of le Carre novels back in the 70s and 80s, and really enjoyed them — but abandoned them without really planning to. I might read a couple now (or I might not). But I’ve enjoyed these first two films.
Jeff, what an impressive feat! I occasionally am tempted to go back and read books/movies of favorite authors. Le Carre would be up there with Donald Westlake and Marvin Albert.