Tom Hiddleston’s Trailblazing Spy Series Passes Major Streaming Milestone

1 week ago 9

Jonathan Pine driving a motorcycle with a younger man sitting behind him in The Night Manager Season 2 Episode 4

Published Feb 1, 2026, 3:40 PM EST

Rahul Malhotra is a Weekend News Writer for Collider. From Francois Ozon to David Fincher, he'll watch anything once.

He has been writing for Collider for over two years, and has covered everything from Marvel to the Oscars, and Marvel at the Oscars. He also writes obsessively about the box office, charting the many hits and misses that are released weekly, and how their commercial performance shapes public perception. In his time at Collider, he has also helped drive diversity by writing stories about the multiple Indian film industries, with a goal to introduce audiences to a whole new world of cinema.

Swing and a miss > measured victory. Also, #JusticeForHan. (He/Him).

Fans seem to have been eagerly awaiting the return of The Night Manager, which was positioned as a limited series when it debuted a decade ago. The show returned with a surprise second season earlier this month, and has been dominating the streaming charts ever since. Based on John le Carré's novel, The Night Manager follows a spy who infiltrates the inner circle of an arms dealer. Tom Hiddleston plays the titular character, while Hugh Laurie stars as the villainous gun-runner. The show's original season, which was directed by Susanne Bier, featured Olivia Colman as the protagonist's handler. The new season, which takes the action to South America, features Babylon breakout Diego Calva and Camila Morrone in supporting roles.

According to FlixPatrol, The Night Manager has now spent two full weeks on Prime Video's domestic Top 10 list, despite competition from shows such as Fallout and the recently released heist thriller Steal. Like the first season, which holds a "Certified Fresh" 91% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the new season has received critical acclaim as well. It currently holds an identical 91% score on RT, whose consensus reads, "Marking a belated but welcome return for Tom Hiddleston's tortured spy, The Night Manager's second season is a glamorous and haunted continuation that only gets better as it goes." In her review of the second season, Collider's Kelcie Mattson wrote that the show "continues to lean into Hiddleston's strengths as a compelling performer: subtle turmoil rioting underneath a glacially still facade, and acute feeling juxtaposed with lethal intensity."

John le Carré's Fans Are Spoiled for Choice

In the decade between the show's two seasons, a Hindi-language Indian remake was released to mostly positive reviews in 2023. Meanwhile, spy thrillers such as Slow Horses, The Terminal List, and The Agency have won both critical and audience approval. In the last 15 years, there have been several films and shows based on le Carré's books, such as Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and The Little Drummer Girl. Fans of the author's books can now look forward to A Legacy of Spies, a show that will unite his major characters. Succession's Matthew Macfadyen is set to play the most iconic of them all, George Smiley; he will be joined by Charlie Hunnam and Daniel Brühl.