AMC Lands ‘The Night Manager’: Hugh Laurie, Tom Hiddleston To Star
AMC has announced that they will air the long-anticipated miniseries adaptation of author John le Carré’s popular novel The Night Manager with The Avengers star Tom Hiddleston starring opposite Dr. Gregory House himself, Hugh Laurie. Academy Award winner Susanne Bier will direct. The Night Manager will be co-produced by the network, The Ink Factory, and BBC One, according to Merrill Barr at Screen Rant.
According to the official press release, the miniseries will be a contemporary interpretation of le Carré’s espionage drama that will bring together love, loss, and revenge in a complex story of modern criminality. The series will follow former British soldier Jonathan Pine, played by Hiddleston, as he navigates the shadowy recesses of Whitehall and Washington, where an unholy alliance operates between the intelligence community and the secret arms trade. To infiltrate the inner circle of lethal arms dealer Richard Onslow Roper, played by Laurie, Pine must himself become a criminal.
While fans of both beloved British actors are in seeming unanimous excitement for the series, Hiddleston and Laurie expressed a great deal of excitement and mutual admiration for the project, according to Russ Burlingame at Comic Book.com, where Hiddleston professed his affinity for the role, calling Pine “the most mysterious and complex kind of British hero.”
“It’s an honor and a privilege to work with such truly impeccable collaborators as Hugh Laurie and Susanne Bier in bringing this to the screen. David Farr’s screenplay, adapted from le Carré’s brilliant novel, is absolutely outstanding. I’m beyond thrilled and I can’t wait.”
Laurie, a fan of the original novel, was cautiously optimistic.
“I loved ‘The Night Manager’ when it was published, and for more than 20 years have yearned to see it realized on screen. I am now thrilled and honored to have the frontest of front row seats. All the moving parts are finely machined – we just have to not mess it up.”
Le Carré’s The Night Manager was published in 1993, and found great success both at home and here in the states. The novel was published in over 20 languages and sold over one million copies in North America. The miniseries joins an already anticipated 2015 slate from AMC that includes the final season of Mad Men, new seasons of The Walking Dead, Talking Dead, Comic Book Men, and the debut of the Breaking Bad spin-off Better Call Saul starring comedian Bob Odenkirk. The network recently purchased a majority stake in BBC America, forming a partnership that could see The Night Manager serving as the first of what could become many future collaborations between AMC and BBC.
