The Night Manager delivered an absolute gut punch in the season 2 finale, but it also perfectly set up the next steps of Jonathan Pine’s underdog story in season 3.
Throughout the season 2 finale, I think most fans felt like everything was going too well. Sure, we'd already lost a handful of heroes, including Basil (Paul Chahidi) in the previous episodes. But, overall, Jonathan (Tom Hiddleston) looked like he'd set up Richard Roper (Hugh Laurie) again. Angela (Olivia Colman) was ready to take down Mayra Cavendish (Indira Varma), and Jonathan would ride off into the sunset after saving the day once more.
Clearly, that did not happen. Roper pulled the rug out from under everyone in the final moments. In doing so, The Night Manager season 3 was perfectly set up, and fans should be as excited as ever to watch the new season.
BBC and Prime Video already renewed the series for season 3. We know the creative team, including writer David Farr, is already working on the new season. If the first two seasons are any indication, it’s going to be absolutely stunning.
How will Jonathan move forward in The Night Manager season 3?
A big part of The Night Manager season 3 will obviously be how Jonathan comes back from the events of the season 2 finale.
Jonathan has lost people close to him now, and much more so than in the first season, it’s Jonathan’s fault. Everyone was a willing participant in this mission, but he messed up. He was outsmarted by Richard Roper, and it led to Teddy’s death, Martin’s death, Basil’s death, and even Angela Burr’s death.
In the final moments of the episode, we watched Angela set up Mayra only to have it all fall apart after Richard Roper’s secret plan came to fruition. Angela is killed by an assassin in France in front of her young daughter.
How does Jonathan come back from that? How does he deal with the guilt? That will obviously be explored. He also has Sally (Hayley Squires) on his side, so perhaps they’ll tag team the next mission to take down Roper.
Clearly, that will be Jonathan’s focus, but I’m also interested in what Roper’s next move will be.
Is Angela actually dead in The Night Manager?
The Night Manager seemingly has no problem killing off major characters. We saw many of them killed in season 2. The finale was an especially bloody affair, though many of the characters I thought would die actually lived through the season.
I thought, surely, Angela would be safe. The series had already been renewed for season 3, and we couldn't say goodbye to her before the end, right? Well, I was wrong, or so it seems.
The obvious intent is to make it seem like Angela died in The Night Manager season 2 finale, but we've seen characters recover from gunshot wounds before. It would not surprise me if she was saved in France and then helped Jonathan take down Roper once and for all in season 3, but we'll just have to wait and see if that's possible.
For now, it seems like Angela is dead.
What’s next for Roper in season 3?
Roper walked away the winner after suffering a massive defeat in the first season. Now, he’s back in England with his son, Danny. He got everything we wanted out of starting a civil war in Colombia.
Is he satisfied, though? To me, there is no chance. He’s going to get caught up in another thing and another thing and another thing because that’s what people like him do. If you’ve watched the news in the last 8-12 years, that would be very obvious.
The last thing I expect is for Roper to sit back and relax. He’s going to have people looking for Jonathan, and it will be that much harder for Jonathan to get to Roper this time. I have no doubt, though, that he will find a way.
I can’t wait to see just how big things get in season 3. At this point, Jonathan might just have to expose and take down the whole British government.
We’ll share more news about The Night Manager season 3 when we find out!