Alistair Petrie On The Return Of The Night Manager

An ever-present spoke in the rumour mill over the course of the past decade, The Night Manager has finally returned for a second series, with Tom Hiddleston back at the fore as reluctant agent Jonathan Pine. Ten years on from the action of the first series, Pine is living with a new identity – Alex Goodwin – and runs a quiet surveillance unit in London called The Night Owls. But as his past resurfaces, he is whisked off to Colombia and pulled into the heart of a deadly conspiracy.

Along the way he comes into contact with a slew of familiar faces. Without giving anything away, one man you might recognise is Sandy (played by Alistair Petrie), the cruel Dickie Roper’s financial director back on the scene after a stint in prison.

From not quite believing series 2 would happen until the shout of ‘Action!’ to his highlights on set, we sat down with Petrie for the inside scoop.

‘You never really believe anything is going to happen until day one of shooting and you hear ‘Action’ for the first time.’ (© David Reiss)

Q&A: Alistair Petrie On The Night Manager Series 2

Hi Alistair, how’s life going at the moment?

2025 was incredibly busy and that goes hand in hand with feeling incredibly grateful. Christmas and New Year meant toes in sand, a lot of family, loud dinners, early morning swims in the Indian Ocean and keeping the phone on airplane mode. 

The Night Manager has returned for series 2, almost a decade after the first series launched. How does it feel to see the action back on screen? 

Utterly thrilling. Rogue One and Andor were almost ten years apart and now The Night Manager has had a similarly elongated timeline. I’ve been asked about a possible Night Manager return more than anything else over the last decade and now to be able to say ‘it’s back’ is thrilling indeed. The story embraces the ‘lost’ decade, but that decade behind the scenes with the plotting, planning and writing has been some journey too. The Night Manager never really went away, ‘he’ and we were just in the back office organising and diligently redesigning how it might all be rebuilt and relaunched.

How did it feel when you heard the series would be returning? (And you’d be a part of it!) 

You never really believe anything is going to happen until day one of shooting and you hear ‘Action’ for the first time. The expectation after the success of season 1 is a blessing not a curse. Pressure is a privilege, to quote Billie Jean King. Run towards that pressure and embrace it. Then again, I’m just a vessel – I don’t write it or produce it so my job is pretty straight forward: turn up, be on time and start playing.

You play Sandy, who used to be Roper’s financial director and is one of the only characters from his clan returning for series 2. What does he have in store this series?

He’s been ‘at his Majesty’s Pleasure’ and he’s furious about it. Prison is such wasted time, so his goal is to find a way to get back ‘to work’ – as nefarious as that ‘work’ may be. He’s so gloriously entitled, Sandy, and he no doubt saw himself as a Mr Bridger figure from The Italian Job while in prison. He would’ve wanted to use his legal nous to get as many prisoners successful appeals as possible just to confound the set rules of any given system. I think he would’ve been very popular in prison. You can’t keep a good rogue down. The food would’ve annoyed him intensely. He wants to be back, ready to ride roughshod. He misses his boss too – the mighty and dearly departed Richard Roper. 

He’d quite like to see his children too, though he never was exactly fully present and Lady Langbourne might not be too keen… 

What was it like returning to the character a decade later?

I missed him but he never really went away. If I do or say something daft at home, one of my son’s will mutter ‘don’t be a tit, Sandy’ at me. A brilliant quote from season 1. The linen shirt still fits, the belt buckle is on the same setting. 

‘Sandy never really went away.’ (Alistair Petrie & Hugh Laurie in The Night Manager series 2 © BBC/Ink Factory)

How would you describe him, and how is he different now compared to before?

We are all 10 years older – in real life and in character. Prison was an extension of boarding school for him. He probably had cigars brought in for the Governor. Prison to Sandy was such a waste of time – but there are always schemes. Prison will change people but he won’t be campaigning for prison reform any time soon. It’s in his rear view mirror. But he won’t want to go back.

How do you get into character?

Find elements of yourself, exaggerate them, slip into costume, start playing and listen. 

What was the atmosphere like on set? 

Really, really focused on making the best work possible. Tom [Hiddleston] is a fantastic ‘number one’. He works incredibly hard, knows everyone’s names, leads from the front. The tone of any film set is led by the number one on the call sheet and the director – and my goodness are we in good hands with Tom and Georgi [Banks-Davies]. 

I take my work very seriously and myself less so. There’s a lot of waiting on sets so I find the levity where I can – but when it’s work time, we get on with it. 

Any standout moments from rehearsals or filming?

Filthily glamorous locations, an evening martini and a gossip, armed Colombian bodyguards, a crocodile, crying with laughter with Olivia Colman and Indira Varma, seeing my friend Hugh Laurie turn up one day on set and watching a take on a monitor (as a producer on series 2) and giving a thumbs up to what he just saw. So, so many happy times with cast and crew. 

Anything you’re excited for audiences to see in the series? 

Where do I begin? All and everything. Diego Calva and Camilla Morrone arriving into the story. Let the opening credits roll.

‘Living in the country, playing in town. But always retreating to the country.’ (© David Reiss)

What has been your favourite project to date? 

The Night Manager aside? Any project that finds an audience and embraces it. You can never ever tell, even with all the right ingredients, how something will turn out. A million things need to go right. The alchemy is undefinable and that’s why we keep telling stories, keep investigating what it means to be human. I’ve played the King of Svalbard’s polar bears [in the National Theatre’s production of His Dark Materials] and tried to engineer the destruction of the Death Star [in Disney’s Star Wars spin-offs] and a lot in between. Favourites abound.

Any roles in the pipeline that you’re excited about? (If you’re allowed to tell us!)

Yes. A beautiful film I start in early 2026 in Nova Scotia, a return to Hamlet on stage in New York and the small matter of… Drum roll… The Night Manager season 3. 

Who has been your favourite actor to work with in the past? 

In the very recent past, Bessie Carter. We clicked within seconds on and off screen. She’s a phenomenal talent. Connor Swindells, Walton Goggins, Marianne Jean Baptiste, Michael Shannon. Shall I stop name dropping now or just keep going?

What’s your dream role? 

A two-hander with Matthew Macfadyen. A close friend, a gem and a gent and the finest actor of my generation. 

What’s a genre you’d like to do more of? 

An ensemble comedy like Parks and Recreation. 

Do you live in the town or the country? Which do you prefer? 

I live in the country. Living in the country, playing in town. But always retreating to the country. 

How do you find balance in your personal and work lives? 

Family is all. Fold family into your work life too, and take them on at least part of that journey. And never forget, where all is said and done, the dog needs a walk, the gas bill needs paying and any attention you receive never lasts. 

‘You can never ever tell, even with all the right ingredients, how something will turn out.’ (© David Reiss)

What Alistair Petrie Is Loving Right Now

I’m currently watching… All Her Fault. I demand to work with Sarah Snook one day. 

What I’m reading… Come Thou Tortoise by Jessica Grant

The last thing I watched (and loved) was… Lando Norris winning the F1 World Title with my three sons.

What I’m most looking forward to seeing… Marianne Jean Baptiste in All My Sons

Favourite film of all time… Impossible to answer. One is Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

Favourite song of all time… ‘Both Sides Now’ by Joni Mitchell.

Band/singer I always have on repeat… Hans Zimmer. He’s a modern Mozart.

My ultimate cultural recommendation… An evening listening to Hugh Laurie and his Copper Bottom Band on vinyl while sipping a negroni.

Cultural guilty pleasure… I refuse to feel culturally guilty. Stories are everywhere – we must seek them out and embrace them. They tell us who we are and how we fit into the world. Music, film, theatre, books, comics, reality TV and on. Whatever and wherever, as long as it’s not intentionally cruel. 

Alistair Petrie stars in The Night Manager series 2, with new episodes airing on BBC One and iPlayer Sunday nights at 9pm. Overseas, new episodes of The Night Manager land weekly on Prime Video.

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