The Night Manager season 3 announced – but what will happen when series returns?

The Night Manager season 2 finale ended with shock deaths and Shakespearean betrayals – but the biggest twist of all is that the show is returning for a third series.

When the BBC announced the John le Carré adaptation would be returning after nine years, it was strongly suspected this would be the swan song for Tom Hiddleston’s suave agent Jonathan Pine.

But the conclusion to the six-part series, which had been an action-packed balm to the rainy January nights, ended on a cliffhanger of epic proportions, with writer David Farr confirming to The Independent that he is writing more episodes. Hiddleston has also seemingly confirmed this will be the end of the show, describing the forthcoming run as a trilogy closer.

The Marvel actor will return and, in words nobody expected to read at the start of this series, so too will Hugh Laurie as the villainous arms dealer Richard Roper.

Below, Chief Film & TV Correspondent Jacob Stolworthy and Chief Culture Writer Patrick Smith run through what storylines and character returns we can expect when The Night Manager returns for a third season.

One thing we can definitely expect is a shorter wait in between seasons. Farr told The Independent: “There’s an exciting urgency behind what we’re doing now.” However, the writer added that he does not want to rush it due to concerns the quality will suffer.

The Independent’s TV critic Nick Hilton wasn’t the biggest fan of the finale, arguing it was let down by “implausible character development”.

“Despite the huge gap between the first and second series of The Night Manager, this run of episodes has ended up feeling like a bridge to the show’s inevitable third season where Roper will, once again, be in a position of power and Pine, once again, the outsider nipping at his heels,” Hilton wrote.

Speaking about the show’s return, Hiddleston told This Morning: “It gave us greater scope in terms of imagining where this story might go knowing that we had another season to come – and we like trilogies, there's something satisfying about it.”

He also said production is “booked in”, hinting that it could take place as early as next year.