Richard Roper (Hugh Laurie) is a philanthropist. At least, that’s what THE NIGHT MANAGER wants you to believe when the show begins. But that’s not the truth. Because Richard Roper is a man who buys and sells destruction and war.
We’re in Cairo, Egypt in January of 2011, right in the middle of Arab Spring. Jonathan Pine (Tom Hiddleston) is the night manager of a hotel and the protests outside don’t faze him. After all, he’s seen worse as a former British soldier. And while tear gas goes off outside and guests are scrambling to leave, he still keeps his cool.
One night, Jonathan comes across some suspicious papers belonging to a Mr. Hamid in the possession of his mistress, Sophie. He brings these papers — invoices for weapons — to his friend at the British Embassy. Back in the UK, some intelligence agents are connecting these papers to Richard Roper. In Cairo, word is leaking about the investigation and Richard is threatening to pull out of the arms deal. Suddenly Sophie is in danger, as she is suspected of leaking the information. She and Jonathan escape the city, but Jonathan wants to get her out of the country and in to the UK to protect her.
Jonathan’s embassy friend thinks that Sophie’s only chance is to convince Hamid she knows nothing. After all, the Hamid family is very powerful in London and she won’t be safe there. So, instead, Sophie returns to Jonathan’s hotel, believing that he is leaving her to fend for herself when he tells her the plan to spirit her away to the UK is off. Later that night, after a panicked call from a British intelligence agent, Jonathan discovers her dead body and her murder is swept under the rug by the authorities.
Four years later we rejoin Jonathan in Switzerland, where he is the night manager of another hotel high up in the mountains. But fate is cruel, because Richard Roper is checking in to Jonathan’s hotel, along with his girlfriend, Jed (Elizabeth Debicki), and his entourage. Jonathan makes small talk with his new guests, but he’s haunted by the face of the woman who died.
Soon Jonathan is digging through Richard’s trash to see what he’s up to. When he returns home, he calls the intelligence officer (Angela Burr) back in the UK that had warned him about Sophie being in danger. Angela comes to Switzerland to meet with Jonathan and he hands over a microchip he found in Richard’s trash. She wants to know why he’s been snitching on Richard and he insists that he was just doing the right thing to save lives. But she wants to know just one thing: what is Jonathan prepared to do about what happened to Sophie?
A new episode of THE NIGHT MANAGER will air on April 26 at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT on AMC.