The Night Manager: Queerbaiting? And Why Not!

Warning: Massive spoilers for seasons 1 and 2 of “The Night Manager”
Life sometimes unfolds less like a straight line and more like a dance, a kiss, sex, and love until death parts us. More often than not, in fact. Especially the latter is frequently unreachable — except, of course, in cinema and TV series. Maybe that’s why we hunger to be served precisely that illusion, knowing how little of it is ever ordinary in real life. Maybe we’ve also become so used to Hollywood’s cotton candy that we can’t handle stories without a happy (romantic) ending.
And yes, admittedly, for queer characters there were decades of only misfortune and death in films and series. That’s why many queer viewers react with a kind of allergy when confronted with it again. But they overlook the fact that in the last roughly 30 years there have been countless hopeful queer stories with happy endings and there are still plenty today. And wouldn’t it be infinitely dull — and quite detached from reality — if films and television suddenly operated only that way? Isn’t it far more thrilling when our expectations and hopes are subverted? When an intimate dance between two men leads to something more complex than a kiss, sex, and eternal love?
That is precisely the case in the second season of the brilliant British thriller series “The Night Manager,” which concluded in early February — a surprisingly comprehensive triumph for the charismatic villain Richard Roper (Hugh Laurie in top form). Meanwhile the hero Jonathan Pine (Tom Hiddleston) barely escapes with his life after witnessing Roper cold-bloodedly shoot his own son Teddy (Diego Calva).

An Unexpected, Equally Matched Continuation

But to begin at the start. The multi‑award-winning first season of “The Night Manager” is based on John le Carré’s espionage thriller of the same name from 1993 and thrilled TV audiences in 2016. Not least because of the high-caliber stars, including Hiddleston and Laurie, as well as Olivia Colman and Tom Hollander. And, of course, because of the many tense, surprising twists in which British agent Jonathan Pine takes down the ruthless international arms dealer Richard Roper (and his gay right-hand man) — and, in the process, also maneuvers corrupt elements of his own intelligence service out of the way.

Dying to leave it at that would have been easy. The story, in itself, felt complete, and it was always clear that a follow-up at a similarly high level would not be a simple feat. Almost exactly ten years later, though, a second season appeared unexpectedly, bringing back the same cast and, by and large, delivering at a nearly identical standard.

The sultry Three-Way Dance

Even in the series, roughly ten years have passed. Jonathan Pine’s nemesis Richard Roper is dead; Pine himself remains at the secret service under a cover name when he suddenly comes across a portion of Roper’s weapons-dealing network. In the shadowy Colombian financier Teddy Dos Santos, he suspects a potential successor: just like Roper, Dos Santos presents himself publicly as a benefactor to cloak deadly, criminal operations behind a respectable façade.

Through the no less shady, but incredibly alluring businesswoman Roxana Bolaños (Camila Morrone), Jonathan manages to get close to Teddy by posing as a wealthy investor. And then comes the scene that was already glimpsed in the trailer for the second season and drew the series the label of queerbaiting: Jonathan and Roxana dance at a party to Latin rhythms, when Teddy suddenly arrives and a sultry three-way dance unfolds, with Jonathan and Teddy showing as much interest in each other as in Roxana.

An Attraction, but Not Like Anyone Expected

That this stirs certain expectations among queer audiences is clear. But does undermining those expectations truly justify the charge of queerbaiting? Teddy is apparently gay, though he doesn’t seem particularly interested in sex or relationships — Roxana already hints at this to Jonathan beforehand. And for Jonathan, up to this point there had been no signs that he might be anything other than straight. Within the story it makes sense that he participates in the dance to win Teddy’s trust.

Yet somehow it becomes more than that. While there is neither a kiss nor sex between them, the mutual attraction is evident. Then two things happen that shake everything up: not only does the long-dead Roper reappear fully alive and revealed as the true mastermind behind the Colombian operation, Jonathan also discovers that Teddy is not a mere local henchman but Roper’s son. For all of his life Teddy has been neglected, and he tries everything to win the acknowledgment of his demanding and dangerous father, only to be used coldly and calculatingly by him, as Jonathan had long realized before Teddy.

No Sex — Not with Teddy or Roxana

The British agent now throws himself into a mission not only to derail Roper’s plans but also to create a path of escape for his son — as he had attempted in the first season with Roper’s wife Jed (Elizabeth Debicki). And yes, he did succeed with her, and yes, along the way the two had an affair. That affair does not carry over with Teddy (and by the way, not with Roxana either), and the rescue mission ends in a catastrophic failure. But along the way Jonathan does show real feelings for Teddy and his fate, and the two come physically closer on more than one occasion. While Jonathan’s primary motivation appears to be protective instinct, Teddy sees in him much of what he himself has always wished to receive from his father but never did.

In the end, viewers of “The Night Manager” are offered something far more complex than what they might have anticipated after the dance scene. Screenwriter David Farr even describes something like love between Jonathan and Teddy, explaining in an interview: “There was a lot of talk about what kind of love it is. Is it erotic? I think there’s a certain attraction there, but ultimately it goes beyond that and becomes genuine, sincere affection.”

A Game of Seduction

Tom Hiddleston has also spoken about the relationship: “There’s undoubtedly a tension between them. It arises because they’re both in a very, very dangerous situation and depend on each other. They’re both incredibly lonely and vulnerable. So yes, there’s something between them, and I’m sure many people will have very different opinions.” In the dance scene, Hiddleston sees “a game of seduction, but one with several layers of intimacy. For me, it’s more of a psychological and spiritual seduction. They all three grow closer in different ways. For me, it felt very real and honest.”

Jonathan’s conclusion about Roper’s cold-blooded murder of Teddy is similarly shocking. “It’s as if he’s swallowed by an explosion of pain, trauma, and vulnerability,” interprets Hiddleston the moment. “He’s overwhelmed by a wave of intense grief that renders him unable to act for ten or twenty seconds. Only then does his survival instinct kick in, and he runs. But as the final images show, he’s in extremely poor shape afterward.” In the already-planned third season, it remains to be seen how Jonathan will cope with the catastrophic outcome of his Colombia adventure and whether he’ll still manage to outplay his arch-nemesis Roper.

More Joy, Less Whining

Perhaps, given the loud queer lament, the showrunners now regret not having included a passionate night between Teddy and Jonathan — they could have kept the rest of the story intact. But if you watched “The Night Manager” solely for the queer trailer moment and you’re now disappointed, you actually have plenty of other options—like “Heated Rivalry,” “Young Royals,” “Heartstopper,” and the like—where you can find everything the queer heart desires. Instead of lamenting, you might simply take pride in having discovered a great thriller series that might have slipped past you otherwise, thanks to a little bit of queerbaiting.