15 TV Shows Like the Night Manager You Should Watch Next
Consider all the talk about how Stranger Things took nearly ten years to produce five seasons. Consider The Night Manager : this British spy thriller took 10 years to reach its second season. Fortunately, viewers seem willing to wait, as the series performed well in streaming service ratings after its release on Prime Video earlier this year.
Viewers were eagerly awaiting the sequel, even after such a long wait: based on John le Carré’s novel and starring Tom Hiddleston as Jonathan Pine, the series follows the manager of a luxury Cairo hotel as he comes into conflict with an Egyptian crime boss linked to Dickie Roper (Hugh Laurie), one of the world’s richest and most powerful businessmen. Roper is an incredibly charismatic but utterly amoral arms dealer, and Angela Burr (the impeccable Olivia Colman) is a Foreign Office agent hell-bent on bringing him to justice. It’s simply a stunning series.
While you wait for rumors about a third season, which hopefully won’t take a decade, here are 15 more spy thrillers to help you pass the time. Watch The Night Manager on Prime Video .
The Ipcress Case (2022)
Len Deighton occupies a place in the literary spy canon akin to John le Carré, and here Joe Cole ( Peaky Blinders ) plays the titular antihero, Len Deighton, unnamed in the novels but known as “Harry Palmer” in various film adaptations since the 1960s. Set in 1963, the series sees Major Dalby (Tom Hollander) offer the slick criminal Palmer a deal: if he agrees to work as an intelligence officer, he’ll get a ticket out of military prison. Naturally, his first case, involving a missing nuclear scientist, develops into a globe-spanning spy adventure that perfectly captures the atmosphere of the era. Watch The Ipcress Affair on Prime Video .
A Spy Among Friends (2022)
The best spy dramas are based on real events (or seem to be), so it doesn’t hurt that A Spy Among Friends is based almost entirely on fact. In the early 1960s, high-ranking MI6 agent Kim Philby (Guy Pearce) is revealed to be a double agent and is doggedly pursued by his former colleague Nicholas Elliot (Damian Lewis). The miniseries centers on a particularly tense encounter between the two men, just as Elliot is tasked with uncovering the details of his friend’s decades-long betrayal. Watch A Spy Among Friends on MGM+ and Britbox.
Black Doves (2024 – )
This unusual series has become a hit for Netflix—so much so that it’s been renewed for a second season. Keira Knightley plays Helen Webb, the wife of the British Secretary of Defense and a secret spy working for the eponymous spy ring. She learns from her handler (Sarah Lancashire) that her lover has been murdered, potentially exposing her identity, but luckily, she has a hitman best friend (Ben Wislaw) to help her. The series is intentionally shot in a pulp style, with a wry, self-deprecating undertone that softens the tone.Watch Black Doves on Netflix.
Day of the Jackal (2024 – )
This cinematically ambitious new series based on Frederick Forsyth’s novel benefits from a brilliant cast: Eddie Redmayne plays the Jackal, a steely international assassin pursued by MI6 agent Bianca Pullman, played by Lashana Lynch (drawing on her experience as the new 007 in No Time to Die ). I’m not sure there’s anything new here that we haven’t seen in countless other spy thrillers (including, of course, the 1973 and 1997 adaptations), but the acting and production values are top-notch, with each episode unfolding like a tense mini-movie. Watch The Day of the Jackal on Peacock .
Slow Horses (2022 – )
Paying homage to the great spy dramas of John le Carré, Slow Horses updates the setting without losing the urgency and style of this time-tested genre. The “Slow Horses” of the title are a group of former (and never-former) MI5 agents—all of whom have screwed up their jobs but are still considered useful , albeit in dull administrative tasks. Naturally, the group (led by the brilliantly rude and flatulent Jackson Lamb, played by Gary Oldman, and his partner and head of the spy network, Diana Taverner, played by Kristin Scott Thomas) finds themselves in a far more predicament than anyone could have expected. Adapted from Mick Harron’s novel series, the series boasts a subtle sense of humor, combining a cynical tone with the conviction that redemption is possible, albeit difficult. Watch Slow Horses on Apple TV+
The Little Drummer Girl (2018)
South Korean director Park Chan-wook ( Leave, No Other Choice ) brings a decidedly sexy historical style to this series, based, like The Night Manager , on a John le Carré novel. Florence Pugh plays Charlie, a young actress recruited by Mossad chief Martin Kurtz (Michael Shannon) to infiltrate a Palestinian terrorist group, while being manipulated by an Israeli intelligence officer (Alexander Skarsgård). Crucially, like the book, the series offers multifaceted characters on all sides of the conflict, raising serious questions about who the real villains are. Watch The Little Drummer Girl on AMC+ or buy it on Prime Video.
Central Intelligence Agency (2024 – )
Michael Fassbender stars as “The Martian,” codename Brandon Colby, a former undercover CIA agent who has just returned to London after six years in Sudan. He’s left behind his lover, Dr. Samia Zahir (Jodie Turner-Smith), a relationship he was reluctant to disclose to his handlers. When Samia appears in London as part of a diplomatic delegation, The Martian is forced to choose between his work and his personal life, which becomes even more complicated when it turns out she’s involved in a larger scheme involving the Sudanese government, MI6, and an undercover agent in Belarus. It’s all very convoluted, in the best tradition of spy shows, with a superb cast: Jeffrey Wright as The Martian’s boss and mentor; Richard Gere as the CIA’s London station chief; and Hugh Bonneville (from “Downton Abbey “), a cunning, high-ranking MI6 agent. Watch Agency on Paramount+ .
Snowdrop (2021–2022)
It’s late 1987. University students Yeon-ro (Jisoo) and Su-ho (Jung Hae-in) meet at a coffee shop. She’s an English literature major, and he’s a graduate student in economics—or so he claims. The story unravels when he shows up in Yeon-ro’s dorm room covered in blood. She thinks he’s a democracy activist hiding from the police, but he’s actually a North Korean spy sent to bring back a professor. The series has sparked controversy for suggesting that the struggle for democracy in South Korea was orchestrated by spies, but despite its historical facts, it’s a truly heartbreaking spy drama. Watch Snowdrop on Disney+ .
Informer (2018)
Nabhan Rizwan plays Raza Shar, a young British man of Pakistani descent from London with a shady past (and present), who is coerced by Detective Gabe Waters (Paddy Considine) into becoming a police informant, part of a large network used by the show’s fictional counter-terrorism organization. A prominent terrorist has recently been killed, but it soon becomes clear that he may have trained several other extremists before his death. This is a tense, action-packed series that, like The Night Manager , puts the spotlight on an unwitting spy. Watch The Informant on Prime Video and Britbox.
Billions (2016–2023)
This series isn’t a spy drama and generally has a lighter tone than The Night Manager , but the two share a key commonality: each features a charismatic but otherwise terrifying rich man and the government agent determined to stop him. Paul Giamatti plays attorney Chuck Rhoades (partially based on the real-life Preet Bharara), who attempts to expose shady hedge fund manager Bobby Axelrod (Damian Lewis). Even without the actual espionage, the moves and countermoves create the feel of a similarly complex chess match. Watch Billions on Paramount+ .
Bureau (2015–2020)
In addition to or instead of “The Agency,” try “The Bureau of Legends,” the French original on which the series is based (they’re equally addictive, though many will prefer the original on principle). The basic premise is the same: Mathieu Kassovitz plays Guillaume Debailly, a spy recently returned from a six-year undercover mission in Damascus. While he tries to adjust to his old life, everything is turned upside down when Nadia (Zineb Triki), a woman he had a relationship with in Syria, shows up in Paris. Over the course of five seasons, the series has excelled at depicting the daily lives of its intelligence officers. It’s not just gripping spy adventures, and that’s certainly a plus. Watch “The Bureau of Legends” on Paramount+ .
Homeland (2011–2020)
While the focus shifts somewhat after the first few seasons, Homeland begins as a tense spy thriller in which CIA officer Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes) begins to suspect that decorated Marine sniper Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis), recently rescued from an al-Qaeda safehouse, has been re-recruited by his captors and is planning a terrorist attack on the United States. Given Mathison’s diagnosis with bipolar disorder, her superiors discount these suspicions, forcing her to act independently in a cat-and-mouse game: who is he—or isn’t he? Both leads won Emmy Awards for their roles, and the series won Outstanding Drama Series in its first year. While the show softens its tone somewhat toward the end of its first season, it remains a gripping watch. Watch Homeland on Hulu andNetflix .
Road to the Cemetery (2025 – )
This spy-meets-detective film (based on the novel series by Mick Herron, known for Slow Horses ) tells the story of Zoe Boehm, a hard-drinking private investigator who is hired by Sarah Trafford, a married art restorer played by Ruth Wilson. No one takes her seriously (including her husband), even when she begins investigating the fate of a young girl whose family was killed in a suspected nearby gas explosion. The girl, whose parents are dead, disappears into the care system, and no one seems to care—until Sarah hires Zoe and her husband to take on the case. Soon, both women find themselves in a very difficult situation, as the missing girl points to a much larger government conspiracy. Watch Down Cemetery Road on Apple TV+ .
Patriot (2015–2018)
Slightly lighter in tone than The Night Manager , and laced with a dark humor that could easily be found in a Coen brothers film, The Patriot tells the story of a jaded intelligence officer on a losing streak. Michael Dorman plays John Tavner, tasked with preventing Iran’s leading presidential candidate from winning. His elaborate plan to support the more moderate rival candidate involves having him adopt an unofficial identity and plant a job at a Milwaukee pipe manufacturing firm. After failing the interview, he must eliminate his hapless rival, then borrow urine for a drug test, which leads to extortion, and so on. As setbacks pile up, John’s position becomes increasingly precarious (and darkly funny—his musical talent means much of the narrative is presented in the form of very specific folk songs, which he performs under yet another assumed name). Watch The Patriot on Prime Video .
Spy/Master (2023)
In this gripping imported political thriller, Alec Secareanu ( from God’s Own Country ) plays Victor Godeanu, the director of a Romanian ministry and a friend of dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu (the series is set in 1978 and based on true events). Godeanu also works for the Soviet Union and, fearing exposure, decides to defect to the United States. When Ceaușescu sends agents to assassinate him, the intelligence services of five countries become embroiled in the drama of his escape. Watch The Spy on HBO Max.