Posted in: Amazon Studios, TV | Tagged: The Night Manager

The Night Manager Production Designer on Season 2, Hiddleston & More

Production designer Victor Molero (Culprits) spoke with us about his work in Prime Video's The Night Manager Season 2, Tom Hiddleston, and more.

There was about a 10-year gap between the seasons of The Night Manager, one and two, when it premiered in 2016. With star Tom Hiddleston returning as Jonathan Pine in the mystery thriller, the time was right to pick up where he left off in the Prime Video spy thriller series. Production designer Victor Molero took the task from Tom Burton for season two. The series follows Jonathan, who's the night manager of a luxury hotel in Cairo and a former British soldier. He's recruited by Angela Burr (Olivia Colman), the manager of a Foreign Office task force investigating illegal arms sales, to infiltrate the inner circle of arms dealer Richard Roper (Hugh Laurie), which picks up four years after the season one finale. Molero spoke to Bleeding Cool about joining the David Farr series, how the series refocused following author John le Carré's passing in 2020, since the show was based on his original work, and working with Farr and Hiddleston on the series.

The Night Manager Production Designer Victor Molero on Forging Ahead on Prime Video Spy Thriller Series

When you signed up for The Night Manager season two, were you already familiar with the John le Carré novel?
Yes, I never read his books, but I saw movies that featured John le Carré's [works].

Was there much of a transition given the gap between the seasons with the previous production manager [Tom Burton], or was the foundation already there when you settled in?

I think there were many reasons why they decided to wait for so long. The first decision was because John le Carré died, and they were feeling the lack of his presence in the story. This huge gap between the first season and the second season was good, because we took it in a way that the characters have been growing in different ways. We found, for example, a Jonathan Pine who is older, and he's living a very discreet life in London undercover, but it's completely different. It's not so dashing, and so he's still haunted by something, but he's not a character who has that kind of danger energy around him.

What did you like working with David as a creative?

David is great. He was present at the shooting, and we talked. I had a meeting with him, and it was my first time. I previously worked with (showrunner) Stephen Garrett, the executive producer, on Culprits, a show for Disney, which we did five years ago. It was the first time working with David, and he's very open to seeing what you think about what he has done. I remember, as an anecdote, that, for example, with some names in Colombia, he grew up in a way…he speaks a little Spanish, so sometimes it was really funny when they were putting names for the Hilltop Restaurant, for example.

That is very important in the story in episode four or five, because it's where we meet Roper (Hugh Laurie) and Jonathan Pine again. It was really important to know the name of the story, because it was impossible to translate what he said. I don't remember exactly what it was, so I said, "David, if you put it in Spanish, it won't make any sense," but he was always very open to understanding how, as a Spanish designer, I had a link with the culture. They were talking all the time about how they can, and it was my first time working in Colombia. I'm also Spanish, so I'm closer to that culture. At the same time, I was discovering a new culture as well. I have a friend from Colombia who lives in Spain. [David] was very interested in my proposals, always open, and never said, "No."

What do you like about working with Tom Hiddleston, and how does he carry himself on-screen?

Tom is a very interesting and hardworking companion/colleague at work. They told me that most of the producers, executive producers, and everyone knew him. He's a really good friend of Stephen's, and Stephen said to me, "Tom wants to understand what you are doing with the character, not only in the case of the costume, but also all the props that he's going to be carrying." I was told, "He would like to have a conversation with you about how you see it and what he proposed."

From the beginning, he was really respectful and very nice. He came with it, with director Georgi Banks-Davies. We were always more or less on the same page. Sometimes, we were proposing something more interesting or more, but we created a geography for the character, knowing exactly where each character is in this second season, and how we did the arc in the narration. [Tom] was always arriving to set with an amazing energy; even on many different occasions, he came to me and said, "Victor, this looks great, thank you so much." Very generous, very nice man, and of course, he's very talented; he did an amazing job. This period has been great to know him and share this project with him.

New episodes of The Night Manager, which also stars Alistair Petrie, Douglas Hodge, Michael Nardone, Noah Jupe, Diego Calva, Camila Morrone, Paul Chahidi, Hayley Squires, Indira Varma, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Slavko Sobin, Unax Ugalde, Alberto Ammann, Diego Sandos, and Cristina Umaña Rojas, stream Saturdays on Prime Video.

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