AMC is returning to its miniseries roots, snagging the U.S. rights to BBC’s upcoming miniseries The Night Manager, based on John le Carre’s 1993 novel.
AMC will coproduce the mini – which could be anywhere between six and eight episodes – with the BBC, along with Ink Factory.
AMC declined comment.
The novel revolves around a former British soldier who is drawn into a sting operation involving black market weapons after he goes to work for a luxury hotel. The miniseries is set to star Hugh Laurie and Tom Hiddelston.
The news comes a week after AMC’s parent company AMC Networks acquired a 49.9% stake in the U.K. broadcaster’s U.S. cable network BBC America.
This also gets AMC’s foot back in the door with miniseries, which has become increasingly crowded of late, with FX’s American Horror Story and Fargo and HBO’s True Detective (which was submitted as a drama series for Emmy consideration). The two-part miniseries Broken Trail in 2006 was AMC’s first scripted effort, which opened the doors for series like Mad Men and Breaking Bad.
The news, which was reported by Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, marks a return to TV for Laurie, who starred for eight seasons on Fox’s medical drama House. Hiddelston is best known for portraying the villain Loki in Marvel Studios’ films Thor, Thor: The Dark World and Avengers, and is expected to return in the upcoming Thor: Ragnarok in 2017.
