The Night Manager: John Le Carre’s son on why the ending was changed for the BBC adaptation

'We were trying to do something interesting and something exciting'

‘The Night Manager’ cast: (from left) Hugh Laurie, Hiddleston, Elizabeth Debicki, Olivia Colman and Tom Hollander (The Ink Factory/BBC)

As with all TV adaptations of novels, there’s a core group of book readers who think they know exactly how The Night Manager will end.

Fortunately for fans of John Le Carre’s novel, this time, the book readers are just as much in the dark as those who have just watched the TV show.

According to executive producer Simon Cornwell, who also happens to be the author’s son, they decided to change the ending in order to keep viewers on their toes.

In an interview with The Telegraph, he revealed that, while the team were initially concerned about straying too far from the source material (having already changed the lead character into a woman and swapping Roper’s yacht for a more appropriate exotic island retreat), the high critical acclaim has settled all their worries.

Tom Hiddleston stars in 'The Night Manager' (BBC)

“It’s not that we’ve tried to impose our own point of view on story in the adaptation, it’s that we’ve tried to bring out and recontextualise the novel in the present day,” Cornwall said.

“I think that’s exciting and it might have failed, but in a sense at least we were trying to do something interesting and something exciting.”

Le Carre, who actually cameos in the series, approved of all the changes beforehand: “We took some very bold decisions and very happily Le Carre approved.

Tom Hiddleston and Elizabeth Debicki in The Night Manager (BBC)

“He’s an extraordinary man and he loves the creative process. He was very much up for and very supportive of exactly those bold decisions.”

In other The Night Manager news, Elizabeth Debicki described filming her 'awkward' sex scene with Tom Hiddleston.