8:30 AM PDT 10/30/2014 by Lesley Goldberg
The limited series based on the John le Carre book will mark a return to the mini format that kicked off the cabler’s scripted efforts
ABC has landed The Night Manager.
Following a multiple-network bidding war, AMC has handed out a straight-to-series pickup for the John le Carre limited series, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. AMC declined comment, but sources say the cabler is looking at the project as a six- or eight-part miniseries.
Published in 1993, le Carre’s Night Manager follows Jonathan Pine, a British soldier turned luxurious hotel night auditor. Pine crosses paths with a French-Arab woman named Sophie with ties to Richard Onslow Roper, an English black marketer who specializes in weapons. The woman provides Pine with incriminating documents, which he forwards to a friend in British intelligence. After Sophie winds up dead, Pine works with intelligence operatives and goes undercover as part of a sting against Roper to avenge Sophie’s death.
For Laurie, the series marks the in-demand actor’s return to TV following his Emmy-nominated run on Fox’s House. He’s repped by WME, the U.K.’s Hamilton Hodell and Ziffren Brittenham.
The drama starring Hugh Laurie and Tom Hiddleston is being developed in partnership with the BBC, which will air the series in the U.K. Ink Factory (A Most Wanted Man) is also producing. David Farr (Hanna, Spooks) will pen the adaptation. AMC will also have partial ownership and will co-produce the series with Ink Factory and BBC One.