The Night Manager director Susanne Bier will not be returning for series two
But the director of Netflix's Bird Box confirmed that the second series of the BBC John le Carré thriller is finally moving forward
Susanne Bier will not be returning to direct the second series of the BBC's hit spy drama The Night Manager, which is currently in the early stages of production.
The director confirmed that series two of the John le Carré adaptation is moving ahead without her at the helm.
"I'm not doing Night Manager 2," she told RadioTimes.com. "I wasn't sure that I would do my very best work the second time round – so I decided that I should probably not do it and have somebody [else direct it]."
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The director confirmed the news in an interview ahead of the release of her upcoming Netflix film Bird Box, starring Sandra Bullock.
Bier directed all six episodes of the spy drama's first series, which starred Tom Hiddleston as a former soldier turned hotel manager who was tasked with infiltrating the inner circle of arms dealer Richard Roper (Hugh Laurie).
She won an Emmy for Best Director for the series, but Bier has decided to allow someone else take over to avoid the risk of repeating herself.
"I think part of it is that as a director you have to have a crazy huge challenge. I don't necessarily think if a challenge becomes, 'Do something different from what you did last time', I don't think that's an organic challenge."
She continued: "I just got worried that I would repeat myself or do something which wasn't as great, but I think somebody else is going to do an amazing job out of it."
She did, however, confirm that she will be involved in the production for the BBC and US broadcaster. "I will read and I will engage, but I think as a director, I think it's better if somebody else does it."
And there is some good news: the wheels are finally turning on the new episodes, which will go some way to assuaging fears that the sequel would not be going ahead.
However, Bier told RadioTimes.com that the series is still moving forward. "There is progress, " she said, "but nothing that I can talk of."
Bier's next film is Bird Box, an apocalyptic thriller on Netflix starring Sandra Bullock.
Bird Box is released on Netflix on Friday 21st December
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