Teddy Dos Santos is a major supporting character in the second season of Amazon Prime’s The Night Manager (2016, 2026-). He is played by Diego Calva. The show is based on the 1993 bestselling novel of the same name by John Le Carré. The first season covers the majority of the book; the second season’s plot was approved by the author before he passed and before the season went into production.
Teddy is the head of a Colombian arms smuggling operation fronted by a charity in order to launder the money. His operation and plans are discovered by Jonathan Pine (Tom Hiddleston), who has learned that Teddy calls himself “Richard Roper’s true disciple.” (Roper, played by Hugh Laurie, is the major villain of the first season.) He is also a closeted bi man, as evidenced by his past relationship with beautiful shipping broker Roxana (Camila Morrone) as well as his flirtation with Pine who poses as an investor into the charity. This is confirmed in Episode 3 when the three of them enjoy a steamy three-way dance together, with sparks flying between all three of them.
However, Teddy is not a stereotypical “South American war lord” character. Teddy can be ruthless and reckless, but he is also smart, organized, and is charming and can be funny. He is also sensitive and wants more than chaos, longing for a closer relationship with his estranged father who faked his death and for them to build an empire together. When Teddy learns that Pine has discovered that he is Roper’s secret love child but that Roper plans to get rid of Teddy, he is distraught but given a chance at a redemption arc, with the idea that the two of them work together to take Roper down. However, these hopes are dashed with Teddy’s death during the finale, sadly hitting a #KillYourGays trope instead.
Teddy is closer to being an antagonist than bi villain, but has many redeeming qualities and ends up being an interesting and rare representation of bi men of color in the espionage genre.
