Tom Hiddleston is happy he's finally recognizable in The Night Manager

Chances are you’ve seen the English actor Tom Hiddleston at work: sowing chaos as the trickster god Loki in Marvel’s cinematic universe, channeling country music icon Hank Williams in the biopic I Saw the Light, skulking around as a bohemian vampire in Only Lovers Left Alive. But rarely do you find him on screen looking like, well, Tom Hiddleston.

That’s set to change in The Night Manager, AMC’s new spy-thriller miniseries based on the John le Carré novel, in which Hiddleston portrays a character that didn’t require a significant physical transformation. Speaking to EW at the Tribeca Film Festival, the chameleonic actor said it was a welcome change.

“I think the most well-known things I’ve done have been actually at the extremes of my range,” Hiddleston said, “and I don’t look like myself, to be honest. I look like somebody else.”

In The Night Manager, which updates Le Carre’s 1993 post-Cold War tale to the present day, Hiddleston stars as Jonathan Pine, a hotelier and former soldier who is recruited to infiltrate the inner circle of an arms dealer (Hugh Laurie).

“As Pine, I look like me in a way,” Hiddleston said. “So that, strangely for an actor, that felt new.”

Being recognizable wasn’t the only thing that attracted Hiddleston to the role. “I was very moved by his moral courage,” he said. “Jonathan Pine is someone who does something incredibly brave that I’m not sure I would have the courage to do.”

For more from Hiddleston’s interview, watch the video above. The Night Manager premieres tonight.