Posted in: TV | Tagged: john le carre, Legacy of Spies

Legacy of Spies: John le Carré Series Sees Macfadyen as George Smiley

An "A Legacy of Spies" series in development that sees Matthew Macfadyen (Succession) taking on the role of John le Carré’s George Smiley.

Matthew Macfadyen will star as George Smiley in Legacy of Spies, a TV series project based on John le Carré's series of novels featuring the career intelligence officer character. The Ink Factory, which owns the rights to le Carré's work, is producing, and Fifth Season is distributing the drama. According to Deadline Hollywood, the drama has been shopped on both sides of the Atlantic, drawing interest from potential buyers.

Scripts for Legacy of Spies have been written by Ink Factory co-founder Stephen Cornwell (and le Carré's son) and Clarissa Ingram. Silo creator and former Justified showrunner Graham Yost is executive producing the potential series. Legacy of Spies is based on le Carré's series of novels featuring spymaster George Smiley, The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Honorable Schoolboy, and several others, as well as some unpublished work. A Legacy of Spies, published in 2013, was le Carré's final George Smiley novel where his trusted protege Peter Guillem watches the now-retired Smiley reviewing decades of missions and secrets going all the way back to that first novel as potentially embarrassing secrets threaten to tumble out of the closet.

George Smiley was first introduced in le Carré's first two novels, Call for the Dead and A Murder of Quality, which were murder mystery whodunnits set in the world of the British Secret Service. Another book in the Smiley series is 1990's The Secret Pilgrim where Smiley is invited to give a talk to trainee spies and is le Carré's personal meditation on the psychological and spiritual dimensions of spies. The announcement of Legacy of Spies as the title of the TV adaptation suggests that the series might cover the entire history of George Smiley, hence casting a lead as young as McFadyean, who would play George Smiley from the early part of his career all the way to his retirement and his increasing introspection and insight. Last year's spinoff novel Karla's Choice by Cornwell's younger brother Nick Harkaway could also be folded into the series continuity. The Ink Factory was set up by le Carré's family to safeguard his books and make sure any film and television adaptation would do them justice.

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