Succession star Matthew Macfadyen is set to play writer John le Carré’s fictional spy George Smiley in a new TV series, Variety has reported.
Legacy of Spies is “currently in the works”, according to the outlet, adding that Macfadyen would be the latest actor to play the writer’s arguably most famous spy “should the series move forward”.
Smiley has previously been portrayed on the big and small screens by actors including Gary Oldman, Alec Guinness, Denholm Elliott and Rupert Davies.
Macfadyen won two Emmys and two Baftas for playing Tom Wambsgans in Succession, starred in 2005’s Pride and Prejudice film as Mr Darcy, and was recently in Deadpool & Wolverine.
George Smiley is a British secret service agent who appears in many of le Carré’s books.
He’s described as being “a deceptively bland middle-aged man… trusted and respected by his subordinates and colleagues… who occasionally clashes with the intelligence bureaucracy and sometimes feels that professional duty compromises his personal honour”.
The TV series would be “an amalgamation of a number of le Carré’s novels, including The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and The Honorable Schoolboy”, plus some unpublished work and other novels, Variety said.
Guinness famously played Smiley in BBC TV adaptations of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy in 1979 and Smiley’s People in 1982. Oldman was nominated for an Oscar for starring in the 2011 film Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
The new TV series would be produced by The Ink Factory, founded by Le Carré’s sons Stephen and Simon Cornwell.
They have previously produced adaptations of their father’s work, including Emmy and Golden Globe-winning BBC series The Night Manager, which starred Tom Hiddleston.
Le Carré, who died in 2020, was the pseudonym of the author David Cornwell, judged by many to be the master of the spy novel.
After teaching at Eton for two years, he joined the Foreign Office and also worked at MI5 and MI6.
During his time at the Foreign Office, he worked in the intelligence records department and began scribbling down ideas for spy stories on his trips between work and home.
