Spooks legend returns to spy genre with all-new BBC thriller series based on classic novel

With the return of The Night Manager now less than a month away, the BBC and MGM+ have announced a new collaboration with production company The Ink Factory, to produce a John le Carré series called Legacy of Spies.

The eight-part series, which will be a co-production with Amusement Park Film and in association with 127 Wall Productions and Paramount Television Studios, is being written by le Carré's son Stephen Cornwell (Message from the King), along with Clarissa Ingram.

It will adapts le Carré’s novel The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, while also drawing on additional material from A Legacy of Spies.

The cast will be led by former Spooks and Succession star Matthew Macfadyen, taking on the iconic role of George Smiley who has previously been played by actors including Alec Guinness, Simon Russell Beale and Gary Oldman.

Also starring in the series will be Charlie Hunnam (Monster) as Alec Leamas, Daniel Brühl (All Quiet on the Western Front) as Jens Fielder and Devrim Lingnau Islamoğlu (The Empress) as Doris Quinz aka Agent Tulip.

The synopsis for the series says that it will chart "George Smiley’s overarching quest for his nemesis, Russian master-spy Karla" through the Cold War, and that it "begins in the shadow of the newly-erected Berlin Wall, as Alec Leamas watches his last agent shot dead by East German sentries".

The synopsis continues: "For Leamas, a senior British intelligence officer in Berlin, the Cold War is over. As he faces the prospect of retirement or worse – a desk job – Control offers him a unique opportunity for revenge.

"Assuming the guise of an embittered and dissolute ex-agent, Leamas is set up to trap Mundt, the deputy director of the East German Intelligence Service, with himself as the bait.

"In the background is George Smiley, ready to make the game play out just as Control wants."

Brothers Simon Cornwell and Stephen Cornwell, both founders and co-CEOs at The Ink Factory, said: "This project is in many ways the most ambitious and all-encompassing adaptation of le Carré’s work to date, taking our father’s best-known and most-loved most character – the complex and brilliant spymaster George Smiley – and using this medium as a canvas to chart his story as he moves through a world which culturally and politically shapes the one we live in today.

"To have Matthew embody this operational mastermind, a man both vulnerable and dangerous, alongside the brilliant talent of Charlie and Devrim, is a great coup.

"We are thrilled the series has found its home with the BBC and MGM+ and to be collaborating alongside Malte and the Amusement Park team, while having Graham’s wisdom, vision and deft touch helping us guide this project – bringing his own mastery of the genre alongside that of le Carré’s."

Meanwhile, Lindsay Salt, director of BBC Drama, said: "Legacy of Spies is a dream le Carré project adapted by the brilliant Stephen Cornwell and Clarissa Ingram. We are thrilled to have The Ink Factory – who are the ultimate experts in this genre – making this series which stars some of our best actors; Matthew, Charlie, Devrim and Daniel. BBC viewers are in for a very special treat!"

The Night Manager, another Ink Factory project and adaptation of le Carré's work, will return for its long-awaited second season on 1st January 2026. Another adaptation, The Little Drummer Girl, aired on BBC One back in 2018.

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