Charlie Hunnam and Daniel Brühl Join ‘Legacy of Spies’

Matthew Macfadyen will star in the new series, based on author John le Carré’s spy novels, while Devrim Lingnau Islamoğlu is also new to the cast.

(Left) Charlie Hunnam as Charlie Waldo in 'Last Looks'. (Right) Actor Daniel Brühl attends the 5th Annual Governors Awards at The Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, CA, on Saturday, November 16, 2013. Credit/Provider: Matt Petit / ©A.M.P.A.S. Copyright: ©A.M.P.A.S.

Preview:

Charlie Hunnam, Daniel Brühl and Devrim Lingnau Islamoğlu are joining the cast of ‘Legacy of Spies.’
Matthew MacFadyen is starring in the show as George Smiley.
It’ll adapt John le Carré’s books.

His work might not have generated quite as many movies as fellow author Ian Fleming’s James Bond books, but John le Carré certainly has the edge when it comes to TV.

And now another show is rapidly heading towards shooting, with Matthew Macfadyen (‘Succession’) starring as George Smiley, the character made famous in several adaptations of ‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.’

Legacy of Spies

Crime Drama

Networks: BBC One, MGM+

Variety brings word that the new series, titled ‘Legacy of Spies,’ has now added Charlie Hunnam, Daniel Brühl and Devrim Lingnau Islamoğlu to its cast.

What’s the story of ‘Legacy of Spies’?

Matthew Macfadyen as Tom Wambsgans on HBO's 'Succession.' Photograph by Macall B. Polay/HBO.

The new series, which has Stephen Cornwell (one of the author’s –– real name David Cornwell –– sons) writing alongside Clarissa Ingram, will partly adapt le Carré’s 1963 novel ‘The Spy Who Came in From the Cold’ but also draws from his 2017 book ‘Legacy of Spies,’ which revisits the story.

For the new show, the narrative begins in the shadow of the newly-erected Berlin Wall, as Alec Leamas (Hunnam) watches his last agent shot dead by East German sentries. 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 (MacFadyen), ready to make the game play out just as Control wants...

Brühl will portray East German spy Jens Fielder and Islamoğlu will portray Doris Quinz, AKA Agent Tulip.

Graham Yost, no stranger to British spy craft after helping to get ‘Slow Horses’ on its feet, will be an executive producer.

‘Legacy of Spies’: the creator speaks

(Right) Gary Oldman as George Smiley in 'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy'. Photo: StudioCanal.

This was Stephen Cornwell’s statement alongside brother Simon on the new project:

“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 [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, Daniel 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.”

The show will kick off filming early next year.