Sci-Fi Bulletin: Exploring the Universes of SF, Fantasy, Horror and Spy-fi!

The Spy Who Came In from the Cold is coming to the BBC.

The Ink Factory (The Pigeon Tunnel, The Night Manager) is producing landmark series Legacy of Spies for the BBC in the UK and MGM+ in the US, in co-production with Berlin based Academy Award winning label Amusement Park Film (All Quiet on the Western Front) and in association with 127 Wall Productions and Paramount Television Studios. The series’ cast will be anchored by two time Emmy and Bafta award winning actor Matthew Macfadyen (Death by Lighting, Succession, Deadpool) as George Smiley, Charlie Hunnam (Monster, Sons of Anarchy, The Gentlemen) as British intelligence officer Alec Leamas, Daniel Brühl (Inglorious Basterds, Rush, Captain America: Civil War) as East German spy Jens Fielder and Devrim Lingnau Islamoğlu (The Empress) as Doris Quinz aka Agent Tulip. The 8 x 1 hour season is slated to begin production in early 2026.

Stephen Cornwell (Message from the King, A Most Wanted Man, Unknown) will pen the screenplay alongside Clarissa Ingram, which will be set across the UK, and what was, in the time period of the story, East and West Germany and Czechoslovakia.

The Spy Who Came In From The Cold begins in the shadow of the newly-erected Berlin Wall, as Alec Leamas 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, ready to make the game play out just as Control wants. The adaptation will also draw on material from le Carré’s 2017 novel, A Legacy of Spies.

Simon Cornwell and Stephen Cornwell, 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, 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.”

Lindsay Salt, Director of BBC Drama, says: “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 opportunity to partner with The Ink Factory, the BBC, and this remarkable creative team to tell the story of John le Carré’s legendary George Smiley is truly a dream project,” said Michael Wright, global head of MGM+. “MGM+ is building its brand around classic storytelling for a modern audience, and ‘Legacy of Spies’ is the embodiment of that, with a brilliant cast led by Matthew Macfadyen and Charlie Hunnam. We’re thrilled to bring it to the MGM+ audience.”