Anyone who knows their espionage tales knows John le Carré. From The Night Manager to The Tailor Of Panama, he has written some of the best spy thrillers of all time. Anyone who knows le Carré knows George Smiley.
Le Carré created Smiley as an intentional contrast to James Bond, a character who he believed depicted an inaccurate and damaging version of espionage.
Smiley is described as short, overweight, balding, and bespectacled. He is outwardly polite and self-effacing, and this frequently allows others to mistreat him, including his serially unfaithful wife. However, this facade masks inner cunning, excellent memory, mastery of tradecraft, and occasional ruthlessness.
His genius, coupled with other characters’ willingness to underestimate him, allows Smiley to achieve his goals and ultimately become one of the most powerful spies in Britain.
Rupert Davies played him in The Spy Who Came in from the Cold film in 1965. Alec Guinness played possibly the most famous version in the 1979 BBC version of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Gary Oldman portrayed him in the movie version of the same story.
Now, Emmy winner Matthew Macfadyen (Succession, Deadpool & Wolverine) will play Smiley in the new TV series Legacy of Spies, produced by The Ink Factory and Fifth Season.
Silo creator Graham Yost is executive producing the series, which will apparently take inspiration from all of le Carré’s series of novels featuring the character. These will include Smiley’s People and The Honorable Schoolboy.
Ink Factory owns the rights to le Carré’s work, and was behind the recent adaption of The Night Manager, which was truly excellent.
A second series of The Night Manager is in development, and a series based on The Constant Gardener is also in the works.