Chris Connor on the new golden age of John le Carré adaptations…
John le Carré is still among the most revered and influential spy novelists of the 20th and 21st centuries. Works like The Spy Who Came in From the Cold and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy still loom large over the genre. His works have been adapted for the big and small screen since the 60s, with the Richard Burton-led Spy Who Came in From the Cold a classic of the era. Perhaps best loved to this day among the string of international adaptations of his work is Alec Guinness’ portrayal of George Smiley in the miniseries of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and Smiley’s People, the first and final part of the Smiley vs Karla trilogy.
Even with a more middling reception to some of his novels, there was renewed interest in the 2010s with acclaimed adaptations from the BBC for The Night Manager and The Little Drummer Girl in 2016 and 2018, respectively. This of course came after the highly successful film adaptation of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy with Gary Oldman, which sadly never spawned the much talked about sequel.
There has long been talk of a second season of The Night Manager, although this was somewhat curtailed by le Carré’s death in 2020, with the cast and crew previously saying they would need a second novel to base future seasons off. Now, nearly a decade after the first season, Tom Hiddleston returns as Jonathan Pine in a hotly anticipated follow-up, with a third season already in development.
The Night Manager isn’t the only major le Carré adaptation in the works. The BBC is planning a major new series that will pull from the George Smiley novels. A Legacy of Spies, taking the title of his 2017 return to the character, promises to be one of the most expansive takes on the author’s works to date. The first season, slated to premiere in 2026, is set to pull from The Spy Who Came in From The Cold with Matthew MacFadyen as Smiley, Daniel Brühl as Lens Fielder and Charlie Hunnam as Alec Leamas. Smiley himself is more of a peripheral character in the original story, so this will likely lay the groundwork for future seasons where he will be more of a central focus.
The Spy Who Came in From the Cold has also made its debut on the West End with an acclaimed theatrical production. This is a different direction for adaptations of his work but showcases its versatility, and it will be intriguing to see if other works follow suit. His legacy also lives on the page with the excellent continuation novel Karla’s Choice from his son Nick Harkaway, filling in some of the blanks in the original novels expertly.
There is potential, of course, for this to spawn its own adaptation or for it to feature as part of the story of A Legacy of Spies. Harkaway returns to the world of Smiley with The Taper Man, due out in 2026, expanding the international story to the US and featuring the oft-mentioned Cousins, US intelligence, not seen in the original novels.
It’s not just the UK and US making le Carré adaptations either; there is a new Korean/German TV adaptation of A Most Wanted Man in development (previously a film with Philip Seymour Hoffman). In addition to the above works, there are numerous of his works that have either never been adapted before or not for a number of years and ripe for re-examination.
The recent explosion of le Carré content is a goldmine for longtime fans but will also ensure that even in death, he reaches a wider audience and continues to be seen as the gold standard in contemporary spy fiction, inspiring a legion of new and upcoming authors.
Chris Connnor
