Matthew Macfadyen's New Spy Thriller Is The Next Best Thing To Being The New James Bond

While James Bond will likely always be the gold standard of the spy genre, reinvention could be around the corner with one Succession star's upcoming project. With few roles carrying the cultural weight that James Bond does, the franchise remains one of the most scrutinized and celebrated in popular culture. Spy stories, especially those that stem from a deep well of source material, can be tricky to create without a legacy backing them up, but with more interest in the genre in recent years, an upcoming series seems like the right place to start.

Surging into a new lane, Matthew Macfadyen, most recently known for his Emmy-winning performance as Tom Wambsgans in Succession, has been cast as George Smiley in an adaptation of John Le Carré's A Legacy Of Spies. Excitingly, Macfadyen is stepping into one of British fiction’s most enduring spy thriller roles at a moment when the genre is redefining itself. With a weighty character and a bright future ahead, Macfadyen is taking on a meaningful role in the perfect moment.

Though he isn't a modern action hero or built on spectacle, the thread of psychological tension that comes from Smiley will be perfect for the quiet intensity Macfadyen can bring to a role. Taking on such a rich role in a major TV project places Macfadyen at the center of a beloved franchise with a legacy that rivals Bond’s in the literary world, positioning this new series as one of the most exciting new spy adaptations in years.

George Smiley Is A British Spy Character With As Much Legacy As James Bond

John Le Carré's novels brought George Smiley to life in the 1960s, after Le Carré himself worked as an MI5 security agent and an MI6 intelligence agent. With his writing coming from firsthand knowledge, Le Carré crafted an unforgettable character in Smiley, who went on to appear in his novels throughout his life.

Across multiple books, Le Carré created Smiley's character, taking a far different approach than Ian Fleming did with James Bond. For Smiley, Le Carré wanted a character who felt understated, methodical, and embedded in the bureaucracy of British intelligence. Where James Bond felt flashy and glamorous, moving through action page after page, Smiley was meant to feel dependable and patient, often observant to a fault.

While some may not be as aware of Smiley as they are of Bond, Le Carré's character has just as much of a legacy behind him as his more famous foil. With Smiley being adapted in British media through the years, most notably in the 1979 BBC series and the 2011 film, his character has become one of the most nuanced spies in the entirety of the genre.

Portrayals of Smiley are meant to tap into a sense of realism and moral complexity. Where Bond is meant to be a flashy, often outrageous portrayal of intelligence, Smiley leans toward the critical side of the work. Le Carré was looking to critique espionage as much as he was hoping to write about it in an interesting light, as he felt strongly that it was important for his readers to know how morally compromising the work could be.

How Legacy Of Spies Is Changing John Le Carré's Books

Although some adaptations of Le Carré's work have taken his material and adapted it faithfully, Macfadyen's upcoming MGM+ series will take its own stab at bringing the Smiley novels into a new generation. When Le Carré published A Legacy Of Spies, 2017's prequel to earlier Smiley stories, the novel revisited past cases from an entirely different lens. This shift in perspective is expected from Legacy Of Spies, which will make it a more multi-faceted story than simply using the novels as straightforward source material.

The structure of the novels at their core allows for the upcoming series to examine the long-term consequences of intelligence work, which is always at the base of Le Carré's books. The hope for Legacy Of Spies, which has already shared that it will be pulling from Le Carré's 1963 novel The Spy Who Came in From the Cold as well as 2017's A Legacy of Spies, is that the convergence of the stories will be able to create a more nuanced picture.

While it isn't clear yet what direct changes will be made to Le Carré's books, it's clear that the show is going to take a far more layered approach to telling the stories than others have in the past. With the space and time a TV miniseries allows for, the cast will get to embody Le Carré's characters more thoroughly, and the story will be able to feel more like an ongoing conversation than a series that follows several different time periods.

Legacy Of Spies Could Be The Best Spy TV Series For A Decade

Although there's been a lot of movement surrounding spy TV in the past decade, there hasn't been a lot that's stuck within the genre. With Legacy Of Spies gearing up for some major potential when it comes to critical acclaim and audience interest, the series could be a massive hit. Fans of Macfadyen, whether from his appearance in Succession or otherwise, will get the chance to see the actor in an entirely new role, while the story itself will bring George Smiley to life in a whole new era.

The emphasis on long-term storytelling will be an interesting piece of Legacy Of Spies' puzzle. While other Le Carré adaptations haven't dug their heels into the moral complexities of espionage in the way that the novels do, it's clear that Legacy Of Spies wants to look into the work that Le Carré was so passionate about within his novels. Building out the operations and institutional framework could be a major selling point for Le Carré fans in choosing to watch the new series.

Macfadyen’s casting in the series only sweetens the deal. As an accomplished actor in his own right and a person that viewers trust to carry a heavy story on his back, Macfadyen is a great choice for Smiley, and will certainly bring a whole new air to the role. If it's executed effectively, Legacy Of Spies could easily redefine the expectations for spy TV across the map. Once it's out, the series may be a major contender for audiences when it comes time to choose what to watch next.