Hugh Laurie and Joe Alwyn Join John Le Carré’s LEGACY OF SPIES Series

Actors Hugh Laurie (The Night Manager, House) and Joe Alwyn (The Brutalist, The Favourite) have joined the cast of the forthcoming espionage thriller Legacy of Spies, the new series adaptation of John le Carré’s ‘The Spy Who Came in from the Cold,' from MGM+ and the BBC.

The series marks spymaster George Smiley's long-anticipated return to television with two-time Emmy and Bafta Award-winning Matthew Macfadyen in the iconic role and Charlie Hunnam as the embattled, world-weary agent-runner and field operative, Alec Leamas.

Hugh Laurie joins as Control, the commanding head of The Circus, Smiley’s politically shrewd, if morally fickle, superior, known only by his codename. Joe Alwyn joins as Jim Prideaux, a charismatic Circus veteran and roguish scalp hunter, whose off-book exploits in the field ruffle a few feathers back in London.

Also joining the series are Anjana Vasan as Connie Sachs (We Are Lady Parts, Black Mirror: Demon 79) with Charlotte Ritchie (You, Ghosts) stepping into the role of Ann Smiley and Lee Ross (Andor, White Gold) as Inspector Oliver Mendel. James McArdle (Mare of Easttown, Playing Nice), John Dagleish (Sexy Beast, 3 Body Problem) and Goran Bogdan (The Last Panthers, Father) join THE CIRCUS as Percy Alleline, Roy Bland and Toby Esterhase respectively, with Adam Hugill (Sherwood, Dear England) as Fawn, George Smiley’s hardman babysitter. 

They join the previously announced cast of Matthew Macfadyen as George Smiley, Charlie Hunnam as Alec Leamas, Daniel Brühl as Josef Fiedler, Devrim Lingnau Islamoğlu as Doris Quinz, Agnes O'Casey as Liz Gold, Felix Kammerer as Hans-Dieter Mundt, Dan Stevens as Bill Haydon, Jake Dunn as Peter Guillam, Safia Oakley-Green as Molly Gibson, Ariyon Bakare as Cy Aflon, Patrick Güldenberg as Dr Karl Riemick, Volker Bruch as Emmanuel Rapp and Saskia Rosendahl as Lotte Gamp.

Adapted from le Carré's global bestseller, 'The Spy Who Came in from the Cold', and drawing on material from his 2017 novel 'A Legacy of Spies’, the eight-part drama is show-run and written by Stephen Cornwell (Message from the King, A Most Wanted Man) and Clarissa Ingram. 

Academy Award nominee and winner of the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival Claudia Llosa (The Vampire Lestat, The Milk of Sorrow) has joined lead director and Executive Producer Michael Lennox as second director on the series. It will premiere on BBC iPlayer and BBC One in the UK and on MGM+ in the US.   

Legacy of Spies is produced by The Ink Factory, in co-production with Amusement Park Film and in association with 127 Wall Productions and Paramount Television Studios, for the BBC iPlayer, BBC One, and MGM+. The executive producers are Stephen Cornwell who also serves as showrunner, Graham Yost (Justified, Silo), Simon Cornwell (The Pigeon Tunnel, The Night Manager), Michele Wolkoff, Malte Grunert (All Quiet on the Western Front), Chris Rice, Matthew Macfadyen, Charlie Hunnam, Michael Lennox and Joe Tsai. Susanne Bier and Mike Lesslie are also executive producers. Legacy of Spies was commissioned by Lindsay Salt, Director of BBC Drama.

Hugh Laurie Photo Credit: Gus Gregory; Joe Alwyn Photo Credit: Phil Sharp