LEGACY OF SPIES Casts Matthew Macfadyen, Charlie Hunnam

The BBC and MGM+ have released a first glimpse of Legacy of Spies, the espionage thriller, to mark the end of filming.

Adapted from le Carré's global bestseller, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, and drawing on additional material from his 2017 novel A Legacy of Spies, the eight-part drama marks spymaster George Smiley's long-anticipated return to television with two-time Emmy and BAFTA award-winning Matthew Macfadyen in the iconic role, alongside Emmy-nominated Charlie Hunnam as the embattled, world-weary agent-runner and field operative, Alec Leamas.

As previously revealed, the series also stars, among others, 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, Anjana Vasan as Connie Sachs, Charlotte Ritchie as Ann Smiley, Joe Alwyn as Jim Prideaux, with Hugh Laurie as Control.

When Alec Leamas, a highly experienced Circus field operative, recruits Doris Quinz (Devrim Lingau Islamoğlu), a young and dynamic East German woman, to smuggle high-value Stasi documents into the West, it sets in motion a series of events that threaten to explode in the crucible of Cold War Berlin. Pursuing Leamas and Doris are Josef Fiedler (Daniel Brühl) and Hans-Dieter Mundt (Felix Kammerer), two Stasi operatives whose ferocious desire to shut down the intelligence leak is matched only by their internal rivalry and an iron will to outmatch each other.

Pulled into the action is Liz Gold (Agnes O'Casey), an idealistic young woman whose courage and conviction force Leamas to navigate a world where loyalties fracture and betrayal is inevitable. Behind the scenes, the brilliant and taciturn spymaster George Smiley orchestrates operations while the elusive Soviet mastermind Karla looms in the shadows, setting the stage for a conflict that will define a generation. Personal lives become collateral in a ruthless intelligence war, and as the lines between duty and love begin to blur, every emotion becomes a weapon.

Legacy of Spies is set to launch exclusively on BBC iPlayer and BBC One in the UK, and on MGM+ in the United States, Germany, Spain, Italy, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, Brazil and Spanish-speaking Latin America. The series will also air on SBS in Australia, Sky New Zealand and Sky Switzerland, and CANAL+ across France & French-speaking territories, Central & Eastern Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa.

The series was filmed principally in the Czech Republic, with location filming also in the UK and Germany.

About Legacy of Spies

Legacy of Spies was commissioned by Lindsay Salt, Director of BBC Drama. The series is produced by The Ink Factory (The Pigeon Tunnel, The Night Manager), in co-production with Amusement Park Film (All Quiet on the Western Front) and in association with 127 Wall Productions and Paramount Television Studios, for the BBC and MGM+. The series is written by Stephen Cornwell (Message from the King, A Most Wanted Man) and Clarissa Ingram, Michael Lennox (Say Nothing, Crystal Lake) will serve as an executive producer and is lead director, with Claudia Llosa (The Vampire Lestat, The Milk of Sorrow) serving as second director and co-executive producer. The executive producers are Stephen Cornwell, who is also 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, Clarissa Ingram, Michael Lennox, and Joe Tsai. Susanne Bier and Mike Lesslie are also executive producers. The executive producers for the BBC are Gaynor Holmes and Nick Lambon. Nick Cornwell is executive producer for the John le Carré estate. Sam Costin and Claudia Llosa, are co-executive producers and Nancy Bray is producer for The Ink Factory. Fifth Season is handling global sales.

Photo Credit: Des Willie, Csaba Aknay / © The Ink Factory