‘Sons of Anarchy’ and ‘Succession’ Alums to Lead TV Adaptation of Classic Spy Novel

John le Carré’s George Smiley novels are getting adapted like never before.

Matthew Macfadyen (Succession) and Charlie Hunnam (Sons of Anarchy) will lead the cast of Legacy of Spies, a new series which will adapt multiple of the author’s Smiley-focused novels, including Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, and A Legacy of Spies, among others.

Macfadyen will star as George Smiley, the most powerful spy in Britain and an intelligence officer for MI6, while Hunnam will play Alec Leamas, the Special Ops officer who takes over as the protagonist in The Spy Who Came in from the Cold.

Daniel Brühl (Inglorious Basterds) and Devrim Lingnau Islamoğlu (The Empress) will also join the series as East German spy Jens Fielder and Doriz Quinz a.k.a. Agent Tulip.

Le Carré created the character of George Smiley in his debut 1960 novel Call for the Dead as an intentional opposite to James Bond. As a real-life intelligence officer for MI5 and MI6, he felt the Bond series was too unrealistic, and created a short, overweight, balding character—often physically compared to a toad in the novels—who is nevertheless one of the most influential, cunning, and ruthless spies in literature thanks to his unmatched intelligence.

Smiley has been portrayed on screen plenty of times, most notably by Rupert Davies in the 1965 adaptation of The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and by Alec Guinness and Gary Oldman for the 1979 and 2011 adaptations of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy respectively.

The plot of the series will span multiple countries, including the U.K., East and West Germany, Czechoslovakia, and the Soviet Union.

Given that we don’t know how many books in the Smiley series will be adapted for the TV show, it’s hard to say how lengthy the show will be. But since there are ten novels starring the legendary spy, it seems that there could be almost an infinite number of seasons if the show takes off.

Legacy of Spies will air on the BBC in the U.K. and MGM+ in the US.