Set in 1962, The Spy Who Came in From the Cold begins at the height of the Cold War and only months after the creation of the Berlin Wall. Alex Leamas is a hard-working, hard-drinking British intelligence officer whose East Berlin network is in tatters. His agents are either on the run or dead at the hands of ruthlessly efficient East German counter-intelligence officer Hands Dieter-Mundt. Leamas is called back to London where, to his surprise, he’s offered a chance at revenge. But to obtain it, he may have to stay out in the cold a little longer.
The book remained on the best-seller list for 32 weeks upon its release. Paramount brought it to the cinema in 1965, with Richard Burton in the lead role.
Spy is a major departure from le Carre’s previous AMC project, The Night Manager, which marked the acclaimed author’s first post-Cold War novel. Written in 1993, The Night Manager debuted on BBC and AMC in early 2016 and earned major acclaim for both outlets. The six-part series earned an Emmy for best directing, three Golden Globe awards for stars Tom Hiddleston, Hugh Laurie and Olivia Coleman, and is next up for a Producers Guild Award.
Le Carre’s novels have been adapted for TV and film projects several times before, including the Oscar winner The Constant Gardener, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, A Most Wanted Man and Our Kind of Traitor, the latter two of which also were produced by The Ink Factory.
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