Production on Legacy of Spies is continuing in Prague, with the BBC and MGM+ unveiling a major wave of new cast additions led by Hugh Laurie and Joe Alwyn as filming progresses across the Czech capital.
The announcement comes as the high-profile espionage drama continues shooting in Prague, where recent location work has transformed parts of the city center into Cold War-era East Germany. The eight-part series is based primarily on John le Carré‘s The Spy Who Came in From the Cold while drawing additional material from his 2017 novel A Legacy of Spies.
Led by Matthew Macfadyen as master spy George Smiley and Charlie Hunnam as intelligence operative Alec Leamas, the production represents one of the most ambitious screen adaptations of le Carré’s work to date. Prague has emerged as a key filming base for the series, with local production services provided by Sirena Film.
Hugh Laurie takes on iconic le Carré role
The newly announced cast additions help flesh out the world of The Circus, le Carré’s fictional British intelligence service.
Hugh Laurie will play Control, the powerful and enigmatic head of The Circus and George Smiley’s superior. The role is among the most significant figures in le Carré’s espionage universe and marks Laurie’s second major adaptation of the author’s work following his portrayal of Richard Roper in The Night Manager.
Joe Alwyn has been cast as Jim Prideaux, a veteran intelligence operative whose field activities become central to the story. Also joining the cast are Anjana Vasan as intelligence analyst Connie Sachs, Charlotte Ritchie as Smiley’s wife Ann Smiley and Lee Ross as Inspector Oliver Mendel, one of Smiley’s closest allies.
The BBC also confirmed the casting of James McArdle as Percy Alleline, John Dagleish as Roy Bland and Goran Bogdan as Toby Esterhase, completing a trio of senior Circus figures familiar to readers of le Carré’s novels. Adam Hugill joins as Fawn, a dangerous operative assigned to protect Smiley.
The latest additions join a growing ensemble that already includes Daniel Brühl as Josef Fiedler, Devrim Lingnau Islamoğlu as Doris Quinz, Agnes O’Casey as Liz Gold, Felix Kammerer as Hans-Dieter Mundt and Dan Stevens as Bill Haydon.
Behind the camera, the production has also added acclaimed Peruvian director Claudia Llosa as second block director and co-executive producer. Llosa, whose The Milk of Sorrow earned an Academy Award nomination and won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival, joins lead director Michael Lennox.
Prague doubles for East Germany
While casting announcements have attracted attention internationally, filming activity in Prague continues to reveal how the city will appear on screen.
In April, production work took place around the National Theatre and along the Vltava riverfront, with Karolíny Světlé Street extensively transformed for filming. The area was dressed with period vehicles, Cold War-era signage and storefront modifications designed to recreate locations from behind the Iron Curtain. More recently, the production made use of areas in the vicinity of the Prague’s Main Train Station.
German-language shop signs and advertisements strongly suggest that Prague is doubling for East Germany, which aligns with the setting of The Spy Who Came in From the Cold. The 1963 novel is largely set in East Berlin and other locations divided by the Cold War, making Prague’s historic architecture a natural stand-in.
The production has undertaken extensive environmental modifications to create the illusion of the early 1960s. Among the more unusual transformations, a souvenir shop was temporarily redressed as a cabaret venue, while other storefronts were altered to reflect the appearance of businesses operating in East Germany during the period.
At the same time, the novel A Legacy of Spies includes scenes set in Prague, raising the possibility that the city may also appear as itself in portions of the adaptation rather than solely doubling for foreign locations.
Earlier filming took place at Dům Radost in Žižkov, Prague’s first high-rise building and a protected functionalist landmark. Combined with the recent city-center shoots, the locations suggest the production is making extensive use of Prague’s diverse architecture to portray multiple settings from le Carré’s Cold War world.
The series is produced by The Ink Factory, founded by Stephen and Simon Cornwell, the sons of John le Carré, in co-production with Amusement Park Film and in association with Paramount Television Studios. It will premiere on BBC iPlayer and BBC One in the United Kingdom and MGM+ in the United States, with Fifth Season handling international sales.
The new series joins an increasingly impressive roster of international productions currently filming in Prague in 2026. Major projects working in the Czech capital this year include Martin Scorsese’s What Happens at Night, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence; Netflix’s The Age of Innocence, which wrapped in March; the fourth season of Foundation, which wraps in July; and the new Monarch: Legacy of Monsters spinoff Birdwatcher, which has just began Prague production.
Lead photo: Hugh Laurie at the 2016 Berlin International Film Festival; Joe Alwyn at the 2018 Venice International Film Festival courtesy DepositPhotos.com
