Tradecraft: AMC Bags le Carré's Night Manager

Earlier this month we learned that Hugh Laurie and Tom Hiddleston were circling a BBC miniseries adaptation of John le Carré's 1993 novel The Night Manager, and that the production was seeking a U.S. network partner. A bidding war ensued between multiple interested parties, and, according to Variety, AMC has emerged the winner. The trade reports that the cable network is "close to a deal" to come on board as U.S. distributor and production partner with BBC and Ink Factory, the production company behind recent le Carré film successes like Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and A Most Wanted Man. Interestingly, Variety says that "the project is eyed as a six-episode mini although AMC’s run could expand to eight episodes with commercial time included." Meaning that The Night Manager could end up six episodes in the UK, and eight in America. Obviously the episodes would be cut completely differently for that to work (though ideally Americans wouldn't miss out on any content this way). This wouldn't be the first time a le  Carré miniseries has had episodes reconfigured for U.S. broadcast. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979) aired as seven episodes in Britain, but was trimmed down to six in America by re-cutting each episode and excising 25 minutes from the miniseries' overall runtime. As previously reported, David Farr (Hanna, Spooks) will pen the adaptation.

The Night Manager is the story of Jonathan Pine (presumably Hiddleston), a former soldier turned hotelier who ends up volunteering to become an undercover agent for a new branch of British Intelligence in an effort to get revenge for the death of a woman he loved in Cairo. Leonard Burr is the dogged intelligence officer with a background in enforcement who masterminds Pine's mission against Peer of the Realm arms dealer Richard Onslow Roper. Roper is the sort of upper-class Englishman completely devoid of morals for whom le Carré has always reserved a particular vitriol, and Hugh Laurie should have a blast playing him. (I'm assuming he'll be the snobbish Roper as opposed to the working class Burr.) It's a deceptively straightforward undercover story for le Carré, but there is still plenty of material for a miniseries. As Pine risks falling under the spell of his charming adversary (and his beautiful mistress), Burr must contend with overwhelming forces in the British and American Intelligence Community who would rather keep Roper in play, not so much for the chicken feed intelligence he sometimes throws their way, but because they're all becoming very rich off of his nefarious deals.

AMC's past forays into the spy genre have included the promising but cancelled-too-soon le Carré-esque series Rubicon, the ill-advised miniseries remake of The Prisoner, and this year's hit Revolutionary War series Turn (already renewed for a second season). Hugh Laurie has dabbled in the genre both on camera (including a memorable guest appearance on MI-5/Spooks as smarmy MI6 maven Jules Siviter) and in print (he authored the surprisingly terrific espionage novel The Gun Seller, which kind of reads like a parody of The Night Manager). Hiddleston has less spy experience, but as the villainous Loki he has taken on the comic book espionage agency S.H.I.E.L.D. in Marvel's The Avengers.

Tradecraft: Neo-Eurospy Reboot The Transporter Legacy Coming Next March

The Transporter reboot has a release date. Deadline reports that EuropaCorp USA, the new U.S. distribution arm of Luc Besson's French neo-Eurospy factory EuropaCorp (thanks to a partnership with Relativity), will release The Transporter Legacy on March 6, 2015. As previously reported, Ed Skrein (The Sweeney) steps into the shoes of Jason Statham as professional transporter Frank Martin. Skrein plays Martin at the beginning of his career. The trade provides a brief plot synopsis, revealing that this time out Martin crosses paths with femme fatale Anna (Loan Chabanol, Third Person), who wants him to take down a group of ruthless Russian human traffickers. To ensure his cooperation, Anna kidnaps Frank’s father (Ray Stevenson, Punisher: War Zone). Radivoje Bukvic (Taken) and Anatole Taubman (Quantum of Solace) also star. IGN (via Dark Horizons) premiered the first official photo of Skrein in the role, assuming the traditional Transporter pose in front of a car. The Transporter Legacy is still produced by Besson, but this time around he and series co-creator Robert Mark Kamen are leaving the writing chores to new blood, Bill Collage and Adam Cooper (Exodus: Gods and Kings). Camille Delamarre (Brick Mansions) directs. The big screen Transporter reboot has nothing to do with the television spinoff (which recently debuted to solid numbers on TNT), though Delamarre did cut his teeth directing second unit on the show.

The Transporter Legacy is intended to be the first in a new trilogy of Transporter movies starring Skrein. (And, frankly, its success will depend entirely on his charm. The original Transporter movies worked primarily because Jason Statham had it in spades.) But beyond that trilogy, we're likely to see even more neo-Eurospy movies of this ilk in theaters soon! Deadline reports that EuropaCorp recently secured a new line of credit that will allow them to increase their output from three films per year to eight.

Tradecraft: Paul Greengrass Ponders Some Serious Tunneling

Paul Greengrass is amassing quite a stack of espionage scripts on his development pile. As previously reported, he's already hard at work on an adaptation of the non-fiction spy memoir Agent Storm, and this summer he made the surprise announcement that he was reconsidering his long-held stance on never returning to the franchise that really put him on the map and would (hopefully) re-team with Matt Damon on a new Bourne movie which he would be writing himself. Yesterday Variety reported that the Bourne Ultimatum and Green Zone director has added a Cold War Berlin story to his growing pile. According to the trade, FilmNation Entertainment has acquired the screen rights to a book proposal (that's right; it's not even a book yet, just a proposal!) by journalist Greg Mitchell called The Tunnels. Mark Gordon (The Matador, The Man Who Wouldn't Die) will produce. The Tunnels is purportedly an "untold" true story of a harrowing escape from East Berlin during the days of the Wall about a group of West Germans funded by American news networks on an expedition to get their loved ones out of the East. (The trade doesn't say so, but I'm guessing the plan involves tunnels.) I hope this one happens. Personally, I love Wall-Crossing stories, and we don't get nearly enough of them nowadays.

Tradecraft: BBC America Acquires London Spy; Jim Broadbent Joins the Cast

It's not just British spy fans who will get to see Q step into a leading man spy role next year. American spy fans will also be able to watch the new BBC espionage drama London Spy. BBC America has come aboard as a production partner, according to Deadline, and will air the miniseries in the United States. As previously reported, the five-part series, created by Ian Fleming Steel Dagger winner Tom Rob Smith (author of Child 44), stars Ben Whishaw (Skyfall) as Danny, a "hedonistic romantic" drawn into the dangerous world of espionage when his new boyfriend, Alex, suddenly disappears without a trace. The trade also reports that Jim Broadbent (Closed Circuit, Any Human Heart), Charlotte Rampling (The Avengers, Spy Game), and Edward Holcroft (Kingsman: The Secret Service) have joined the cast, the latter (pictured) as Alex. Filming commenced in London last week under the direction of Jakob Verbruggen (The Fall, The Bridge).

Transporter TV Series Debuts Tonight On TNT

After taking a route as long and circuitous as one of the winding Riviera roads showcased on the series, the Transporter TV show finally debuts tonight on American television. Adapted from the Luc Besson-produced neo-Eurospy movies starring Jason Statham, the TV version stars Chris Vance as professional transporter Frank Martin. As one might expect of a TV show, there’s a bit more structure to his business on the show, allowing more regular characters than in the films. On TV, Frank has a reliable support staff. Transporter: The Series, and international co-production, was originally developed to air on Cinemax in the U.S. But for some reason Cinemax backed out, and the first season ended up airing in Europe, Australia and Canada a couple of years ago. Then TNT came to the rescue, ordering the existing first season and commissioning a second. The second one (now overseen by Strike Back’s Frank Spotnitz) recently began airing overseas, and tonight Americans can finally start watching the first one. But there are bound to be some changes from what Europeans saw. Since it was originally intended for Cinemax, the original version ofTransporter: The Series was full of gratuitous nudity, as suits that brand. The nudity will definitely be gone for TNT, and there may also be some edits for language and violence. While it certainly didn’t generate raves overseas, I found the first season of Transporter: The Series (which I broke down and bought on import DVD when it looked like there would be no American airing) to be pretty enjoyable. It’s  got the same daffy action we’ve come to expect from the movies. Vance is no Statham, sadly, but then who is? He makes an adequate lead, but the real star of the show is the car chase action, which is top notch. It’s the sort of all-action, testosorone-driven fare that fuelled basic cable line-ups in the 90s, but has been missing in recent years. If that’s what you’re looking for, definitely check it out.Transporter: The Series debuts tonight on TNT at 9/8c.

Michelle Yeoh Strikes Back

According to The Hollywood Reporter (via Dark Horizons), Bond Girl Michelle Yeoh (Tomorrow Never Dies) will join the fourth and final season of Cinemax's action-packed espionage drama Strike Back. She'll be joined by fellow Bond alum Will Yun Lee (Die Another Day), along with Adrian Paul (Highlander: The Series), Tim McInnerny (Spooks) and Wolf Kahler (Fleming, The Sandbaggers, Raiders of the Lost Ark). The series has just resumed production after a seven month hiatus following an injury sustained by star Sullivan Stapleton. The final 10-episode season will air in 2015.

Tradecraft: ABC Explores Dark Era of CIA in MKUltra

The Assets may have flopped (unfortunately), but ABC isn't giving up on Cold War CIA miniseries. In fact, they're developing another one from the writer of The Assets, Karen Stillman, based on the Agency's notorious MKUltra program. Deadline reports that the network is developing MKUltra, the story of the CIA's experimental mind control program from the Fifties and Sixties. A precursor of extraordinary rendition and other controversial CIA black ops, MKUltra was one of the infamous "crown jewels" revealed in the Church Committee hearings that shocked the nation in the 1970s. The Agency's Scientific Intelligence Division conducted experiments in human "behavioral engineering" using methods including sensory deprivation, hypnosis, torture and, most famously, drugs. Unwitting American citizens were dosed with LSD as part of these experiments, giving rise to an entire generation's justified paranoia about the CIA - and fueling conspiracy theories for decades to come. LSD and other drugs were also incorporated into the Agency's standard interrogation tactics of the time. This seems like fertile ground for a miniseries. I loved The Assets, and I hope this one gets greenlit.

Agent Carter Gets Her Own Comic

We know that Hayley Atwell's Peggy Carter, agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. precursor SSR, is getting her own TV show this winter, spun off from the Marvel One Shot short film Agent Carter. And we got a brief, tantalizing sneak peek when Atwell made a guest appearance on a 1940s-set prologue to the second season premiere of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Now, appropriately, the Captain America supporting character will finally have a Marvel comic of her own to back it up. Newsarama reports that Marvel announced the five-issue miniseries Operation S.I.N., written by Kathryn Immonen and illustrated by Rich Ellis, at this weekend's New York Comic Con. According to editor Jon Moisan, "People can expect a badass Cold War-era spy story featuring Peggy Carter and Howard Stark.... This series is very much a spy story, but done in a way that only Marvel can. And I don’t want to spill too much, but someone definitely fights a bear." Sounds good to me! I'm always down for more Cold War era spy comics. Operation S.I.N. will also somehow tie in to this past summer's big Nick Fury-centric Marvel crossover event Original Sin. The comic debuts in January 2015, timed to coincide with the eight-episode Agent Carter TV show.

Tradecraft: Matt Damon, Ben Affleck Developing Industrial Espionage Series

Deadline reports that Jason Bourne and Jack Ryan are teaming up for a new futuristic spy series. But Matt Damon (Green Zone, The Informant!) and Ben Affleck (Argo, The Sum of All Fears) are only behind the scenes on this one. The pair are developing "a futuristic espionage thriller" called Incorporated with CBS TV Studios for Syfy. "Set in a world where corporations have seemingly unlimited power, Incorporated will tell the story of one man’s efforts to beat the system." David and Alex Pastor will write the pilot; Ted Humphrey (The Unit) will serve as showrunner and executive produce along with Damon, Affleck and Jennifer Todd.

Tradecraft: Top Showrunners Team Up for CW Spy School Series

As regular readers know, I love the "teen spy" subgenre. And I feel like it's been pretty neglected on television, given its potential. So I'm pretty excited that Deadline is reporting that two very successful showrunners, Marc Cherry (Desperate Housewives, Devious Maids) and Neal Baer (Under the Dome, Law and Order: SVU) are teaming up to create a prep school spy drama for the CW. Here's how the trade describes Cheerleader Death Squad: "Described as 'Heathers meets Alias', Cheerleader Death Squad centers on a disgraced CIA agent-turned-teacher at an elite Washington DC prep school. When he realizes that his students have high level access through personal connections, he trains a select few to be his eyes and ears into the world of international espionage and help him earn his way back into the agency." Sounds promising to me! Cherry and Baer will co-write the pilot along with Blue Bloods executive producer Dan Truly. And with that kind of star wattage behind the scenes, I'd say it's got a pretty good shot at going to series at a small network like The CW. Here's hoping!

Listen to Ian Fleming's Thrilling Cities on BBC Radio Online

BBC Radio 4 have previously adapted four of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels - "Dr. No," "Goldfinger," "From Russia With Love" and "On Her Majesty's Secret Service." Now they've created an audio production of the author's non-fiction travelogue, Thrilling Cities. Culled from a series of columns he wrote for the Sunday Times in 1960 and originally published as a book in 1963, Thrilling Cities was a uniquely Fleming sort of travelogue, which focused not on the usual tourist sights in far-flung travel destinations in Europe, America and the Far East, but on the seedier, seemier side that Fleming found thrilling. It's terrific writing, and provides an excellent account of cities like Tokyo, Hamburg, Chicago and Macau at a very specific time - the dawn of the Jet Age. The radio version is, obviously, abridged. The first of three 15-minute segments aired on Friday, October 10. It's available to stream on BBC's iPlayer for the next four weeks. Subsequent installments will be broadcast over the next two Fridays. Give it a listen!

Via MI6

Archer Nixes ISIS

This was inevitable. The Daily Beast reports that when cartoon superspy Sterling Archer returns to FX this January, he'll no longer be working for ISIS. On Archer, ISIS stood for International Secret Intelligence Service. It was the private spy agency Archer worked for (run by his mother, Mallory Archer), and for five seasons it was a pretty great name for a TV spy agency. But, of course, real world events have sadly made it far from a perfect name now. Series creator Adam Reed explains, "There were people online saying that we should address it and say, ‘Oh, I can’t believe these guys have co-opted our name.’ That’s the way South Park would do it, coming after them and saying, ‘These assholes stole our name,’ but that’s not the way the Archer universe works, where it’s all our own creations. In our universe, [the terrorist organization ISIS] don’t exist." That makes sense. You don't really need to call out assholes for being assholes; everyone knows that they are. I like Reed's version better, that in their world, that evil simply doesn't exist. For the show, the timing is somewhat unfortunate, but also somewhat convenient. Season 5 was a departure, and the gang spent the year away from ISIS, going rogue and trying their hand (very badly) at being drug dealers. (Just watch the show. It all makes sense then!) But in the end events brought them right back to ISIS, and for fans of the series it was set to be a welcome return to the familiar setting. It's sad that's not to be, but then the events of last season also give Reed and his fellow producers an easy out thanks to the CIA's involvement in the plot. So in the first scene of the sixth season (a different first scene than fans saw at Comic-Con this summer, when ISIS was still intact), we'll see an ISIS sign being wheeled out behind Mallory as she explains to Archer on the phone that they all work for the CIA now. And that's the last we'll ever hear of ISIS. The animators have digitally erased all ISIS signage from the rest of the season, and it won't be mentioned. So Sterling Archer is now officially a CIA agent, and the nod to great, silly acronyms of the past like U.N.C.L.E., CONTROL and S.H.I.E.L.D. is no more. And FX is left with a lot of hats, T-shirts, mugs and other merchandise it can't possibly sell now. Adios, ISIS.

Trailer: The Game

We first heard about BBC's new Seventies-set Cold War spy show The Game late last year, and found out America would be getting it too in January. Created by Toby Whithouse (Being Human, Doctor Who - for which he penned one of my favorite episodes), the series sounded like a mixture of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Mission: Impossible. And now we've got a trailer! Which, quite happily, bears out that assessment. Though maybe "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (both versions, really) meets Spooks (MI-5)" would be more accurate, as it definitely seems to blend modern action sensibilities with a Seventies le Carré vibe. And that, to me, seems like an incredible combination! I can't wait to see this show! And the good news is, we won't have to wait long at all! I'm not sure when it debuts in Britain, but in the U.S. it starts airing on BBC America's Dramaville in less than a month, on November 5 at 10pm. Brian Cox (The Bourne Identity, RED) plays the Smiley-esque spymaster "Daddy," and Tom Hughes (Page Eight, The Lady Vanishes) provides the heartthrob appeal as his star agent Joe Lambe. They really seem to be going for the look of the 2011 Tinker Tailor film (with a conference room that could be the same set recycled), and for me that just adds to the appeal! Check out the trailer below, and read more on the BBC America website.

JAMES BOND RETURNS TO COMICS!!!

It's been almost nineteen years since the last time James Bond saw print in a comic book – and even longer since the superspy's last original adventure in that medium. All that is about to change. Today, on the eve of the New York Comic Con, Ian Fleming Publications, Limited and Dynamite Entertainment announced a new partnership to bring 007 back to comics in 2015! According to the press release, "Dynamite has been granted worldwide rights to publish comic books, digital comics and graphic novels starring 007." The deal gives the New Jersey-based publisher the right to produce both "fresh visual adaptations of the classic Bond stories" and "to create a series of brand new adventures" for Fleming's inimitable secret agent. It also grants them the opportunity to publish "original graphic novels and collections." No creators have yet been announced.

Among its first projects, Dynamite plans to explore Bond's early days, pre-Casino Royale. According to the press release, "some other familiar faces from the expansive 007 mythos will also make appearances in this series – criminal masterminds, hired henchmen, glamorous Bond Girls and secret service allies – alongside all-new characters." Nothing else specific was announced about the new James Bond comics, but we can perhaps infer a bit about the publisher's strategy from looking at how they've handled other licensed properties. The origin story is not a surprising move. The publisher has had a lot of success doing "Year One" storylines about heroes like The Shadow, The Green Hornet and Zorro. (Often comics superstar Matt Wagner has been involved in these Year One stories. Could he be boning up on his Fleming?) Given that success, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the series dealing with Bond's early days ends up being called James Bond: Year One. Some of Dynamite's Year One comics have been as long as ten issues.

What might a James Bond: Year One story entail? In citing the year of Casino Royale's publication (1953), the press release (which can be read in its entirety at The Book Bond) seems to hint at a period setting. Fleming himself hinted in his first novel that Bond's career began during WWII. While recovering from his wounds at the hands of Le Chiffre, 007 recounts to his friend Mathis how he earned his Double O prefix. The first man he killed was a Japanese cipher expert working on the 36th floor of the RCA Building in Rockefeller Center in New York. Bond shot him from 300 yards away, in another skyscraper. (This incident was based on Fleming's own wartime experiences breaking into a Japanese cipher expert's offices in that building with his friend, the man called Intrepid, William Stephenson. There was no killing involved.) "The next time in Stockholm wasn't so pretty," Bond tells Mathis. "I had to kill a Norwegian who was doubling against us for the Germans.... For various reasons it had to be an absolutely silent job. I chose the bedroom of his flat and a knife. And, well, he just didn't die very quickly." The year of these killings isn't stated, but if Bond was killing a Japanese cipher expert and an agent who was doubling for the Germans, I think we can easily infer that these exploits took place during WWII. Furthermore, Fleming asserts that those two were Bond's only kills up until that point, which rather inconveniently leaves a gap of at least eight years during which 007 didn't kill anyone, which isn't very conducive to new adventures set in the early days of the Cold War. (I would assume, however, and even hope, that Dynamite will find a way to work around that.) So I don't think it would be unreasonable to assume that Dynamite's origins tale will depict Bond in action during the war, which is something we've never seen before in print or on film. Or in comics. (Well, aside from a brief flashback during William Boyd's 2013 continuation novel Solo, in which the author cast Bond as a member of Fleming's own real-life commando squad 30 Assault Unit.) So that would be exciting!

While this origins story was the only comic book specifically discussed in the press release, does that mean that that's the only James Bond comic we should expect from Dynamite next year? I highly doubt it! Fortunately for Bond fans and comics fans, the publisher has a long track record of being highly prolific with their other licensed properties! At one point this year there were as many as three separate ongoing Shadow series being published at once, maybe four. They previously published three different Green Hornet comics concurrently as well, all set in entirely different timelines no less. (One in the past, one in the present, and one in the future.) That's another thing they've got no trepidation about doing. We've also seen Battlestar Gallactica and Shadow series set in different periods and different timelines being published simultaneously. So just because an origins story might be set in the 1940s doesn't mean that Dynamite won't be publishing contemporary James Bond adventures as well. (This would also be in keeping with IFP's recent policy. They reportedly offer each continuation author the choice of setting his novel during Fleming's timeline or today, which has yielded both results.)

Another thing that Dynamite likes to do is publish spinoff titles. This, too, was hinted at in today's press release, when Dynamite Editor Mike Lake mused, "The Bond villains are some of the most memorable figures in popular culture…where did they come from? And in some cases, where did they go?" Again, I'm speculating, but this tantalizing question would seem to me to indicate that we might see spinoff comics about various Bond villains. And no doubt we'll see certain Bond Girls get their own titles as well. Strong, sexy women are historically Dynamite's favorite fodder for spinoffs. A Dejah Thoris title spun off from Warlord of Mars (based on Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter books) has, I believe, outlasted the original flagship series. I have little doubt that Dynamite CEO Nick Barucci intends to put a comic called Pussy Galore on store shelves at some point in the near future! But what other characters could be spun off into their own series, miniseries, or one-shots? There's precedent for Moneypenny to take center stage in Samantha Weinberg's excellent trilogy of Moneypenny Diaries novels. Blofeld seems like a natural. But, personally, I'd most like to see a series focusing on Bond's CIA ally, Felix Leiter!

The other thing Dynamite loves to do, historically, with their licensed properties is crossovers. This one I'm not so sure we'll see with Bond. I suspect that IFP will maintain a pretty tight leash on such things, but the possibilities are intriguing. Personally, I have zero interest in seeing 007 relegated to a supporting role in a major mash-up with other characters, which Dynamite is fond of. (Masks unites The Shadow, The Spider, Green Hornet, Miss Fury and even Zorro, among other pulp heroes, into one big jam. Justice Inc. reads like an intriguing pulp-era Justice League, teaming The Shadow with Doc Savage and The Avenger.) But I must admit, certain team-ups with other licensed characters on the Dynamite roster do intrigue me. (It might sound crazy, but I'd love to see Bond team up with Tarzan! I think it could work! And though some time trickery would probably be necessary, I also wouldn't mind seeing 007 thrust into Dynamite's usual team-up - a meeting with Sherlock Holmes! Hey, there's precedent for that one, in the elusive publication "Holmes Meets 007.") And Dynamite doesn't limit their crossovers to their own characters. They're also fond of inter-company crossovers, like Batman '66/Green Hornet, published in conjunction with DC, or Spider-man/Red Sonja, published with Marvel. I can't imagine something like James Bond Meets Batman working (and can't imagine IFP would sign off on it), but imagine a Sixties-set 007/Nick Fury team-up on an over-the-top You Only Live Twice scale? That I can picture... and would love to read! In fact, it just makes sense. And I bet the great Jim Steranko could even be tempted to revisit the character he's most famously associated and provide a cover with the tantalizing addition of James Bond...

Finally, Dynamite also has a history of publishing collected editions of comics about their licensed characters originally put out by other companies. They've released trade paperbacks of some of DC's 1980s Shadow comics (including the unmissable if bizarre then-contemporary story Seven Deadly Finns) and Marvel's original Red Sonja stories, and a hardcover of Marvel Doc Savage tales. So I'm very hopeful that they might reprint some or all of James Bond's past comic adventures. If you stick to the English language material, there's really not that much. Mike Grell's Permission to Die (originally published by Eclipse in the early Nineties) and Doug Moench and Paul Gulacy's Serpent's Tooth are the two best Bond comic stories to date. Both were collected in trade paperbacks in their day, but both are now long out of print and much deserving of new editions. Other Dark Horse Bond comics have never been collected, including the unfinished (but highly promising) A Silent Armageddon. I've heard rumors that the other two issues were actually drawn, even if they weren't published. Wouldn't it be great if Dynamite managed to present that and Topps' GoldenEye (for which pencils were also completed) in their entirety for the first time anywhere? Furthermore, the various movie adaptations over the years have never been collected. There haven't been that many, so it would be easy to include DC's Dr. No, Marvel's For Your Eyes Only and Octopussy, and Eclipse's Licence To Kill (ideally along with the complete GoldenEye) in a single Omnibus volume. And if I want to get really greedy, how great would it be if they eventually published translations of the rare Bond comics from other countries that have never seen print in English? For some reason 007 has enjoyed more success in other countries like Sweden and Argentina and India than in the English speaking world. I'd love to see the Semic or Zigzag titles collected in English for the first time! Or, best of all, the Japanese manga versions of Thunderball and On Her Majesty's Secret Service from the Sixties! But now I must be dreaming... For starters I'd be happy just to see Serpent's Tooth back on shelves.

So the only real, solid news that we have is that James Bond is returning to comics for the first time since Topps' aborted GoldenEye adaptation (which the publisher had promised was not just a film adaptation, but the beginning of a brand new ongoing James Bond series... which never happened) in 1995 (excluding a Young Bond graphic novel adaptation of Silverfin in 2008, which wasn't published in standard comic book format). But, with the possible exception of the crossovers, I suspect that my speculation based on Dynamite's past behavior may prove to be more true than not. But unfortunately we'll have to wait until at least next year to find out!

Read more about Dynamite's James Bond announcement at:
The Book Bond
The Hollywood Reporter
Comic Book Resources

Tradecraft: Hugh Laurie and Tom Hiddleston to Star in Le Carre Miniseries The Night Manager

This is super exciting news! John le Carré fans have been spoiled lately with some excellent movies based on the inimitable author's books, but in many ways miniseries remain the best possible medium for adapting such intricate, complex stories. (Smiley's People remains the finest le Carré adaptation to date, in my opinion.) And now, according to The Hollywood Reporter, there's a new le Carré miniseries in the offing! (Or "limited series," to use the preferred present-day parlance.) And its cast is shaping up to be top notch. Hugh Laurie (best known for House and Jeeves and Wooster, but no stranger to the world of spies having memorably guest starred on Spooks and penned the terrific espionage novel The Gunseller) and Tom Hiddleston (Marvel's The Avengers, Only Lovers Left Alive) are set to star in The Night Manager.

The last time we heard anything about le Carré's 1993 novel The Night Manager being adapted, it was as a film being produced by Brad Pitt, and that was back in 2009. Apparently things have changed. The trade reports that the book is now being turned into a miniseries from Ink Factory (le Carré's sons' production company, responsible for the excellent recent films of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and A Most Wanted Man as well as the upcoming Our Kind of Traitor) in partnership with the BBC, whose long association with le Carré material includes the aforementioned Smiley's People, with Alec Guinness, and the original Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. The producers are currently seeking a U.S. network to partner with them for a straight-to-series pickup, which shouldn't be too difficult with that star power. David Farr (whose spy credits include Hanna and Spooks) is writing. It's unclear how many episodes the miniseries will entail, but in the United States "limited series" have been getting pretty long lately (as many as ten episodes).

The Night Manager is the story of Jonathan Pine (presumably Hiddleston), a former soldier turned hotelier who ends up volunteering to become an undercover agent for a new branch of British Intelligence in an effort to get revenge for the death of a woman he loved in Cairo. Leonard Burr is the dogged intelligence officer with a background in enforcement who masterminds Pine's mission against Peer of the Realm arms dealer Richard Onslow Roper. Roper is the sort of upper-class Englishman completely devoid of morals for whom le Carré has always reserved a particular vitriol, and Hugh Laurie should have a blast playing him. (I'm assuming he'll be the snobbish Roper as opposed to the working class Burr.) It's a deceptively straightforward undercover story for le Carré, but there is still plenty of material for a miniseries. As Pine risks falling under the spell of his charming adversary (and his beautiful mistress), Burr must contend with overwhelming forces in the British and American Intelligence Community who would rather keep Roper in play, not so much for the chicken feed intelligence he sometimes throws their way, but because they're all becoming very rich off of his nefarious deals. The novel functions as somewhat of a companion piece to the author's 1977 Smiley novel The Honourable Schoolboy. During the Cold War, Smiley represented the forces of Pure Intelligence, who wanted to flip a high value asset and get him to work for the British, but he found himself outflanked by the short-sighted forces of Enforcement (in the form of the American DEA) who would prefer to make an arrest or eliminate the target than flip him. In le Carré's first post-Cold War novel, however, the world has changed. Now it's Leonard Burr who has the author's sympathies, as an Enforcement man who wants to punish the wrongdoer with the aid of the DEA when the now sinister forces of Pure Intelligence would prefer to keep him out of jail, no matter how unpleasant his business.

Hugh Laurie and John le Carré are a near perfect match. I can't wait to see this project come together!

Trailer and Posters: Bryan Mills Returns in Taken 3... or Tak3n

Fox and EuropaCorp have kept a tight lid on plot details of the third Taken movie up until now, but the just-released trailer makes it clear that the franchise is shifting gears.

Liam Neeson still plays former CIA agent Bryan Mills just as tough as ever, but this time nobody gets taken. And he doesn't jet off to any exotic European cities. So is it still a neo-Eurospy movie? Well it's still from Luc Besson's largely European team (which unfortunately includes Olivier Megaton, director of Taken 2, rather than Taken's Pierre Morel), so it's sure to still have his decidedly Euro sensibilities... so if Intrigue in Los Angeles counts as Eurospy, I'd say Taken 3 (or TAK3N, as they seem to be calling it) counts as well. Because the setting this time out is LA. And the inspiration is clearly The Fugitive. Forrest Whitaker plays the Lt. Gerard role, and he and Neeson riff on the famous Ford/Jones "I didn't kill my wife!/I don't care!" conversation. There's even a dripping circular sewer. But originality has never been a prerequisite for a good neo-Eurospy movie, and all in all, this trailer looks pretty damn good! I like the new direction, and it already looks better than the last one. I will, however, be sorry to see the last of Famke Janssen in this series. Taken 3 opens January 9. While the poster slogan certainly carries an air of finality, Neeson wasn't so final in recent interviews, saying that while he didn't want to outstay his welcome, if audiences still want him he'd be open to playing the role again. Before that ever happens, though, we'll get a send-up of the series in the parody Tooken, starring Lee Tergesen (The Americans) and Lauren Stamile (Burn Notice).