Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy role by the sons of the book’s author John le Carré’.The actor played the lead role of veteran agent George Smiley in the 2011 film adaptation of 1974 novel, which follows Smiley as he is forced out of retirement to help the British secret service unmask a Soviet spy within their ranks.Oldman had wanted to reprise the role for an adaptation of Smiley’s People, the third and final book in the author’s spy trilogy, but his manager Douglas Urbanski said it didn’t get off the ground due to a “rights issue”.“That’s an odd story. I’ll never know the mystery,” Urbanski told Radio Times.