Why isn’t Gary Oldman playing Smiley again?

Following the huge success of the 2011 film Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – from the book of the same name by John le Carré – there was much talk of a second movie, based on le Carré’s 1979 novel Smiley’s People. The possibility was floated by Tinker Tailor cast member Gary Oldman in 2012 and then confirmed by him five years later, but then all went silent. 

Until last week, when it was reported that any plans Oldman might have to return to the role had seemingly been – bafflingly – blocked by Le Carré’s sons. As the actor’s manager Douglas Urbanski revealed to the Radio Times: ‘We loved Tinker and we started to do prep for Gary to do Smiley’s People and suddenly there was an unexpected rights issue…. We’ve reached out, including again recently, to le Carré’s sons and – the damnedest thing – they have no interest in Gary playing Smiley again.