King of Spies: Mark Millar and Netflix team for new spy project

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

If you thought Mark Millar was done with spies after masterminding several chapters of the Kingsman franchise with Matthew Vaughn, think again. Today, Netflix and Millar announced King of Spies, the creator's next spy project.

King of Spies will first launch as a graphic novel before being adapted for the streamer, according to the NetflixGeeked Twiter account. The story follows Britain's greatest secret agent, who faces his deadliest enemy: his own mortality. When the world’s most dangerous man goes rogue, it's time to go after the REAL monsters.

Here is the longer, official logline:

In King of Spies, Britain’s greatest secret agent faces his deadliest enemy yet – his own mortality. Diagnosed with a brain tumour and six months to live, the retired Sir Roland King looks around at the world he’s saved so many times and feels he can’t leave us in such a mess. There’s greed and corruption at every level, untouchable despots he was forbidden to go near and a system he just doesn’t believe in any more. He wants to use his remaining time to make a difference with his particular set of skills, and repair the damage he did in his private life at the same time. The most dangerous man in the world has gone rogue and he knows where all the bodies are buried. Now it’s time to go after the REAL monsters…

Back in May, Millar teased that he was developing a "high-concept spy series" at Netflix that stands apart from his work on Kingsman. "We're hard at work on a six-episode live-action spy series right now, my first since Kingsman, but a very different kind of property," Millar told Netflix at the time. "The writer is someone I've been a massive fan of for two decades, and he was the only person I approached. This has the potential to be one of the biggest franchises I've ever created."

Details are a bit thin concerning King of Spies as of this posting, but the above tweet does treat us to some pretty sweet artwork for the series. Speaking of which, the artwork shown above is by Mark Chiarello and Ozgur Yildirim. Neither is expected to be a contributing artist to the comic book series.

"The spy world was very good to us with Kingsman and a return to the genre had to be something special. This is that project. I love stories about an old gun-fighter back for one last job and this is the Granddaddy of them all," Millar told Netflix.

Even though King of Spies was just announced, Twitter users are already calling for Pierce Brosnan to be cast in the lead role. Can you see the resemblance in the artwork above? I certainly can. We'll be sure to let you know more about King of Spies as the project develops.

Meanwhile, the third film in Millar's Kingsman franchise, The King's Man is scheduled to hit theaters on December 22, 2021.