Death hasn’t diminished Tom Clancy’s output. Since the spy novelist’s death in 2013, a team of writers has churned out Clancy-branded thrillers at regular intervals. The new Dune television series is based not on Frank Herbert’s original novel but on a series of spinoffs written by Herbert’s son, Brian Herbert. The implacable logic of the Hollywood franchise, which prizes intellectual property over individual authorship, has lately been adopted by the publishing industry. Given the decline in reading, it’s hard to blame writers and editors for leaning on their most popular characters. 

Now, the franchise builders have set their sights on a more prestigious target. The latest character to be revived after the author’s death is George Smiley, the unprepossessing British agent first introduced by John le Carre in The Spy Who Came in From the Cold and subsequently immortalized in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Smiley has been delicately handed over to le Carre’s son, Nick Harkaway, who has made all the right noises about protecting his late father’s most memorable literary creation. The good news is that Harkaway is a talented writer who does a fair impersonation of his father. The bad news is that his talents would almost certainly be better served elsewhere.