Netflix announces new spy thriller from Mark Millar

Netflix has announced a new spy thriller from Mark Millar.

Titled King of Spies, the project will first exist as a graphic novel, but The Hollywood Reporter says the plan is for the story to eventually become a series or film for the streamer. You can check out some artwork below, by Mark Chiarello and Ozgur Yildirim.

The official summary for the project is as follows: "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…"

This isn't Millar's first foray into the world of espionage: Kingsman (artist Dave Gibbons) is a take on the spy genre, and the comic series has spawned two successful movies, with a third, The King's Man, due out this year.

"We’ve been quietly working on this for a couple of years in-house and we're all buzzing about it. The spy world was very good to us with Kingsman and a return to the genre had to be something special," Millar commented (H/T Deadline). "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. It's so incredibly violent and emotional, but really fun too."

So far, there are no details on the artist, though the graphic novel is being published by Image Comics. According to Netflix, this "translation of this original Netflix property is written by Millar and will also be drawn by a superstar artist chosen from the comic book world, based on designs created by the team at Netflix." On Twitter, Millar clarified that the "comic will be out first as per Magic Order, etc, but based on a story written and designed in-house before turned into a comic-script. It's other way around from 2017 when these started life as creator-owned comics."

This is the next project to come from Netflix's Millarworld acquisition. So far, only one TV series has made it to screens – Jupiter's Legacy, which was effectively cancelled after just one season. However, a live-action spinoff called Supercrooks, based on Millar and Leinil Francis Yu's comic series of the same name, is in the works – as is a Supercrooks anime series. There are plenty of other Millarworld stories in development at Netflix, too.

There's no word on a release date for the graphic novel just yet, but while you wait, check out our guide to the best Netflix shows to fill out your watchlist.