British actor Tom Hardy has replaced Michael Fassbender in the cast of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, according to The Playlist.

We reported back in July that Michael Fassbender had signed on for the new Tomas Alfredson film, though it seems the actor left the project after landing the role of Magneto in X-Men: First Class. Tom Hardy will now play "Tricky" Ricky Tarr, a British operative who helps George Smiley (Gary Oldman) discover the identity of a highly-placed mole in the British secret service in the Cold War era. The cast also includes Ralph Fiennes, Colin Firth, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jared Harris

Tomas Alfredson, who gained notoriety in the United States for directing the critically acclaimed vampire drama Let the Right One in, is directing the film from a screenplay by Bridget O'Connor and Peter Straughan, which was adapted from the John le Carré novel of the same name. Filming was said to start in London in the next few weeks.