Working Title plans sequel for Bond spoof Johnny English

Bad news for anyone who thought that Johnny English's licence had been revoked. The Guardian can exclusively reveal that the bumbling British spy is set for another mission, with Rowan Atkinson in talks to reprise his role from the 2003 comedy.

The Johnny English sequel forms part of a raft of new projects from the UK-based film company Working Title, explained chairman Tim Bevan. Also in the pipeline from the firm behind such global hits as Bridget Jones's Diary and Notting Hill is a film version of John le Carré's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, to be directed by the Swedish director Tomas Alfredson from a script by Peter Morgan. Alfredson won rave reviews earlier this year for his 80s-set vampire drama Let the Right One In.

The original Johnny English offered an energetic spoof of the James Bond franchise, casting Atkinson as an accident-prone British agent. The hero was partly based on a character Atkinson played in a series of TV commercials for Barclays bank in the 1990s, though it also contained aspects of Mr Bean, Atkinson's most famous comic creation.

Johnny English opened to largely scathing reviews in the summer of 2003, with the Observer's Philip French dubbing it "an unnecessary, pointless Bond parody" and the Guardian's Peter Bradshaw accusing it of cynically targeting "a Mr Bean-style audience in lucrative foreign territories".

If so, it seemed to work. Johnny English went on to earn upwards of $160m (£96.5m) in cinemas across the world.

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