In a new Netflix drama

Sacha Baron Cohen is to star in a new Netflix drama called The Spy.

The Borat and Bruno star will play Eli Cohen, a real-life spy for Israel in Syria in the early 1960s.

He lived in Damascus undercover and managed to embed himself into Syrian high society and rise through the ranks of their politics. He became chief adviser to the Minister of Defence, but was unmasked in 1965 and sentenced to death. The intelligence he gathered before his arrest is said to have been an important factor in Israel's success in the Six Day War.

Netflix say ‘his actions, connections and immense sacrifice have had lasting consequences, shaping the Middle East of today’.

The Spy, which will be available worldwide,  is written and directed by Gideon Raff, whose Prisoners Of War thriller inspired Homeland. 

Baron Cohen recently appeared in Seth Rogen’s Hilarity For Charity special, which is also available on Netflix, alongside James Corden, Tiffany Haddish, Kumail Nanjiani, and more. He  last appeared on TV in 2013 in an episode of Eastbound & Down.

No launch date has yet been announced for The Spy.

Published: 12 Apr 2018