Sacha Baron Cohen to play fabled Israeli spook in upcoming Netflix drama series The Spy

Actor Sacha Baron Cohen has come aboard for Netflix drama series The Spy. The Dictator star will play Eli Cohen in the show, a real Israeli spy based in Syria in the early 1960s. Eli Cohen lived undercover in Damascus and became Chief Adviser to the Minister of Defence there. He was sentenced to death in 1965 after Syrian counter-intelligence authorities discovered who he really was. Eli Cohen was one of the most legendary spies in the world and had managed to embed himself into Syrian high society and rise through the ranks of their politics. [caption id=“attachment_4429167” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Sacha Baron Cohen/Image from Twitter.[/caption] The Spy is being written and directed by Gideon Raff, who also created Prisoners Of War, the Israeli TV show that served as the basis for Homeland. It will be produced by Lgende Films and Alain Goldman.

Baron Cohen recently appeared in Seth Rogen’s Hilarity For Charity variety special on Netflix.  The Borat star last appeared on TV in 2013 in one episode of Eastbound & Down as the character Ronnie Thelman. He has also had roles in Curb Your Enthusiasm, Hugo, Les Misérables, Grimsby, and Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues.