The Americans favorite has been tapped to star opposite Sacha Baron Cohen in Netflix’s limited series The Spy.
The six-episode drama explores Eli Cohen’s (Baron Cohen) role as a spy for Israel in Syria in the early 1960s. Cohen is one of the most legendary spies in the world. He lived in Damascus undercover in the beginning of the ’60s, spying for Israel. He managed to embed himself into Syrian high society and rise through the ranks of its politics. His actions, connections and immense sacrifice have had lasting consequences, shaping the Middle East of today.
Emmerich will play the role of Dan Peleg, a charming, rumpled and brilliant Mossad trainer. He is wise, wary and stubborn, and has a tendency to blur the boundaries between the personal and professional. He has conflicted feelings about Eli and is tormented by a mistake he made in the past.
The limited series will be written and directed by Gideon Raff, whose thriller Prisoners of War served as the genesis for Showtime’s Homeland. (Raff is credited as an executive producer on the Claire Danes drama.)
The Spy will debut globally on Netflix, with OCS distributing the drama in France. Canal Plus also executive produces the series, which hails from Legende Films, with Alain Goldman producing.
The Spy marks Emmerich’s follow-up to FX’s critically acclaimed 1980s-set spy drama The Americans, on which he plays an FBI agent. His credits include AMC’s The Walking Dead and features The Truman Show and Little Children.
(Excerpt) Read More in: The Hollywood Reporter