British actor Benedict Cumberbatch is coming off playing a Cold War-era civilian spy in the thriller “The Courier” and is getting another shot at the genre for a new HBO limited series, “Londongrad,” based on the book “The Terminal Spy” by Alan Cowell.
According to Variety, Cumberbatch will play real-life former KGB Agent Alexander Litvinenko, who famously was poisoned while in England with the radioactive isotope polonium-2010 back in 2006 after defecting from Russia. Litvinenko claimed the poisoning was ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin, as similar assassinations and attempted assassinations had also been linked to Putin critics. Litvinenko eventually died in hospital, but not before doing media interviews and making statements from his deathbed.
“The Man In The High Castle” showrunner David Scarpa is writing “Londongrad” and will also executive produce alongside Benedict Cumberbatch and director Bryan Fogel. Fogel previously helmed documentaries such as “Icarus” and “The Dissident.”
Here is the official synopsis of “The Terminal Spy” from Penguin Random House:
“On November 1, 2006, Alexander Litvinenko sipped tea in London’s Millennium Hotel. Hours later the Russian émigré and former intelligence officer, who was sharply critical of Russian President Vladimir Putin, fell ill and within days was rushed to the hospital. Fatally poisoned by a rare radioactive isotope slipped into his drink, Litvinenko issued a dramatic deathbed statement accusing Putin himself of engineering his murder. Alan S. Cowell, then London Bureau Chief of the New York Times who covered the story from its inception, has written the definitive story of this assassination and of the profound international implications of this first act of nuclear terrorism.“
A competing project at ITV starring David Tennant is also in the works called “Litvinenko.”
Cumberbatch recently starred in the upcoming “Power of The Dog,” he is attached to the WWII film “War Magician” and has two upcoming Marvel Studios films on the horizon with “Spider-Man: No Way Home” and “Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness” playing mystical superhero Doctor Strange.