# The Spy

**The Spy** is a six-episode limited television series that premiered on Netflix on September 6, 2019, dramatizing the true story of [Eli Cohen](https://www.edgepedia.org/eli-cohen), the Israeli Mossad agent who infiltrated the Syrian political and military establishment in the early 1960s. It stars [Sacha Baron Cohen](https://www.edgepedia.org/sacha-baron-cohen) as Eli Cohen, Noah Emmerich as his Mossad handler Dan Peleg, Hadar Ratzon Rotem as his wife Nadia, and [Waleed Zuaiter](https://www.edgepedia.org/waleed-zuaiter) as the Syrian officer Amin Al-Hafz. The series was written and directed by Gideon Raff, produced by Alain Goldman of Légende Films, and released at 7:00 AM GMT on September 6, 2019 in the United States.<sup>[1](https://media.netflix.com/en/only-on-netflix/80178151)</sup>

| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Premiere | September 6, 2019, on Netflix (outside France) and on OCS in France<sup>[1](https://media.netflix.com/en/only-on-netflix/80178151)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[2](https://about.netflix.com/en/news/sacha-baron-cohen-has-been-cast-as-eli-cohen-in-the-spy-on-netflix)</sup> |
| Format | Six episodes of about 60 minutes each; TV-MA rating<sup>[1](https://media.netflix.com/en/only-on-netflix/80178151)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_spy)</sup> |
| Cast | Sacha Baron Cohen (Eli Cohen), Noah Emmerich (Dan Peleg), Hadar Ratzon Rotem (Nadia), Waleed Zuaiter (Amin Al-Hafz)<sup>[1](https://media.netflix.com/en/only-on-netflix/80178151)</sup> |
| Creator | Gideon Raff, Emmy-winning writer-director of *Prisoners of War*, *Homeland*, and *Tyrant*<sup>[1](https://media.netflix.com/en/only-on-netflix/80178151)</sup> |
| Source book | *The Spy Who Came From Israel* (*L'espion qui venait d'Israël*, 1967) by Uri Dan and Yeshayahu Ben Porat<sup>[4](https://tollbit.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/the-spy-true-story-netflix/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[5](https://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2019/10/15/the-sinner-the-spy-et-un-remake-de-la-quatrieme-dimension-nos-series-de-la-semaine_6015516_3246.html)</sup> |
| Reception | 86% Tomatometer on Rotten Tomatoes from 43 critic reviews; 85% audience score<sup>[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_spy)</sup> |
| Historical subject | Eli Cohen, executed by public hanging in Damascus on May 18, 1965<sup>[6](https://www.timesofisrael.com/netflix-miniseries-on-legendary-israeli-spy-to-drop-september-6/amp/)</sup> |

## Spoilers

### Premise and plot

The series follows the transformation of Eli Cohen, an office clerk, into a Mossad operative who goes deep undercover inside Syria on a years-long mission.<sup>[7](https://www.netflix.com/in/title/80178151?src=tudum)</sup> In the dramatized account, Cohen becomes close enough to ambitious military leaders and their wealthy friends to earn an unusual level of trust about Syria's biggest anti-Israel secret initiatives, and he does his job so well that he finds it hard to strip off his double identity.<sup>[1](https://media.netflix.com/en/only-on-netflix/80178151)</sup>

The six episodes trace the arc from recruitment to capture. In "The Immigrant," Mossad recruits Egyptian-born Eli and puts him through a crash course in spycraft; "What's New, Buenos Aires?" shows him solidifying his cover identity in Argentina, where he makes a serendipitous connection; "Alone in Damascus" follows his entry into Syrian society and his handler Dan's fear that Eli's bold methods will get him killed; later episodes carry him toward the center of Syrian power after a coup, show the emotional toll on him and on Nadia raising their children alone, and end with Israel preparing to strike a Syrian target identified by Eli as suspicion closes in and retaliation proves swift and ruthless.<sup>[7](https://www.netflix.com/in/title/80178151?src=tudum)</sup>

The show additionally centers on the difficulties endured by Cohen and his spouse during his extended months-long espionage assignments in Syria.<sup>[8](https://theicenter.org/icenter_resources/the-spy/)</sup> Creator Gideon Raff explained that he aimed to keep political questions out of the show, focusing instead on the profound emotional toll that Cohen's sacrifices carried; while researching the series, he interviewed the real Nadia Cohen, who 55 years after her husband's death was still working to have his remains brought back to Israel from Syria.<sup>[9](https://www.thewrap.com/the-spy-netflix-true-story-eli-cohen-nadia-cohen/)</sup>

## The real story behind the series

The historical Eli Cohen was a Mossad agent who infiltrated the Syrian government under the alias Kamel Amin Thaabet for four years.<sup>[6](https://www.timesofisrael.com/netflix-miniseries-on-legendary-israeli-spy-to-drop-september-6/amp/)</sup> Recruited in 1960 amid an increasingly tense border situation with Syria, he trained for more than six months in Israel before being sent to gain acceptance in the Syrian expat community in Buenos Aires under his new alias. His new friends invited him to tour Syrian military bases and to visit the regime's fortifications on the [Golan Heights](https://www.edgepedia.org/golan-heights), land Israel would later seize in the 1967 [Six-Day War](https://www.edgepedia.org/six-day-war). He transmitted coded dispatches to Israel, often broadcasting at the same time each day, an error that made it easy for Syrian counterintelligence to trace his transmitter.<sup>[10](https://time.com/5669302/the-spy-netflix-true-story/)</sup>

Cohen was put on trial and executed by Syria for espionage on May 18, 1965.<sup>[6](https://www.timesofisrael.com/netflix-miniseries-on-legendary-israeli-spy-to-drop-september-6/amp/)</sup> The intelligence he provided is widely credited with helping Israel prepare for its swift victory in the 1967 Six-Day War, and his success in Syria was one of the Mossad's first major achievements.<sup>[11](https://apnews.com/article/244cb3d5bb5341092d9bf899ad23f49b)</sup>

## Casting and production

**Sacha Baron Cohen's involvement** came about circuitously. Six months after he turned down the role, he met Raff by chance in a Los Angeles restaurant; when Baron Cohen asked who had been cast in the lead, Raff replied, "If you still want it, it's yours." The project evolved from a planned two-hour feature film into six hour-long television episodes.<sup>[12](https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/the-role-is-all-yours-how-gideon-raff-secured-sacha-baron-cohen-for-the-spy/)</sup> Baron Cohen also served as an executive producer on the miniseries.<sup>[4](https://tollbit.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/the-spy-true-story-netflix/)</sup> [Noah Emmerich](https://www.edgepedia.org/noah-emmerich) was announced as Dan Peleg in April 2018, with the character described as a charming, brilliant Mossad trainer who has conflicted feelings about Eli.<sup>[13](https://about.netflix.com/en/news/noah-emmerich-has-been-cast-as-dan-peleg-in-the-spy)</sup>

Production shot in Budapest from April 2018 to July 2018, with five months of work in Morocco and one month in Budapest.<sup>[14](https://www.productionlist.com/production/the-spy)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[15](https://www.vantagefilm.com/en/news/null/v-lites-and-monstro-frame-the-spy-11167)</sup> Director of photography Itai Ne'eman and Raff chose Hawk V-Lite 2x anamorphic lenses combined with the Red Monstro VistaVision 8K sensor after testing revealed the combination's distinctive look; all six episodes were cross-shot rather than filmed sequentially.<sup>[15](https://www.vantagefilm.com/en/news/null/v-lites-and-monstro-frame-the-spy-11167)</sup> In Israel-set scenes the series uses a muted, gray palette, while the Syrian scenes where Cohen operates as Kamel appear in brighter, more vivid colors.<sup>[16](https://as.com/meristation/series/reportajes/las-60-mejores-series-de-espias-de-la-historia-y-donde-verlas-f202605-n/)</sup>

## Reception

Critics generally received the series favorably. Rotten Tomatoes recorded an 86% average Tomatometer from 43 reviews alongside an 85% audience score from more than 250 ratings.<sup>[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_spy)</sup> Reviewers highlighted Baron Cohen's dramatic performance; one wrote that he "provides another reminder that being a clown requires serious acting chops" in what it called a taut limited series based on a remarkable true story.<sup>[17](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/the-spy/critic-reviews/)</sup> A Rogerebert.com review noted that by the end of the first episode, as Eli transforms into Kamel in a monologue delivered to the camera, the series casts a spell, showing "a chameleonic actor playing a chameleonic character."<sup>[18](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-spy-review-2019)</sup> The Guardian called it a middling Mossad drama, while [TV Guide](https://www.edgepedia.org/tv-guide) characterized the espionage thriller as ultimately more of a character drama about Cohen and the toll living as someone else takes on him and his marriage.<sup>[19](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/sep/06/the-spy-review-sacha-baron-cohen-israeli-espionage-drama-gideon-raff)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[20](https://www.tvguide.com/news/the-spy-review-sacha-baron-cohen-netflix/)</sup>

The series also drew criticism. Some viewers and commentators argued it bent the truth and framed the story one-sidedly, portraying Syrian leaders negatively; Radio Times noted the show depicted Cohen's relationship with [Amin al-Hafiz](https://www.edgepedia.org/amin-al-hafiz) as a central bond, while al-Hafiz later claimed never to have met Cohen in Argentina or before the arrest, and there is no evidence linking Cohen to the 1963 coup the show dramatizes.<sup>[4](https://tollbit.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/the-spy-true-story-netflix/)</sup>

## Aftermath and legacy

Sixty years after the execution, on May 18, 2025, Israel announced that a covert Mossad operation had retrieved about 2,500 items of Cohen's Syrian intelligence archive, including documents, recordings, photographs, handwritten letters to his family, keys to his Damascus apartment, and false identification papers; Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented some of them to Cohen's widow, Nadia. His remains have not been returned to Israel.<sup>[11](https://apnews.com/article/244cb3d5bb5341092d9bf899ad23f49b)</sup>

The series sits within Raff's larger body of work about Israeli intelligence, which also includes *[The Red Sea Diving Resort](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-red-sea-diving-resort)*, released on Netflix two months before *The Spy* in July 2019.<sup>[21](https://www.whats-on-netflix.com/news/the-spy-limited-series-netflix-release-date-plot-cast-trailer/)</sup> Hollywood and Israel scholars Tony Shaw and Giora Goodman note that several American filmmakers had tried to bring Cohen's story to the screen since the late 1960s before Raff's miniseries reached production.<sup>[22](https://www.rahs-open-lid.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Shaw-Tony-and-Giora-Goodman-Hollywood-and-Israel_-A-History-Columbia-University-Press-2022.pdf)</sup>

## References

1. [The Spy, Netflix Media Center](https://media.netflix.com/en/only-on-netflix/80178151)
2. [Sacha Baron Cohen has been cast as Eli Cohen in The Spy on Netflix, About Netflix (11 April 2018)](https://about.netflix.com/en/news/sacha-baron-cohen-has-been-cast-as-eli-cohen-in-the-spy-on-netflix)
3. [The Spy, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_spy)
4. [How true is The Spy? True story behind Sacha Baron Cohen series, Radio Times](https://tollbit.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/the-spy-true-story-netflix/)
5. [« The Sinner », « The Spy » et un remake de « La Quatrième Dimension », Le Monde (15 October 2019)](https://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2019/10/15/the-sinner-the-spy-et-un-remake-de-la-quatrieme-dimension-nos-series-de-la-semaine_6015516_3246.html)
6. [Netflix miniseries on legendary Israeli spy to drop September 6, The Times of Israel](https://www.timesofisrael.com/netflix-miniseries-on-legendary-israeli-spy-to-drop-september-6/amp/)
7. [The Spy, Netflix official site](https://www.netflix.com/in/title/80178151?src=tudum)
8. [The Spy, The iCenter](https://theicenter.org/icenter_resources/the-spy/)
9. ['The Spy' Creator Gideon Raff on the True, 'Heartbreaking' Love Story of Eli and Nadia Cohen, TheWrap (6 September 2019)](https://www.thewrap.com/the-spy-netflix-true-story-eli-cohen-nadia-cohen/)
10. [The True Story Behind the Netflix Series The Spy, TIME](https://time.com/5669302/the-spy-netflix-true-story/)
11. [60 years after he was hanged, Israel recovers Syrian archive belonging to famous spy, AP News (18 May 2025)](https://apnews.com/article/244cb3d5bb5341092d9bf899ad23f49b)
12. ['The role is all yours!': How Gideon Raff secured Sacha Baron Cohen for The Spy, Jewish News (22 July 2020)](https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/the-role-is-all-yours-how-gideon-raff-secured-sacha-baron-cohen-for-the-spy/)
13. [Noah Emmerich has been cast as "Dan Peleg" in The Spy, About Netflix (21 April 2018)](https://about.netflix.com/en/news/noah-emmerich-has-been-cast-as-dan-peleg-in-the-spy)
14. [The Spy, Production List](https://www.productionlist.com/production/the-spy)
15. [V-Lites and Monstro Frame The Spy, Vantage Film](https://www.vantagefilm.com/en/news/null/v-lites-and-monstro-frame-the-spy-11167)
16. [Las 60 mejores series de espías de la historia, AS MeriStation](https://as.com/meristation/series/reportajes/las-60-mejores-series-de-espias-de-la-historia-y-donde-verlas-f202605-n/)
17. [The Spy critic reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/the-spy/critic-reviews/)
18. [The Spy movie review & film summary, RogerEbert.com](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-spy-review-2019)
19. [The Spy review – Sacha Baron Cohen goes undercover in middling Mossad drama, The Guardian (6 September 2019)](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/sep/06/the-spy-review-sacha-baron-cohen-israeli-espionage-drama-gideon-raff)
20. [The Spy Review: Sacha Baron Cohen Stars in Netflix Limited Series, TV Guide](https://www.tvguide.com/news/the-spy-review-sacha-baron-cohen-netflix/)
21. ['The Spy' Limited Series: Netflix Release Date, Plot, Cast & Trailer, What's on Netflix](https://www.whats-on-netflix.com/news/the-spy-limited-series-netflix-release-date-plot-cast-trailer/)
22. [Tony Shaw and Giora Goodman, Hollywood and Israel: A History, Columbia University Press (2022)](https://www.rahs-open-lid.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Shaw-Tony-and-Giora-Goodman-Hollywood-and-Israel_-A-History-Columbia-University-Press-2022.pdf)

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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Scripted television and comedy series › Drama and prestige series (individual series) › Crime and thriller series › Spy and political thrillers*

*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*

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