Benedict Cumberbatch to play poisoned KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko in HBO's Londongrad

Variety

Cumberbatch will lead HBO's limited series adaptation of Alan Cowell's book The Terminal Spy. Londongrad tells the true story of Alexander Litvinenko, the KGB agent and later defector from Russia killed by poisoning with the radioactive isotope polonium-210 in 2006 in England. Former The Man in the High Castle showrunner David Scarpa will write and oversee Londongrad, while Cumberbatch will serve as an executive producer. The news of Cumberbatch's casting comes a month after David Tennant was cast to play Litvinenko in the ITV limited series Litvinenko from Lupin co-creator George Kay.