Benedict Cumberbatch to play KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko in HBO limited series

Benedict Cumberbatch will be taking on the role of a KGB agent in an upcoming limited series for HBO titled Londongrad. 

The series, based on the book The Terminal Spy by Alan Cowell, will tell the true story of Alexander Litvinenko who worked with the Russian intelligence agency and was later poisoned with radioactive isotope polonium-210 in 2006 in England.

Variety writes that Cumberbatch will play Litvinenko and also serve as executive producer via his banner Sunnymarch. David Scarpa has adapted the book and is also executive producing, while Bryan Fogel is attached as director.

Cumberbatch has played a variety of eclectic roles from the detective Sherlock Holmes in the BBC series, as Alan Turing in The Imitation Game for which he earned an Oscar nomination, and Dr Strange for Marvel. 

He has also been a part of films like 1917, 12 Years a Slave, and Star Trek Into Darkness. His next appearances as the superhero are in Spiderman: Far From Home in December and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

The Guardian writes that Londongrad is not the only show based on Litvinenko. David Tennant of Dr Who-fame will emulate the Soviet spy in a miniseries for ITV that will cover Litvinenko's poisoning, his widow Marina’s effort to name her husband's murderers and to hold the Russian government responsible.