Sacha Baron Cohen Goes Undercover in First Trailer for Netflix Drama The Spy

Sacha Baron Cohen is best known as the comedian and impersonator who has brought to life quirky characters like Ali G, Borat, and Bruno and whose character work in Who Is America?convinced several real-life politicians to say some hilarious and disturbing things. But his next dramatic role -- playing real-life Israeli spy Eli Cohen in Netflix's upcoming thriller The Spy -- looks like the perfect fit, especially based on the first trailer for the limited series.

The new trailer, released Wednesday, showcases the actor's gift for stepping fully into character. Eli Cohen was an Israeli clerk who was recruited as a Mossad agent and, in the early 1960s, tasked with infiltrating the Syrian regime. The footage teases how consuming that obligation became as his alter ego, Kamel Amin Thaabet, slowly became all too real for him.

"When I first became Kamel, it was just an act," he says of his conflicts over continuing his double life, with a wife and children back home. "Taking off the clothes, it doesn't work anymore. I can't put him away."

As someone who has spent a significant amount of time going undercover as someone else, Sacha Baron Cohen might be able to relate.

Noah Emmerich (The Americans), Hadar Ratzon Rotem, and Waleed Zuaiter also star in the series, which is written by Gideon Raff alongside Max Perry and produced by Alain Goldman.

The Spy premieres Friday, Sept. 6 on Netflix.