In addition to putting his life into print via his to-be-released memoir American Spy later this year, Navy veteran Zachary Young, the man who took CNN to court for malicious defamation and won, was looking to adapt his story into a serialized television show.
Going by the same name as Young’s book, American Spy will be a dramatization of some of Young’s real-world exploits during his time with the Central Intelligence Agency, particularly his time as a non-official cover officer or NOC.
NewsBusters has reviewed the script for the pilot as well as the Season One Arc summary, which initially follows Young’s covert actions inside one of American’s top adversaries currently in the headline, hints of which arose during the trial.
American Sniper author Scott McEwen, who co-wrote the book with Young, also had a hand in crafting the show.
“What drew me to this project immediately was that it opens a window the public almost never gets to see,” he said in a statement to NewsBusters.
Adding: “This is not the Hollywood version of American power. It is a grounded, disciplined look at a side of the U.S. arsenal and the tradecraft behind it that has not been portrayed on screen before. The restraint, the intelligence work, and the human cost are all handled with a level of authenticity that I have not seen in a film or series. That is why I wanted to be part of it.”
It will be interesting to see if a future season of the series explores the CNN defamation trial.
Young’s memoir, the basis and namesake for the show, will be released some time in 2026.
In a press release obtained by NewsBusters, publisher Harper Collins described Young's memoir:
Mysterious, intense and drawn from real experience, American Spy tells the story of Zachary Young, an American who spent years working under cover in hostile environments and denied areas, operating in the hidden world of international espionage. The book traces Young’s path from early recruitment to missions that placed him in some of the most dangerous settings on earth, often without recognition, protection, or the ability to explain what he was doing, even to those closest to him.
You can read NewsBusters’ coverage of the book here.
