Based on a book by British author Jon Stock, the film is meant to be the first in a trilogy and aims to reinvent the spy genre by telling the origin story of a newly trained spy in a tone that mixes the grittiness of "The Bourne Identity" with the wittiness of John Le Carre's oeuvre.

"Spy," to be published in June, begins with the protagonist running the London Marathon, where a fellow racer is strapped with explosives. The scenario leads to a globe-trotting adventure to clear the name of the man's father.