Canadian author and New Yorker journalist Malcolm Gladwell has sold a spy drama pitch to HBO.

Gladwell, best known for popular books like Blink and The Outliers, worked with screenwriter Charles Randolph on a series about a missionary who becomes involved with the CIA in cold war Berlin.

Gladwell will be a non-writing executive producer on the series, to be produced by HBO and Closest To The Hole Productions.

The CIA spy drama could land on The Movie Network and Movie Central through a long-standing output deal with HBO.

Gladwell grew up in rural Ontario, and graduated from the University of Toronto before moving to New York City.