Did Rob Reiner officially option or acquire rights to produce The Spy and the Asset?

1. Public statements: Reiner announced the project himself

Multiple contemporaneous accounts record Reiner announcing and describing The Spy and the Asset in interviews. Deadline reported his June 2021 SiriusXM interview saying he was “working on a ‘10- to 13-episode’ TV project” called The Spy and the Asset ^[1]. Fact-checking outlets also located earlier comments, noting he discussed the idea on MSNBC’s Mehdi Hasan Show in 2020 and again on SiriusXM in 2021 ^{[2] [5]}.

2. What reporters and databases list: “developing” or “working on,” not “optioned”

Biographies and project lists capture the project as part of Reiner’s slate of unrealized or in-development projects. Wikipedia’s list of Reiner’s unrealized projects records his June 30, 2021 remark that he was "working on" a 10–13 episode project called The Spy and the Asset ^[3]. Reiner’s main Wikipedia entry likewise says he announced he was developing the project and that he was collaborating with writer Ward Parry, but it does not assert a completed rights acquisition or a studio greenlight ^[4].

3. Fact checks and verification: interviews, not deal paperwork

Lead Stories and other fact-checkers confirmed Reiner publicly said he was developing the series, citing the 2020 and 2021 interviews ^[2]. Those fact checks trace his public descriptions and collaborators but stop short of finding evidence that rights were optioned or that a network/streamer had formally commissioned the project — they frame it as Reiner’s own development effort rather than a finished legal acquisition ^{[2] [5]}.

4. What “officially optioned/acquired rights” would look like — and what reporting lacks

An “option” or rights acquisition typically appears in trade reporting (Deadline, Variety, Hollywood Reporter) as an announcement of a deal with a studio, production company addenda, or filings with production partners. The material provided here contains interview reports, encyclopedic entries, and fact-checks documenting Reiner’s intent and early development work, but none of these sources reports a formal option, production agreement, or studio greenlight for The Spy and the Asset ^{[1] [3] [2]}.

5. Competing interpretations and possible reasons for ambiguity

Sources present two consistent views: journalists and fact‑checkers present Reiner’s own words that he was developing the project ^{[1] [2]}, while industry project listings and obituaries note the project as in development or unrealized ^{[3] [4] [6]}. That pattern is common in Hollywood: creators often speak about projects in active development that never reach option-stage or that remain “shop-talk” until studios or rights holders sign on ^[3]. Available sources do not indicate whether Reiner pursued, attempted, or failed to secure any specific underlying legal rights from third parties to support a finished docuseries or dramatization.

6. Bottom line — what the reporting supports and what it doesn’t

Reporting and fact-checks reliably support that Rob Reiner publicly announced and discussed developing The Spy and the Asset and named collaborators ^{[1] [2] [4]}. Available sources do not document any official optioning or acquisition of rights, a studio commission, or production start for that project; therefore it is accurate to say Reiner was developing the idea, but not to claim he had officially optioned or acquired rights based on the provided reporting ^{[2] [3]}.

Limitations: This analysis uses only the supplied result set; other outlets or filings not included here could show a different deal status, but such evidence is not present in the material provided ^{[2] [1]}.