The Sympathizer Is Becoming An HBO Series Courtesy Of A24 And Fernando Merielles

There's something liberating about watching an actor who's spent years working almost exclusively on a single major franchise take advantage of all the clout they've amassed to go off and tackle whatever wild role or bizarre project strikes their fancy. (Call it pulling a Daniel Radcliffe.) It seems Robert Downey Jr. was similarly eager to get his weird on after bidding adieu to the Marvel Cinematic Universe with 2019's "Avengers: Endgame." His first post-"Endgame" film, "Dolittle," was more ill-conceived than inspired, but after more than a decade of shooting countless heads-up display (HUD) shots and acting against green screens, perhaps Downey just needed to let off some steam by extracting a pair of bagpipes from a dragon's nether regions.

Be that the case or not, he's since worked on Chris Smith's acclaimed documentary about Downey's father, "Sr.," snagged a key role in Christopher Nolan's much-hyped historical drama "Oppenheimer," and has signed on for "The Sympathizer," a series that has Downey taking on multiple (yes, multiple) roles under the watchful eye of showrunner and esteemed South Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook ("Oldboy," "The Handmaiden," "Decision to Leave"). If those viral set photos of Downey running around on the show's set with curly red hair and bleached eyebrows left you scratching your head in bewilderment, then perhaps we can shed some more light on the situation.

Production had gotten underway on "The Sympathizer" as of late 2022, with HBO and A24 backing the series. The show marks a reunion for the two entities, both of which very much specialize in adult-geared genre fare of this ilk and had previously teamed up with another auteur, French filmmaker Olivier Assayas, on the miniseries "Irma Vep." Robert Downey Jr. has likewise joined forces with HBO before, having served as an executive producer on the moody period crime drama "Perry Mason" (a project Downey spent years developing as a potential starring vehicle for himself).

As of the time of writing, HBO has yet to set an official release date for "The Sympathizer," although 2024 is looking pretty likely. For now, it's just comforting to know the show managed to survive the bloodbath that was 2022 at Warner Bros. Discovery, a period that saw numerous HBO or HBO Max productions either canceled prematurely or, in the case of "Batgirl," canned entirely despite having already finished shooting. Now one simply hopes "The Sympathizer" survives long enough to actually make it to the airwaves. It certainly wouldn't be the first time a WBD creation seemed to be in the clear, only for CEO David Zaslav to suddenly swoop in and cut it down like he's the latest Ghostface killer in the "Scream" movies.

"The Sympathizer" is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name by Viet Thanh Nguyen, which was first published in 2015. The 1970s-set book centers on the exploits of its narrator, "a man brought up by an absent French father and a poor Vietnamese mother, [and] a man who went to university in America, but returned to Vietnam to fight for the Communist cause" (via Goodreads). Reviewing it for The Washington Post, critic Ron Charles describes Nguyen's novel as "surely a new classic of war fiction" and notes that it is "laced with insight on the ways nonwhite people are rendered invisible in the propaganda that passes for our pop culture," most notably in a sub-plot that sharply critiques "Apocalypse Now."

In a report on the TV version of "The Sympathizer," Deadline notes that the show's source material has also been widely compared to Franz Kafka's explorations of bureaucracy through the lens of surrealism in novels like "The Trial," along with George Orwell's dystopian social allegory "1984" and the collective spy literature of John le Carré. Significantly, Park Chan-wook previously called the shots on the 2018 miniseries adaptation of le Carré's book "The Little Drummer Girl," so one can already start to see how that particular aspect of Nguyen's book would've appealed to him directly.

Per a previous update, Robert Downey Jr. is playing "multiple supporting roles as the main antagonists, all of whom represent a different arm of the American establishment" in the TV series version of "The Sympathizer." While it's definitely an eyebrow-raising prospect, it's also an intriguing creative decision that ought to do its part to ensure the show is as much of a surreal social-political satire as its source material. Indeed, one can imagine an actor of Downey's caliber having quite the field day with a venture like this, much as Rory Kinnear did with his own multiple performances in 2022's "Men."

Elsewhere, Hoa Xuande ("Top of the Lake") will play the actual protagonist of "The Sympathizer," aka The Captain, who's described in the series as "a spy for North Vietnam embedded in the refugee community in Los Angeles." Other cast members include Fred Nguyen Khan as the Captain's childhood friend Bon, Toan Le as the South Vietnamese Secret Police leader known as The General, Vy Le as The General's "rebellious" daughter Lana, and Alan Trong as The Captain's "idealistic" former classmate Sonny. Joining them are Duy Nguyen as The Captain's "blood brother and spy handler" Man, with Sandra Oh, Kieu Chinh, Ky Duyen, VyVy Nguyen, and Kayli Tran in key supporting roles.

In addition to splitting showrunner duties with Don McKellar, Deadline reports Park Chan-wook will co-direct "The Sympathizer" with Marc Munden ("Utopia," "The Third Day") and Fernando Meireilles ("City of God," "The Two Popes"). The show as a whole boasts quite the eclectic — and exciting — lineup of talent, so it's certainly one to keep an eye on ... and not just for more set photos of Downey in strange getups, either.