After Robert Downey Jr. climbed his way to become one of Hollywood’s elites, he’s set to return to the small screen with his upcoming series, The Sympathizer. The actor will play three roles in the miniseries based on the 2015 novel of the same name by Viet Thanh Nguyen. The Iron Man actor will also serve as one of the executive producers on the show.
HBO picked up the series in 2021, soon after which Downey announced his involvement. Since then, the series has expanded to fit a cast that will do justice to the story set in the Vietnam War. The cast list includes Hoa Xuande (Cowboy Bebop), Fred Nguyen Khan, Toan Le, Alan Trong, Vy Le, Sandra Oh, Kieu Chinh, and Nguyen Cao Ky Duyen.
Park Chan-wook (Oldboy) and Don McKellar (Last Night) serve as the miniseries’ showrunner, and Park also sits in the director’s chair. The series is currently in production, with filming beginning in September 2022, putting the potential release date sometime in late 2023.
The story will follow Captain, played by Xuande, a communist spy in North Korea working for the South, and his final days of exile in the US. The series can be described as an espionage thriller that also serves as a satire on the cross-culture community.
Khan will play the role of Captain’s childhood friend Bon, while Toan Le will play the General, with Duyen beside him as his wife and Vy Le as their daughter. Trong will play Sonny, a longtime friend of the Captain and now his foil at the LA Newspaper, and Oh will be playing Ms. Sofia Mori.
Downey’s role as one of the EPs won’t stop him from doing his best in the series. As mentioned previously, the actor will play three parts in the miniseries, all antagonists representing different facets of the American establishment. From what we know of the roles, one is that of a director of the war film the Captain helps create, the other an Orange County congressman, and the last a CIA officer.
Other details about the film have yet to be public, but we bet we’ll have some new updates for you once filming is wrapped up.
About The Sympathizer
An HBO TV series adaptation of The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen is in development by A24 and Rhombus Media. Robert Downey Jr. will co-star as the antagonist, while Park Chan-wook and Don McKellar will join as directors.
Following the plot of the novel, the TV series will be about a North Vietnamese mole, who eventually becomes an expat in Los Angeles’ South Vietnamese community.
Source: Hollywood Reporter
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