HBO has several highly anticipated titles premiering on its network and Max in 2024, with “True Detective: Night Country” and “Tokyo Vice” Season 2 already bowing. Kate Winslet in “The Regime” is the next big title to drop next month, but after that comes “The Sympathizer,” Park Chan-wook‘s latest foray into TV. The South Korean director’s follow-up to 2022’s “Decision To Leave” is his first TV series since 2018’s “The Little Drummer Girl” for AMC. But Park’s relatively scarce work in the medium means this is quite the event, even if he only directs the limited series’ first three episodes.
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“The Sympathizer” adapts Viet Thanh Nguyen‘s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name, about a half-French, half-Vietnamese spy who emigrates to LA after the Vietnam War. Read on for an official synopsis, courtesy of HBO:
Based on Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name, THE SYMPATHIZER is an espionage thriller and cross-culture satire about the struggles of a half-French, half-Vietnamese communist spy during the final days of the Vietnam War and his new life as a refugee in Los Angeles, where he learns that his spying days aren’t over.
“The Sympathizer” stars Hoa Xuande, Fred Nguyen Khan, Toan Le, Phanxine, and Vy Le. Ky Duyen, Kiue Chinh, Duy Nguyen, and Alan Trong also star. Sandra Oh and Robert Downey Jr. also star in the seven-episode limited series, with Downey Jr. playing multiple roles.
Park shares showrunner, writer, and executive producer duties on the series with Don McKellar. Other executive producers on the series include Downey Jr., Susan Downey, and Amanda Burrell for Team Downey, Niv Richman for Rhombus Media, Jisun Black for Moho Films, as well as Kim Ly, Ron Schmidt, and Nguyen. Other directors on “The Sympathizer” include Fernando Meirelles and Marc Munden. Other writers on the series include Mark Richard, Naomi Iizuka, Maegan Houang, ANchulu Felicia King, and Tea Ho. “The Sympathizer” is a co-production between HBO, A24, and Rhombus Media, in association with Moho Film and Cinetic Media.
“The Sympathizer” premieres on HBO and Max on April 14. Watch the latest teaser trailer for the limited series below.