The Sympathizer, an HBO original and one of the year’s most anticipated new shows starring Robert Downey Jr. and Joa Xuande, is finally here.
Based on the 2015 debut novel by Vietnamese-American professor Viet Thanh Nguyen, who received the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, The Sympathizer is being billed as a seven-part mini-series. The first episode, Death Wish, premiered on Sunday, April 14, 2024. New episodes are slated to be released every week.
“Near the end of the Vietnam War, a spy who was embedded in the South Vietnam army flees to the United States and takes up residence in a refugee community, where he continues to gather intelligence and report back to the Viet Cong,” reads the show’s official logline.
More from HBO:
“Based on Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, 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.
Starring Hoa Xuande, Fred Nguyen Khan, Toan Le, Phanxinê, Vy Le, Ky Duyen, Kieu Chinh, Duy Nguyen, Alan Trong, with Sandra Oh and Robert Downey Jr.
Co-showrunner, executive producer, writer, and director (episodes 1-3), Park Chan-wook; co-showrunner, executive producer, and writer, Don McKellar; executive producer, A24; executive producers, Robert Downey Jr., Susan Downey, Amanda Burrell (for Team Downey), Kim Ly, Niv Fichman (for Rhombus Media), Ron Schmidt, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Jisun Back (for Moho Film); directors, Fernando Meirelles (episode 4) and Marc Munden (episodes 5-7); writers, Mark Richard, Naomi Iizuka, Maegan Houang, Anchuli Felicia King, and Tea Ho. The Sympathizer is a co-production between HBO, A24, and Rhombus Media, produced in association with Cinetic Media and Moho Film.”
Starting next week, Ryan Steck (The Real Book Spy) is teaming up with former CIA analyst turned acclaimed author David McCloskey and former Senior Intelligence Officer (CIA) Mark Davidson for a ride-a-long weekly podcast where the trio will break down and discuss each new episode.
Fans of Nguyen’s novel and those tuning in to watch the show can see Steck, McClosky, and Davidson break everything down on Twitch, YouTube, and anywhere else you get your podcasts. (Links will be added after the first Podcast goes live in the coming days.)
Meet the co-hosts
David McCloskey is the author of Moscow X and Damascus Station. His first novel, Damascus Station, was a finalist for the 2022 International Thriller Writer’s award for ‘Best First Novel’ and a Financial Times ‘Best Summer Book of 2022. It is in development for television at Lionsgate Entertainment.
David is a former CIA analyst and former consultant at McKinsey & Company. While at the CIA, he wrote regularly for the President’s Daily Brief, delivered classified testimony to Congressional oversight committees, and briefed senior White House officials, Ambassadors, military officials, and Arab royalty. He worked in CIA field stations across the Middle East throughout the Arab Spring and conducted a rotation in the Counterterrorism Center focused on the jihad in Syria and Iraq. During his time at McKinsey, David advised national security, aerospace, and transportation clients on a range of strategic and operational issues.
David holds an M.A. from the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies, where he specialized in energy policy and the Middle East. He lives in Texas with his wife and three children.
Mark Davidson retired from the Central Intelligence Agency in 2019, after serving for more than two decades as an Operations Officer including multiple tours as a Chief of Station. Mark is a National Security expert with The Cipher Brief, where he writes his Chalk Marks column about the intersection between espionage, spycraft, and pop culture. He is currently Director of Business Resilience & Intelligence and Executive Protection at Starbucks. (You can read Mark’s initial thoughts on The Sympathizer here.)
Ryan Steck is the author of Fields of Fire, Lethal Range, Redd Christmas, and the forthcoming Alex Hawke thriller Ted Bell’s Monarch. He is also a freelance editor, the founder and editor-in-chief of The Real Book Spy, and was named an “Online Influencer” by Amazon. Praised as “One of the hardest working and fairest reviewers out there” by New York Times bestselling author Lisa Scottoline, Steck has “quickly established himself as the authority on mysteries and thrillers” (Author A.J. Tata).
Steck’s books have been endorsed by major #1 New York Times bestselling authors Brad Thor, C.J. Box, Jack Carr, Mark Greaney, Nelson DeMille, James Rollins, Brad Meltzer, Kyle Mills, as well as Don Winslow, T.J. Newman, Brad Taylor, Gregg Hurwitz, and Steve Berry. Steck’s fourth Matthew Redd novel, Out For Blood, will be released on June 4, 2024, and is currently available for pre-order anywhere books are sold.