The Sympathizer () is a historical black comedy-drama television miniseries based on the 2015 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name by Viet Thanh Nguyen.
The series was created by co-showrunners Park Chan-wook and Don McKellar, with Park directing the first three episodes. The series premiered on HBO on April 14, 2024, and is produced by A24 and Rhombus Media. The series received positive reviews from critics and audiences, with praise for its performances and direction, although there was some criticism for its pacing and inaccuracies with Vietnamese accents. For his performance in the series, Robert Downey Jr. was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie at the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards.
The Sympathizer follows the Captain, a North Vietnamese spy serving undercover in the South Vietnamese army, who flees to the United States as the Vietnam War ends. While living within a community of South Vietnamese refugees in Southern California, he continues to secretly spy on the community and report back to the Communist government. He struggles between his original loyalties and his new life.
Cast Main Hoa Xuande as the Captain, a captain in the South Vietnamese military who is secretly a communist spy for the North Robert Downey Jr. in several roles, including (in order of appearance): Claude, a CIA agent who mentors the Captain Professor Robert Hammer, the Captain's Orientalist professor at Occidental College Ned Godwin, a Congressman in Southern California Niko Damianos, an auteur filmmaker making a film on the Vietnam War, inspired by Francis Ford Coppola and John Landis The Priest, the Captain's French father Toan Le as the General (Trọng), a high-ranking Southern Vietnamese general who is the Captain's superior Fred Nguyen Khan as Bốn, the Captain's childhood best friend Duy Nguyễn as Mẫn, the Captain's other childhood friend and his Communist handler Vy Le as Lana, the General's daughter Ky Duyen as Madame, the General's wife Phanxinê as the Major (Oanh) Kieu Chinh as the Major's Mother Alan Trong as Sonny Tran, a Vietnamese American reporter and the Captain's former college rival Sandra Oh as Sofia Mori, a Japanese American secretary who develops a sexual relationship with the Captain
Supporting VyVy Nguyen as the Major's wife Kayli Tran as the Communist Spy Scott Ly as Gunner Dao David Duchovny as Ryan Glenn, an acclaimed but volatile method actor playing Captain Shamus in The Hamlet, loosely based on Marlon Brando John Cho as James Yoon, a Korean-American actor playing Kim in The Hamlet Max Whittington-Cooper as Jamie Johnson, a popular soul singer and first-time actor playing Lieutenant Bellamy in The Hamlet Marine Delterme as Monique Thibault, the production designer of The Hamlet and Niko's girlfriend Phong Le as The Watchman
Episodes
Production Development Author Viet Thanh Nguyen had stated prior to development that any show adapted from his novel The Sympathizer be centered around Vietnamese people speaking Vietnamese. In early meetings, producers were uneasy about this requirement, but this tone shifted following the 2021 Atlanta spa shootings. Around half of the dialogue in the series is in Vietnamese.
In April 2021, Viet Thanh Nguyen announced that the novel had been optioned by A24 to be adapted into a television series with Park Chan-wook directing. Rhombus Media was also listed as involved in the production. In July 2021, HBO ordered the series from A24, and Robert Downey Jr. joined the project in a producer and co-star role. The state of California awarded the production over $17.4 million in tax credits ensuring significant production would take place in state. Marc Munden and Fernando Meirelles were also hired to direct some episodes of the series.
In August 2025, Park and McKellar were expelled from the Writers Guild of America for strikebreaking by writing for the miniseries during the 2023 strike.
Casting Casting director Jennifer Venditti opened a worldwide casting call in order to find a main cast of Vietnamese descent, ultimately hiring Hoa Xuande, Fred Nguyen Khan, Toan Le, Vy Le, and Alan Trong. Recurring roles for Sandra Oh, Kieu Chinh, and Nguyen Cao Ky Duyen were also announced in November 2022, and Downey was portraying several supporting antagonistic roles representing the American establishment. In May 2023, Scott Ly and Marine Delterme joined the cast, in recurring roles.
The majority of the cast and crew are of Vietnamese origin, and more than half of the dialogue is in Vietnamese in order to reflect the Vietnamese experience, including refugees in the United States. Hoa Xuande had to take a crash course to improve his Vietnamese to prepare for the main role.
The actor Phanxinê, who is a well-known filmmaker in Vietnam, wanted to keep his involvement in the project private for as long as possible to minimize the political backlash he might receive. He has said that many friends discouraged him from participating. It took him a while to decide to take the role of The Major because the project is politically sensitive. He finally took it because he saw the role as safe as "he shows a good side of Vietnamese men." Fred Nguyen Khan and Duy Nguyễn, who play the Captain's best friends, are also best friends in real life.
Filming Filming took place in Los Angeles and Thailand. The crew's numerous attempts to obtain permission to film in Vietnam were rebuffed by its government. The production used Thailand as a stand-in for Vietnamese scenes.
Downey shaved his head for the series in order to save the time required to use a bald cap for each of the various characters he portrayed. A significant portion of Downey's performance was improvised.
Release The series premiered on HBO and became available to stream on Max on April 14, 2024.
Reception On Metacritic, the series holds a weighted average score of 80 out of 100, based on 38 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
The series received much attention in the large Vietnamese American community in California. Younger viewers believe it presents an opportunity to showcase Vietnamese stories to a global audience. For the older generation, the series had stirred some discontent – they view the focus on the lead character, who was a Communist spy, as glorifying the Communists and disparaging the South. However, the community agrees that this is a significant moment for Vietnamese representation in Hollywood.
In Vietnam In Vietnam, the government did not allow the series to be filmed locally, and the completed series was banned from being shown. At the time of the series' premiere, no official Vietnamese translation of The Sympathizer novel (which was released in English in the US) had been published in the country. A major publisher had bought the translation rights years earlier, shortly after the novel won the Pulitzer Prize in the US.
After the series premiered, many articles about its production that were previously published in major newspapers were no longer accessible online, as if there was a censorship directive from the highest level or due to self-censorship, although unevenly applied. An article in the state-run newspaper Tuổi trẻ Thủ đô described the series as "poisonous" and warned that "social media pages belonging to hostile forces [...] acclaimed the content of the series and cleverly integrated details that distorted Vietnamese history to sabotage the Party and the State". It called on young viewers to "heighten vigilance for false information regarding territorial sovereignty as well as Vietnamese history that hostile forces cleverly integrated or propagated via cinematic works." Công an nhân dân, the official mouthpiece of the Ministry of Public Security, stated that the series has "distorted content", was created by "opposing elements", and that the release of the series so close to Reunification Day was made "with negative intention, to distort the triumph of the people of Vietnam."
Accolades Award Year Category Nominee(s) Result Ref. Astra TV Awards 2024 Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or TV Movie Robert Downey Jr. Critics' Choice Television Awards 2025 Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie Made for Television Gotham TV Awards 2024 Breakthrough Limited Series Park Chan-wook, Don McKellar, Jisun Back, Amanda Burrell, Robert Downey Jr., Susan Downey, Niv Fichman, Kim Ly, Ravi Nandan, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Mark Richard, Hallie Sekoff, Ron Schmidt, and John Sloss Outstanding Performance in a Limited Series Hoa Xuande Independent Spirit Awards 2025 Best Breakthrough Performance in a New Scripted Series Primetime Emmy Awards 2024 Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie Robert Downey Jr. Satellite Awards2025 Best Miniseries & Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television The Sympathizer Best Actor in a Miniseries, Limited Series, or Motion Picture Made for Television Hoa Xuande Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Miniseries & Limited Series, or Motion Picture Made for Television Robert Downey Jr. Seoul International Drama Awards 2024 Golden Bird Prize Park Chan-wook Television Critics Association Awards 2024 Outstanding Achievement in Movies, Miniseries and Specials The Sympathizer
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