Bringing ‘The Sympathizer’ to life was going to be hard. Susan Downey & Amanda Burrell, the women of Team Downey, liked that

When Susan Downey and Amanda Burrell were initially approached to co-executive produce HBO’s new Vietnam war-era spy thriller “The Sympathizer,” they didn’t immediately say yes.

When Susan Downey and Amanda Burrell were initially approached to co-executive produce HBO’s new Vietnam war-era spy thriller “The Sympathizer,” they didn’t immediately say yes. And if you’re familiar with author Viet Thanh Nguyen’s book, it’s easy to understand why. The gorgeously nuanced complexities of this sprawling tale can at times be a dense read. Imagine adapting it for TV. After multiple reads of the book and a detailed comb-through, a packaged concept was presented to them by the series’ co-showrunners Don McKellar and Park Chan-wook – which included a pilot script, an outline for the series and the backing of production company A24 – and they agreed to come on board. “I wish we could take credit,” Downey told CNN in a recent interview, laughing. “But the truth is, we were fortunate that others had kind of paved the path a little bit, at least a starting point and then we all got on the journey together.” But there was still a lot to build on, including figuring out how it would make sense for Downey’s husband – Oscar-winner Robert Downey Jr. – to play multiple roles, how to bridge language barriers, structure time jumps and everything else that goes into adapting an award-winning novel. None of it looked easy, but this was the appeal. It was just another day for Team Downey.