Robert Downey Jr.'s salary for the upcoming series, The Sympathizer, has been revealed. Downey Jr. is coming off his decade-long run as Tony Stark/Iron Man in the MCU and the question on everyone's minds is how he will follow up the role which defines him for so many people. Downey Jr. took a crack at it last year with a reboot of Dolittle, though it turned out to be one of the most critically panned films of the year and a commercial failure for Universal Pictures.
Now, the Iron Man actor has set his sights on the Vietnam War thriller series The Sympathizer as his next project post-MCU and it is already looking more promising than his last outing. The series is a collaboration between HBO and A24 (similar to Euphoria) and will adapt the 2016 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name from Viet Thanh Nguyen. Park Chan-Wook, the renowned Korean filmmaker behind Oldboy and The Handmaiden, has signed on as showrunner and director. So far, Downey Jr. is the only confirmed cast member and now, how much he stands to make from the series has been revealed.
According to Variety's report on the top television salaries of the year, Robert Downey Jr. will earn at least $2 million per episode of The Sympathizer. This is one of the highest TV salaries of the year by far. Coming in second is another MCU star, Chris Pratt, who reportedly earned $1.4 million per episode of his Amazon Prime series, The Terminal List.
Variety released a similar report on 2021's highest-paid movie stars as well. With streaming as popular as it is today, there is a lot of money to be made for Hollywood A-listers who are willing to transition to the small screen. Just a year ago, $1 million per episode would have topped the charts, but now stars like Downey Jr. and Pratt are pulling in well over that.
Downey Jr. has enjoyed more time at the top of the box office than anyone in recent memory, but Dolittle seemed to indicate he might not be the biggest box office draw on his own when he's not part of the Marvel machine, though it's hard to blame him for all the film's shortcomings. While Downey Jr. doesn't appear to be having any trouble landing high-paying roles post-MCU, it remains to be seen if The Sympathizer lives up to what audiences have come to expect from the Oscar-nominated actor.
Source: Variety