Multiple Robert Downey Jrs. is just the tip of the iceberg in The Sympathizer trailer

It’s hard to tell exactly what’s going on in The Sympathizer trailer, which seems to be the point of The Sympathizer (premiering April 14). The buzzy new Max series from Robert Downey Jr., Park Chan-wook, and A24 spans genres and tones, tilts from dramatic to satirical, and tackles the tricky history of the post-Vietnam War era—all with a mysterious, unknowable spy (Hoa Xuande) at the center. The fact that Downey plays several different menacing avatars of American imperialism is just the tip of the iceberg for The Sympathizer’s many layers of mystery and deception.

“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,” a synopsis for the series reads. The new trailer highlights “The Captain” (Xuande) and his dueling loyalties—or perhaps lack of loyalty would be more accurate. And his chameleon-esque qualities don’t go unnoticed, not by love interest Sandra Oh, nor by Downey’s CIA spymaster.

In a new Vanity Fair piece, Sympathizer showrunners Park and Don McKellar praised Downey’s work as both an actor and a producer. “He used his star power to liberate me,” McKellar shared, noting that Downey came up with some “crazy ideas” of his own for the adaptation. “He liberated all of us to go for it.”

“I was astounded by how quickly he was able to come up with a very different performance—he’d do a different improv for each and every take,” Park, who directed three of the seven episodes, told VF. “Even when I had a good-enough take, I had to fall back and suppress myself from asking for more. It was unbelievable to see.”

The Marvel alum helped Xuande settle into his own challenging, shapeshifting role: “He said words to the effect of, ‘Brother, we’re going to screw this project up together—don’t you worry,’” the star recalled of his first meeting with Downey. “It can be really intimidating when you work with someone like him and you know that he’s going to run circles around you, but he lent this comforting hand on my shoulder and just said, ‘We’re in this together.’”