Robert Downey Jr. probably has enough money at this point to quit working until he's 200 years old - check that math, Jarvis - but he's doing what he loves, and he is just as interested in getting involved behind the scenes on projects as he is in acting. It was announced today that he and his wife Susan Downey are going into development on a new TV series called Singularity, which already has actor Anthony Michael Hall set for a lead role.
Singularity will be the second project from Team Downey Productions, the company formed by Robert Downey Jr. and Susan some years back. (The Judge was the first.) While Downey Jr. will indeed be producing this new show, he will also use Singularity's pilot as his first legit foray into directing, and he'll be the guy calling the shots behind the camera for that first, but hopefully not only, episode. Unfortunately, there's no word at this point on the chances of Downey Jr. showing up on screen, but one assumes that would help Singularity's chances of being picked up somewhere.
Not much else is known about Singularity, with few other details coming from the report from TheWrap. Plot morsels are being kept under wraps, but the show's title implies something in the science fiction realm, wither it refers to the space-time kind or the technological kind. And it's part of a first look deal Team Downey has with Sonar Entertainment, a company that has recently been behind TV projects such as the horror drama South of Hell, Tom Hardy's upcoming FX drama Taboo, and the in-development Stephen King adaptation Mr. Mercedes. They're all about dark genre projects, so this could be in that same vein.
First finding fame as a child actor, Anthony Michael Hall first got his hooks into a steady TV career for USA's Dead Zone (another Stephen King reference!). Following that show's end, he's popped up everywhere from Community to Psych, with extended roles on MTV's Awkward. and the latest season of Murder in the First. He's solid in everything he does, so as long as Singularity's script is good - a writer was not named, either - then here's hoping this thing works out for everyone.
With more superhero-infused action yet to come from Robert Downey Jr.'s career, the actor surprised fans a few months ago when it was announced he was teaming up with True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto on an HBO drama that would potentially be a TV reboot of Perry Mason, a project that Downey Jr. had wanted to turn into a movie for some years. But we're hardly going to balk at him branching out into other areas of the small screen, regardless of if he's acting or not.
While we wait to hear about the future of Singularity, head to our fall TV schedule and our midseason premiere schedule to see what you can look forward to in the near future.
