Robert Downey Jr. Develops Sci-Fi Series Combining Succession & American Horror Story
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Published Apr 14, 2026, 8:30 PM EDT
After joining Screen Rant in January 2025, Guy became a Senior Features Writer in March of the same year, and now specializes in features about classic TV shows. With several years' experience writing for and editing TV, film and music publications, his areas of expertise include a wide range of genres, from comedies, animated series, and crime dramas, to Westerns and political thrillers.
Robert Downey Jr. has a Prime Video series currently in the works, which will combine elements of two all-time great shows released by the streaming giant’s biggest rivals. Working alongside his fellow “Brat Pack” member and longtime friend Anthony Michael Hall for the first time in decades, Downey Jr. is developing something that’s expected to rival HBO’s satirical masterpiece Succession.
This announcement specified that the Prime Video show’s title would be Singularity, a detail that Hall corroborated as recently as 2025. It will mark Downey Jr.’s return to television, following his acclaimed portrayal of multiple roles in The Sympathizer, a 2024 historical thriller produced by HBO.
RDJ's Singularity Will Be A Sci-Fi Series With Similarities To Succession
Although no specifics have been revealed about the plot of Singularity at this stage, the show’s title effectively confirms that it’s going to be a sci-fi series. The term “singularity” typically refers to an infinitesimally singular point in spacetime to which the known laws of physics don’t apply.
On the other hand, it’s more commonly used in sci-fi TV and movies to reference a moment in the history of technological development when artificial intelligence surpasses human consciousness. If this is the singularity the title of RDJ’s upcoming Prime Video show alludes to, then we can expect it to share similarities with the likes of Westworld and Altered Carbon.
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Yet, in a 2025 interview with Decider, Singularity’s co-creator Anthony Michael Hall drew direct comparisons between the prospective series and a very different TV release outside the sci-fi genre. Hall explained the reason the show was taking so long to develop was that he and Downey Jr. realized its plot was initially too much like Succession to work as an original story.
HBO’s flagship satirical drama tells a contemporary tale about the family at the head of a media conglomerate, analogous to the real-world discord within the Murdoch family. It’s as far from science fiction as television gets, although it’s easy to imagine its universal themes and overarching narrative trajectory applying to a similar tale of family conflict in a sci-fi setting.
American Horror Story Creator Brad Falchuk Is Rewriting Singularity
When Robert Downey Jr. and Anthony Michael Hall found that they couldn’t develop Singularity further without coming too close to the story of Succession, they enlisted the services of veteran writer and show creator Brad Falchuk. It remains to be seen whether their series now goes in a different direction altogether, or maintains certain parallels with the landmark HBO drama.
Best-known for his work on the series American Horror Story and Glee, Falchuk is currently working on a TV project called Magic 8 Ball with M. Night Shyamalan. He’s sharing showrunner duties with director Shyamalan, and has scripted the pilot episode for the series.
Once season 1 of Magic 8 Ball is out of the way, we can expect Falchuk to turn his attention to Prime Video’s Singularity. Given that he co-authored the American Horror Story episode "Daphne", which directly addresses the possibility of AI overpowering humanity, he seems like the perfect person to script an entire show about this subject.
As well as featuring Brad Falchuk’s writing, Singularity is set to mark Robert Downey Jr.’s directorial debut. Downey Jr. and Anthony Michael Hall will star in the series, too. Given the track record of these three stellar collaborators, there’s plenty to get excited about. All we need now is a definitive update from Prime Video about Singularity’s production status.
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