After spending over a decade as the face of the world’s biggest franchise, Robert Downey Jr.‘s first tentative steps outside of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s comfort zone didn’t exactly go to plan, with Dolittle being torn apart by critics and bombing hard at the box office, even though it still ranks as the third highest-grossing movie of 2020 because that’s the kind of year we’re having.
While there’s been speculation that the actor could already be on his way back to the MCU as Tony Stark, with rumors making the rounds that he might return as the voice of Spider-Man’s A.I. or feature in the franchise’s imminent expansion of the multiverse, it might still be a little too soon for RDJ to come running back to the world of Marvel following Dolittle‘s disastrous performance.
Downey Jr.’s next feature-length role in front of the camera is widely expected to be Sherlock Holmes 3, but he looks to be keeping himself busy in the meantime through his Team Downey production company that he founded alongside wife Susan, with the duo responsible for bringing Perry Mason back to our screens on HBO, which has fared much better with audiences than the married couple’s previous collaboration on Dolittle.
Team Downey has already set up their next small screen project, too, this time with Apple TV+, and the 55 year-old is expected to take a supporting role in the still-untitled show. The true-life detective story has already been given a straight-to-series order, and follows a Canadian cop who takes on a cold case in order to try and score a confession before things spiral out of control.
While Robert Downey Jr. isn’t considering the lead, he is said to be circling a supporting role, in what would mark his first major performance on TV since he appeared in Ally McBeal two decades ago. Unfortunately, that’s all we know about the project for now, but as always, watch this space for more.
