Actor buys rights to Jesse Armstrong's The Entire History of You, with the aim of producing a science-fiction thriller from TV show

Robert Downey Jr has optioned an episode of Charlie Brooker's Channel 4 anthology series Black Mirror with the aim of producing a science-fiction thriller, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Created by Peep Show writer Jesse Armstrong, the episode (The Entire History of You) centres on a world in which people can replay their memories using "grain" implant technology. It was originally screened on 11 December 2011 and starred Toby Kebbell as a jealous husband obsessed with using the replay tech to uncover evidence that his wife (Jodie Whittaker) had engaged in an affair.

The proposed film version, which is being put together at studio Warner Bros via Downey Jr's Team Downey production company, appears to be slightly different. Set in the near future, it will centre on a widower who uses similar technology to reconstruct his relationship with his dead wife until he unwittingly uncovers a vast conspiracy. Armstrong, whose film work includes 2009's Oscar-nominated In the Loop (with Armando Iannucci, Simon Blackwell and Tony Roche) and the 2010 terrorism satire Four Lions (with Chris Morris), will also write the screenplay.

Downey Jr is not yet attached to star in the film and there are no further casting details. The second series of Black Mirror began on Monday night with the episode Be Right Back, starring Hayley Atwell and Domhnall Gleeson. All three episodes of the new series are written by Brooker, a columnist for the Guardian.