Netflix is Making a K-drama Based on Parasyte Manga

Netflix announced on Wednesday that it is making a K-drama titled Parasyte: The Grey helmed by visionary director Yeon Sang-ho. The K-drama will be based on Hitoshi Iwaaki’s popular manga series Parasyte, which is “about unidentified parasitic life-forms that live off of human hosts and strive to grow their power. As they start to disrupt society, a group of humans wage war against the rising evil.”

The manga series by Iwaaki has sold over 25 million copies in 20 territories and countries. The manga also saw a hit anime series as well as other live-action adaptations in Japan. Now, Netflix is aiming to translate the well-received story into a Korean series.

The director Yeon Sang-ho helming this project has worked on Korean movies Train to Busan and Peninsula which are both about zombies. 2016’s Train to Busan, in particular, was very well-received outside of Korea. Peninsula, which came out in 2020, is a standalone sequel to the 2016 film but is considered inferior to its prequel.

Yeon will direct and co-write Parasyte: The Grey with Ryu Yong-jae, who is the screenwriter of Money Heist: Korea – Joint Economic Area.

As for the cast, Jeon So-nee will play Jeong Su-in who falls victim to a parasite, and as it fails to take over her brain, “she enters a bizarre coexistence with it,” which is the premise of the Parasyte manga. But fans of the series can already tell that this Korean series will bring a different twist to the concept instead of being a straight, faithful adaptation of the manga.

Peninsula starrers Koo Kyo-hwan and Lee Jung-hyun will also join the cast. Koo Kyo-hwan will play Seol Kang-woo who tracks down parasites to find his missing sister. Lee Jung-hyun will play Choi Jung-kyung, who is the leader of “Team Grey,” a task force set up to battle parasites.

Climax Studio, responsible for Netflix’s Hellbound, is in charge of production.

Parasyte: The Grey will be released exclusively on Netflix. There is no word on a release date yet.