A series adaptation of the graphic novel Butterfly is now in development. Variety reports that Daniel Dae Kim is on board to executive produce and star in the series, described by the report as a "character-driven spy thriller." It is directly based on the graphic novel by created by Arash Amel, which was co-written with Marguerite Bennett and illustrated by Antonio Fuso and Stefano Simeone. The reported plan is for the series to film in South Korea, featuring a blend of Korean and English dialogue.
The series adaptation is created by Ken Woodruff (The Mentalist, Gotham) and author Steph Cha. Both are also executive producing alongside Kim for 3AD and John Cheng, Christy and Ross Richie for BOOM! Studios, and Amel for The Amel Company. Amazon Studios is producing the project while Adam Yoelin is co-executive producing.
“Ken and Steph have come up with a compelling series with truly unique characters, and having it be an international story set in Korea makes it even more meaningful to me,” Kim says of his collaborators on the project. “With Stephen Christy, BOOM! Studios and the Amel Company, we’ve assembled a stellar creative team, and 3AD is proud to have this be its inaugural effort with Amazon Studios."
Daniel Dae Kim Takes the Lead
The series adaptation of Butterfly will feature a plot similar to that of the graphic novel. A provided logline for the series is as follows:
David Jung (Kim), an enigmatic, highly unpredictable former US intelligence operative living in South Korea, whose life is blown to pieces when the consequences of an impossible decision from his past come back to haunt him, and he finds himself pursued by Rebecca, a deadly, sociopathic young agent assigned to kill him.
With dozens of roles under his belt, Kim can be recognized from a variety of different roles he has taken on. Kim recently starred as one of the leads in The Hot Zone: Anthrax, the second season of an anthology series. He's also known for his roles in other shows like Lost and Hawaii Five--, and he's been cast to play Fire Lord Ozai in an upcoming live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender at Netflix. But Butterfly would mark the first lead role in an ongoing scripted series if all goes well and the series moves through at Prime Video as planned.
Butterfly doesn't yet have a premiere date set for Prime Video at this time.