Two years after the success of a South Korean parasite invasion series, Netflix has decided to expand Hitoshi Iwaaki’s manga (which has sold 25 million copies) with another live-action spin-off. Ever since the manga ran from 1988 to 1995, the franchise has had four installments, with a fifth installment set to circle the story of Ryoko Tamiya (Shioli Kutsuna), one of the original manga’s most consequential antagonists.
Netflix’s 2024 live-action adaptation of Parasyte: The Grey went on to be a hit, reaching No. 1 in 34 countries, and still holds a 100% critics’ score and an 80% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. The new series is helmed by the same developer and co-writer, Yeon Sang-ho, who has penned the series alongside Ryu Yong-jae. As per Netflix, the new series explores events “through Tamiya’s eyes,” and “the world of Parasyte becomes a lens on survival, identity and what it really means to be human.” While previous installments have mostly circled a Venom-like premise, which is mostly about an alien invasion, the spin-off will show the other side of the coin, which becomes more about the alien’s survival itself.
The new series is titled Parasyte: TAMIYA, and it will arrive sometime in 2027; the exact release date is not yet unveiled. And while Parasyte: The Grey Season 2 still hangs in limbo with no confirmation about it being greenlit, this is the franchise’s way of expanding the series. Apart from the anime series Parasyte -the maxim, and Japanese live-action films Parasyte: Part 1, and Parasyte: Part 2, the franchise also has had three more print expansions: Neo Parasyte f (a shojo-oriented anthology), Neo Parasyte m (a shonen/seinen anthology), and Parasyte Reversi (a parallel manga following Mayor Hirokawa’s son).
Yeon Sang-ho Believes Shioli Kutsuna Was Perfect for the Role of Ryoko Tamiya
During a Q/A session, Sang-ho shared that Tamiya was a captivating villain in the original manga and therefore, he wanted to “convey her perpetual struggle over the need for parasites to coexist with humans.” The Parasyte: The Grey creator then went on to add that, while Kutsuna has done various roles in both Japanese films and overseas, she also has a deep understanding of the sci-fi genre from American films and TV shows.
Sang-ho insinuated that it was important to cast a knowledgeable actor in this space because Kutsuna plays three versions of Tamiya in the series. First, the original human, then the parasite after it takes over, and finally “the parasite once it starts struggling with the issue of how to interact with humanity.” The director also went on to reveal that filming is now complete, and the show is currently in the editing phase. He also made sure to comfort the fans of the manga, and shared that the show “is made with great respect for the original manga.”
Parasyte: TAMIYA has finished filming, is currently in the post-production stage, and will release sometime in 2027. No exact release date has been unveiled yet.
via Collider