Info in Movie News | Netflix is doubling down on its Korean content strategy, this time with a live-action twist on one of the country’s biggest multimedia hits, Solo Leveling. Following its triumphant run on the web novel, webtoon, and anime platforms, the franchise is now officially going to be in the live-action movie and fans have for now a face of the beloved protagonist, Sung Jin-woo.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, rising star Byeon Woo-seok is the one who was chosen for the main character. The Byeon is a man featured in 20th Century Girl and Lovely Runner, who was public casting as Jin-woo due to his very attractive and intense acting that he has been with all that time. The show is going to be co-directed by Lee Hae-jun and Kim Byung-seo, who are the directors of Ashfall and Castaway on the Moon, and the duo, as well as Kakao Entertainment and SANAI Pictures, are the producers.
Gates are a kind of portal that are totally different from the normal door kind opening up in the earth's surface and they are connecting our world to the one of a different nature. The only way to be safe from these dangers? It was hunters, people with special powers, ranked from E to S. Sung Jin-woo was initially the weakest of them all, an E-rank who had a hard time and was barely surviving dungeon raids. Then he was involved in a fatal incident, after which he receives a "System", a "System" that nobody else has, which allows him to increase his strength.
Starting from that moment, Jin-woo’s road is one of fast growth and becoming stronger and stronger, battling with more and more dreadful enemies, as well as getting to know the dark secrets of the Gates, the System, and the fate that awaits him. The series combines rapid fantasy action with video game-like elements such as experience points, skill upgrades, and loot that have brought it a huge following around the world.
The source material has enjoyed unprecedented success. Solo Leveling Korean web novel by Chugong has become a webtoon with record-breaking success. The anime adaptation by A-1 Pictures which has been released in January 2024, was based on the webtoon. The second season of the anime was aired in January 2025 and it has just won nine categories at 2025 Crunchyroll Anime Awards including Anime of the Year.
On one hand, everybody is excited, but on the other hand, the live-action announcement has caused some distrust. It would be a giant task to accomplish to turn a story that depends heavily on high-concept fantasy and flashy VFX into a movie. Supporters are not too confident but they still go on believing that Netflix will be able to do it again as it was with One Piece without making mistakes that other live-action attempts have made. Luckily, Netflix also committed employing a top-notch VFX team that will be with them every step of the way to make that enormous journey the show has to go to come true.
So far, neither the date of the release nor the names of the cast have been made public. Now that the directors are present and the cast is being formed, fans would not be required to wait for such a long time as they did with the previous projects like One Piece which took over three years from the announcement to the releasing of the series.
In fact, for many of them, this is going to be their only show. It’s a major milestone for webtoon-based IPs making the jump to global prestige content. And if Byeon Woo-seok can bring Sung Jin-woo’s intensity and transformation arc to life, Solo Leveling could become Netflix’s next big hit, both in Korea and worldwide.
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