Is Bong Joon Ho’s award-winning Parasite being turned into a TV Show? Read to find out everything we can expect from this upcoming series.
Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite is about to come back to our screens as a TV show, but what can we expect from it? While there aren’t many details out there about the upcoming series, the fact that it is still in development will be welcome news to the fans of the original films.
In 2019, Parasite took the world by storm. After premiering at Cannes in May of that year, the movie went on to gain widespread critical acclaim and won multiple accolades during award season, including the Palme d’Or and four Academy Awards. In doing so, it became the first non-English language feature film to win Best Picture in the history of the Oscars.
Interestingly, this would not be the first time that a Bong Joon Ho film leads to a TV show. In 2020, Snowpiercer premiered on TNT and continued for four seasons until 2024. As the name suggests, the series was based on the film of the same name, directed by Bong Joon Ho in 2013. This is everything we can expect from the Parasite tv show!
1. The Plot of the Parasite TV Show
Ever since 2020, Bong Joon Ho has been talking about a potential Parasite TV show by hinting at the fact that there were still stories from this universe he was going to tell. However, the series is not going to be a direct sequel or remake of the 2019 movie; instead, it will tell its own original story set in the same universe and time as the original Parasite film. The show will likely explore similar themes to the movie but take its setting somewhere else, such as the United States, rather than South Korea. Or, given that Bong has always spoken about Parasite as a South-Korean story, the series might want to keep its geographical setting the same, but explore an entire new set of characters that the director did not have time to introduce in the film’s runtime.
2. Bong Joon Ho’s Involvement in the Parasite TV Show
When it comes to Snowpiercer, Bong Joon Ho served as an executive producer, but he was not involved in the directing or writing of the series. As far as we know for now, the filmmaker’s involvement in the Parasite series seems to be bigger this time, as he is one of the two producers. His recent comments about the development of the show and the writers’ room when talking to Deadline would suggest that Bong is directly involved in every step of the series. This will also reassure fans that the show is still very much in the cards, despite its production still being in the early stages.
3. The Themes of the Parasite TV Show
As anyone who has watched the original Parasite would know, the film invites us to question the economic inequality in South Korea and, more broadly, the issue of class struggle between those who have everything, including a rich house, chauffeurs, and maids, and those who can barely afford to put food on the table. While the movie’s story is very much rooted in Seoul, the themes it touches on are universal and not restricted to one geographical location only. Therefore, no matter where it will be set, we can expect the Parasite TV Show to revolve around similar issues that Bong Joon Ho has always explored in his filmmaking.
4. Who Will Produce the TV Show Parasite?
At the moment, Bong Joon Ho is attached to produce the show, together with Adam McKay. Judging by his impressive list of credits, the latter is more than familiar with the genre and themes that will be explored in this series, namely political satire and dark comedy, as he wrote and directed Don’t Look Up in 2021. His experience with TV shows – McKay is credited as a director and executive producer for Succession – also bodes well for the Parasite TV show. While Netflix was rumoured to be interested in the rights for the show, the series is currently in development at HBO, which has proven to be very successful with shows that explore a political commentary, like The White Lotus. Therefore, we can expect the show to one day premiere on Max, the company’s own streaming platform.
5. The Cast: Who Will Star in the TV Show Parasite?
In 2020, when the TV show idea was first being discussed, Mark Ruffalo and Tilda Swinton were rumoured to join the series. Mark Ruffalo most recently starred in Bong’s latest movie, Mickey 17, but he has never officially been attached to this project. A few years later, Swinton herself confirmed to Variety that she’s not going to be involved in the show anymore, but will continue cheering for it. Swinton previously collaborated with Bong Joon Ho in Snowpiercer, so we could potentially expect to see some familiar faces who have worked with the director before in the upcoming TV show. However, we haven’t heard any actual news regarding the cast of the TV show Parasite since.
Keep checking this page for updates and read our list of all the Bong Joon-ho movies, including Mickey 17, ranked from worst to best!
