Director Jeong Byeong-gil's 'The Villainess' to be Adapted into an Amazon TV Series

NEW, Amazon TV and Remake Rights Contract
Local Writers Including Doug Jung and Francisca Hu Join

Movie still cut from "The Villainess"

Director Jeong Byeong-gil's film The Villainess is being adapted into an Amazon TV series.

Media group NEW announced on the 12th that it has signed remake rights contracts with Amazon TV. The TV series will be titled Villainess. NEW and Skybound, the American drama The Walking Dead production company, will co-produce the series. Director Jeong Byeong-gil, who helmed the original film, will direct the pilot episode and serve as executive producer. Doug Jung, writer of the film Star Trek Beyond, will be a producer, and Francisca Hu, writer of the drama Dynasty and the film Sleepy Hollow, will be the pilot episode writer and executive producer.

The Villainess is an action thriller about Sook-hee (Kim Ok-bin), who was raised as a killer from childhood and is scouted by a national secret organization, giving her a chance to live a new life. The film was invited to the 2017 Cannes Film Festival for a midnight screening. In the TV series, the protagonist is an Asian woman who was adopted by white parents and raised believing she grew up in a small American town. While traveling in Seoul, she realizes that she and her homeland are connected, and confronts a dark and corrupt organization to uncover the truth.

Director Jeong Byeong-gil

Amazon, which secured the remake rights, has recently acquired the film production company MGM and is making every effort to secure content by adding Universal Pictures films to its streaming service.

Meanwhile, the film Miracle in Cell No. 7, which attracted 12,811,206 viewers domestically, will be remade after Spanish company Rock&Lords purchased the remake rights. Rock&Lords is a newly established production company founded by Miguel Luz, producer of the Netflix original Black Mirror.