Netflix got no chill — and that’s a good thing. With the unveiling of 17 new Asian original productions at “See What’s Next: Asia”, their first-ever content showcase in the region, we finally see the streaming platform, and well, nowadays, digital content provider, steadily amping up its Asia offerings.
You’re looking at some of the most unlikely stories told on screen today — a Korean period drama infected with flesh-eating zombies; an anime series dedicated to Philippines’ mythical creatures, or simply, classic Thai horror with a twist.
Weird, wacky or otherwise, we’d say they’re moving in the right direction.
So much of recent conversation in the public sphere has been about representation and what that means. Even in our tiny corner of the world, people are already getting more vocal, and rightfully so; we don’t just want a Masterchef Singapore that’s televised on Channel 8 with Mandarin-speaking contestants, which, thank goodness, they pivoted away from. We want representation, colour, diversity! Authenticity, and in short, us.
Trust global brand Netflix to do just that. They’re obviously doing more than riding the Asian wave; you can see that in the sheer production value, or the breadth and frequency of these new titles, announced this week, that will join over 100 new and returning originals that the brand has already invested in, including crime thriller Sacred Games (India) and variety comedy BUSTED! (Korea).
Surely, the gracing of Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos at the two-day event can’t be missed. In fact, Sarandos had this to say: “The beauty of Netflix is that we can take never-seen-before stories from South Korea, Thailand, Japan, India, Taiwan or elsewhere, and easily connect them to people all over Asia and the world.”
The Netflix executives were joined by creators and actors from Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, India and South Korea, and these exciting personalities:
You’ll recognise Michael Peña and Diego Luna, in town to promote Narcos: Mexico, as well as Andy Serkis who got us all excited about Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle, especially since you’ve got the motion capture extraordinaire on the director’s chair this time (and okay, he plays Baloo too).
And yet, even with these outside-of-Asia features, there’s still a common thread that’s being revisited at almost every panel in the showcase: authentic stories that pay fitting tribute to the place of origin, its nature and essence, while still retaining a global, universal appeal. Related to this, creators and cast members were eager to share that these are also stories that might not be so readily explored in traditional media, simply because Netflix took a chance.
With that, here you go! All the new announcements and exclusive debuts from the Netflix showcase, starting with Asia, of course. Here’s our (totally unbiased) view of what you should be keeping up with:
SOUTH KOREA
Kingdom
WHAT’S NEW: Teaser, First Look Stills
I’ve never been that much a fan of period dramas, but here’s where it gets interesting. Zombies! They get me every time — which is why I stuck around for so long even when The Walking Dead didn’t get any better. In Kingdom, the first thing to know is that the king is… dead. Or, is he? There’s a strange plague in the land which results in his swift resurrection, though now hungry for flesh, while the crown prince sets out on a journey to uncover the truth behind an evil scheme.
Set in the Joseon Dynasty to be exact, and pretty much like all zombie movies, Kingdom isn’t quite popcorn fare either. Director Kim Seong-hun talked about the themes of corruption and power, and how the plague intentionally disrupts — destroys — the quietness and calm that the era’s known for. “There’ll be lots of blood, heads being chopped off,” described writer Kim Eun-hee, making a point about how the level of violence, for one, might not be accepted on other more traditional platforms, making this a story unique to Netflix.
As for actor Ju Ji-hun, he made quite the case for his character, the crown prince. “At the beginning, he has no great ambition or dreams. He bears the burden of the crown, but doesn’t understand the pain that his people went through,” he shared, painting the picture of a selfish young royal. Certain events then motivate him to become more empathetic towards others. As for seasoned actor Ryu Seong-yong, he plays a complex villain that, he said, isn’t entirely evil: “The fears, the influences of different forces at play, that’s what he represents.”
Oh yes, and before the series even debuts, we know that Kingdom is already signed on for a second season!
Kingdom, premieres 25 January on Netflix.
BUSTED! SEASON 2
Here’s a pretty unusual format, a variety show where Korean celebrities act as detectives to solve a particular mystery every episode, while unravelling an overarching conspiracy as well. Hilarity ensues. If you’re thinking this sounds like Running Man meets escape room, well it helps that the same producers are on board, while Season 1 stars cast regulars Yoo Jae-suk and Lee Kwang-soo as well.
In Season 2 though, they’re about to shake things up a little. First, with the departure of Lee Kwang-soo — actor, Lee Seung-gi, will take his place. Actress Park Min-young expressed her excitement about the upcoming season though, describing how she’s being put into more competitive circumstances now. “I felt a little threatened because [the other cast members] studied a lot since,” she said with a laugh, while remarking that Jong-min even studied Sudoku for the show.
BUSTED!, Season 1 out on Netflix.
My First First Love / Love Alarm
We’re moving into the realm of rom-coms, and two of these new offerings are about the warm, fuzzy feelings of first love — though a more complex version of that. My First First Love sees talents Ji Soo, Jung Chaeyeon and Jinyoung retelling the “young and rather clumsy aspect of young love in their 20s”, and it set to be a universal, heartwarming tale that plenty of people can relate to.
For Love Alarm, it’s based off a popular webtoon with an interesting premise: an app that chime in with an alert whenever a love interest is physically nearby. That it’s helmed by female director Lee Na-jeong is reward enough, but it gets better when she says she’s interested in all facets of romantic love, both the euphoria and how we’re “faced with the ugly sides of ourselves”. Talent Kim So-hyun also brought up an important theme, the idea of an app that seemingly connects people, but at the same time, disconnects us from interacting with others. As Lee also mentioned, you’ll see how digital technology gets mixed up with real-world, analogue feelings. Either way, it should remind you of a certain dating app or two.
JAPAN
NEW ANIME TITLES: Pacific Rim ; Altered Carbon ; Cagaster of an Insect Cage ; Yasuke ; Trese
The first two got a warm reception since they’re familiar titles — Pacific Rim returns to the epic battle of Kaiju and Jaegers, as the anime expands the story of the first two live-action movies. The story follows a pair of siblings out to find their missing parents. Also good to note: showrunners Craig Kyle (Thor: Ragnarok) and Greg Johnson (X-Men: Evolution) are on board.
As for Altered Carbon, we know of that sci-fi series’ cult status. Here, writer Dai Sato (Cowboy Bebop) and Tsukasa Kondo, along with animation studio Anima, will be expanding the universe, though little other details are known as of now.
While Cagaster deals with human-turned-insects (Kafka, much) and Yasuke is about a retired ronin tasked to take up his sword again, what really caught my attention was Trese. This one’s based on a graphic novel that’s set in Manila, as lead Alexandra Trese finds herself encountering mythical creatures from Philippine folklore, which makes for quite an unusual cross-cultural crossover.
INDIA
NEW ORIGINAL SERIES: Typewriter
NEW ORIGINAL FILMS: Chopsticks ; Bulbul ; Upstarts ; Cobalt Blue ; 15th August ; Music Teacher ; Hotel Mumbai ; Firebrand
OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS: Casting for Leila ; Casting for Baahubali: Before The Beginning ; Trailer for Rajma Chawal
Netflix has been spurred on by the success of the recent Sacred Games it seems, which explains the whopping number of Indian Originals titles announced. Of these, there are a couple of standouts — Typewriter is a Ghostbusters-like series about a haunted house and a haunted book, which pique the interest of a group of young wannabe ghost hunters, just as a new family moves into the exact house they’ve been eyeing.
For the films, there are 8 new titles that span across genres. A short clip of 15th August was shown at the conference, a film that follows the happenings in the single significant date, while the premise of Leila, a dytopian flick of a women in search of her daughter from whom she was separated 16 years ago, sounds like it could be a big emotional hit.
Selection Day
WHAT’S NEW: Teaser Trailer
The book adaptation, produced by Anil Kapoor Film Company and Seven Stories Ltd, is a coming-of-age drama about two brothers, where a 14-year-old boy tries out for the cricket team and meets his older brother’s rival. Both of them are also raised by a strict dad who wishes for them to excel in the sport, whether that’s something they want or not.
According to producer Udayan Bhat, it’s a story that blends several universal elements together — sporting glory, family, drama, romance — and he even compared it to Western teen dramas Friday Night Lights and Skins, as the narrative centres around young people, their struggles, and the choices they have to make in light of societal pressure.
Selection Day, premieres December 28 on Netflix.
SOUTHEAST ASIA
NEW ORIGINALS: The Stranded ; Shimmers ; Triad Princess
What’s key is that all these are told in the language of their origin, which Netflix feels lends more authenticity than alienation.
The first two are Thai stories, and The Stranded is to be the first Thai-language Netflix original series following the licensing agreement with GMM Grammy, a major Thai media entertainment company. The little we know of the series, led by director Sophon Sakdaphisit, is of 18-year-old student Kraam, and his fellow students from an elite high school, surviving a tsunami, though left for dead on a remote island in the Andaman Sea. Shimmers, on the other hand, is a supernatural thriller that sees five teenagers in a school in Northern Thailand, haunted by the ghosts of their past.
As for Triad Princess, it stars Eugenie Liu and Jasper Liu, and will be a female-driven Taiwanese comedy, based on the coming-of-age story of the daughter of a Triad gangster as she strikes out on her own, becoming an undercover bodyguard for a famous actress.
What’s also significant was a teaser showing of Nowhere Man, Netflix’s first Chinese-language original — which has already started production in Taiwan since October. The ensemble of actors is led by Joseph Chang and Alyssa Chia, with director DJ Chen at the helm, and promises to be a suspenseful ride, especially since it involves death row inmate Quan escaping from prison to save his kidnapped son.
ALL THE OTHER EXCITING OFFERINGS
Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle
WHAT’S NEW: Teaser Trailer with Date Announcement
Do we need another Jungle Book movie? But what an A-list cast! These two conflicting ideas popped up in my head at about the same time, but the sheer presence of actor and director Andy Serkis cast all doubt away.
His retelling of Rudyard Kipling’s tale is true to the darker themes of the novel, he said, and centres around the theme of otherness, told through the eyes of “a young boy’s emotional journey and his rite of passage”. “Belonging and tribe”, “colonialism and the white hunter”, “Man occupying the jungle and taking over it” — these were some of the other phrases he used when asked to describe how the story’s inherently linked to Indian culture, of which the feature film sets to authentically portray.
As for that cast, well, you’ve got — deep breath now — Christian Bale (Bagheera), Cate Blanchett (Kaa), Benedict Cumberbatch (Shere Khan), Andy Serkis himself (Baloo), Freida Pinto (Messua), Matthew Rhys (John Lockwood) and Naomie Harris (Raksha). They were shot first on a performance capture stage, while young actor Rohan Chand (who plays the vibrant, idealistic Mowgli) did his acting on location.
The motion-capture aspect is essential to the film, especially for the animal characters, though Serkis says he approaches it the same way as any other acting gig. “It’s about inhabiting the role, believing yourself to be that character — that’s what you do as an actor.” Still, he praises the technology for allowing a certain freedom, where an actor isn’t limited by one’s height, skin colour, or sex. “It allows an actor to be just about anything.”
MOWGLI: LEGEND OF THE JUNGLE will be released globally on Netflix on December 7 and will have an expanded theatrical release in additional theaters in the U.S. and UK.
Narcos: Mexico
WHAT’S NEW: Exclusive Mano a Mano Clip
The new extension of the now-familiar ‘Narcos’ series takes place in 80s Mexico, a departure from the streets of Medellin and Cali in Columbia of earlier seasons, and pits two main characters against each other: Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo (Diego Luna), a Mexican drug lord the actor described as an opportunistic businessman, and DEA agent Kiki Camarena (Michael Peña) who’s bent on doing the right thing, a role that the Ant-Man & The Wasp actor went straight into after production for the Marvel movie wrapped up.
“I love the angle and perspective of the series,” says Luna when describing the atypical villainy of his character. “It’s not black and white, this story lives in the grey area.” He contrasted that against past Bond films where the bad guys are often “cartoonish”, and appreciates how the show approaches its so-called nefarious characters with more nuance, believing that corruption exists on a larger scale between the police, the government, and the market.
Together with showrunner Eric Newman, the actors also discussed how this season is authentic to Mexico. Other than working with plenty of Mexican directors and crew, Newman says that both language and location are important to maintain that authenticity; half of the show is in Spanish, for instance. He adds: “Being a global show, we’re evaluated by a larger global audience. We’d like to think that they’re more demanding, and we too have a higher obligation.”
He also added that he’s always seen Narcos as a “modular series”. New viewers need not be intimidated by the number of seasons so far — they can easily watch Season 4 and get a full picture, “but go back and don’t feel like you missed out on anything”.
Narcos: Mexico, premieres November 16 on Netflix.
The Umbrella Academy
If you like X-Men and the idea of an ensemble of misfit superheroes, give this a go! Though you might want to expect a lot more dysfunction. Based on a graphic novel by My Chemical Romance’s Gerard Way, The Umbrella Academy has a couple of great actors among its ranks, including stars Ellen Page, Tom Hopper, Emmy Raver-Lampman, as well as Robert Sheehan and David Castañeda who joined us in yesterday’s panel.
Of the show, Sheehan says the characters, laden with superpowers from young, never had great childhoods, and “all grew up as sort of ‘failures’ of human beings” in society’s eyes. His character, Klaus, can speak to the dead, though he has to grapple with a drug addiction that he uses, as escapism, to quiet the voices in his head. On the other hand, Castañeda’s character Diego is described as a tactical man with skill in wielding knives, though he struggles with emotional instability.
When asked what they hoped audiences would get from the show, Sheehan provided a poignant answer for this group of awkward misfits: “It’s okay to fail. Failure is absolutely necessary to success… Our show is about superheroes who fail as you’re looking at them through the backdoor of their house.”
The Umbrella Academy, premieres February 15 on Netflix.
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