A year ago, Parasite, by Bong Jon Ho, won the Academy Award for Best Picture. With its worldwide success even before the win, a television adaptation of this record-breaking South Korean film was announced. However, the original director, Bong Jon Ho, remains attached to this Hollywood version that is set to be an HBO limited series. But as it is with successful and popular limited series, it might end up becoming bigger than planned.
New details regarding the series have come to light from Adam McKay’s (known from his Succession series) recent appearance on MTV podcast, “Happy Sad Confused”, which might make lovers of the original movie feel more at ease. His revelations tell us that Bong Joon Ho’s ‘Parasite’ series will be an “original story” set in the film’s universe, and not a remake. You can breathe a sigh of relief.
In January 2020, the Oscar winning director, Bong Joon Ho, claimed he got a hunch to create a television series based on Parasite because of his inability to fit his whole thought in the two-hour version of the movie. Bong mentioned that the limited series will be a “six-hour-long film” and he also expressed his desire to expand the world of Parasite and give a clear-cut explanation on events that the 2019 movie failed to delve into. The Parasite director draws a scenario from the movie— “For example, when the original housekeeper Mun Gwang (Lee Jung Eun) comes back in the late night, something happened to her face,” he said. “Even her husband asked about it, but she never answered. I know why she had the bruises on her face. I have a story for that, and aside from that, why does she know the existence of this bunker? What relationship does she have with that architect to know of this bunker? So I have all these hidden stories that I have stored”.
Sadly, there is no set date yet for the series premiere as it is still in development. But with a staffed up writer’s room, we can expect to hear casting details in the coming months and maybe, big maybe, it lands on our small screens early next year.
Bong Jon Ho and Adam McKay will executive produce the ‘Parasite’ limited series.
