Daniel Dae Kim takes on the role of David Jung in Butterfly, Amazon’s latest spy action thriller adapted from the six-issue Boom Studios graphic novel series by writers Arash Amel and Marguerite Bennett, with artwork from Antonio Fuso and Stefano Simeone.
Blending high-octane espionage with heartfelt drama, critics have likened the series to a mash-up of Jason Bourne and George Clooney’s The Descendants.
Kim told Variety that Butterfly stands apart from standard spy fare, offering something fresh and unexpected.
"For everyone who loves the action genre and the spy genre, they will get their fill,” Kim stated.
“So many of these kinds of shows really lack character development or relationships that you care about. What I love about our show is that even if you took away a lot of the action, it holds up as a relationship drama. It’s really an examination of families.”
The story centers on a former CIA operative (Daniel Dae Kim) who vanishes from the world by faking his death after a mission goes disastrously wrong, entrusting his young daughter (Reina Hardesty) to the care of his trusted partner (Piper Perabo).
Nearly a decade later, he discovers that his onetime ally now leads a shadowy spy organization and has transformed his daughter into its most skilled agent.
On why Jung is returning to save his daughter after nine years, Kim teases, "We’ve all made certain choices in our lives that we thought were right at the time, and through a little bit of experience, age and wisdom, we realized that that choice that we thought was right was actually the complete opposite."
All 6 episodes of Butterfly are now streaming on Prime Video. The graphic novel is also available for purchase on Amazon.
Butterfly is a character-driven spy thriller that explores complex family dynamics within the treacherous world of global espionage. It's centered on David Jung, an enigmatic, highly unpredictable former US intelligence operative living in South Korea, whose life is blown to pieces when the consequences of an impossible decision from his past come back to haunt him, and he finds himself pursued by Rebecca, a deadly, sociopathic young agent assigned to kill him, and Caddis, the sinister spy organization she works for.
Butterfly stars Daniel Dae Kim, Reina Hardesty, Piper Perabo, Louis Landau, and more. The series is directed by 3AD, with the executive producers for Butterfly being Ken Woodruff, Steph Cha, Daniel Dae Kim, John Cheng, Stephen Christy, Ross Richie, and Arash Amel.
Butterfly premieres on August 13 exclusively on Amazon Prime Video.