Sure, I’ve grown accustomed to the fact that the 2025 TV schedule isn’t going to suddenly feature any golden goose-egg surprises such as a secretly already produced fourth season of Reacher. Alan Ritchson & Co. are currently filming new episodes in the wake of the Neagley spinoff’s production wrapping, but those won’t be around for another year or so. That knowledge doesn’t make waiting any easier, but something that 100% does help is having another taut action thriller to watch in its stead.
I had my suspicions that the upcoming spies-and-’splosions series Butterfly could scratch that itch, due in part to it boasting a star and executive producer in Hawaii Five-0 vet Daniel Dae Kim. Also, like Reacher, The Boys, and several other action-packed TV faves in recent years, it’ll be available to stream with an Amazon Prime subscription. Now take a look at Butterfly’s first trailer to see why I’m excited.
Based on the 2015 graphic novel Butterfly — written by Marguerite Bennett & Arash Amel with art by Antonio Fuso — the Prime Video series stars Daniel Dae Kim as David Jung, a former U.S. intelligence operative living a second life in South Korea when his past comes back to haunt him. Or perhaps to learn to love him and get parental advice from him.
For all the years that he was officially believed to be dead in the States, there was a certain someone who would have been pretty jazzed to know he existed, and David’s life is about to be exposed in every way possible when he’s pursued by a young spy named Rebecca, portrayed by The Flash and It’s What Inside’s Reina Hardesty. She is uncannily just as unpredictable and off-the-handle as David is, and it’s no coincidence.
That’s right, Butterfly is as much about facing one’s familial regrets and inner demons as it is about exposing and dismantling the nefarious organization that Rebecca works for. (Where your daddy-daughter storyline, Reacher? Wait, no, don’t even answer that.) The two actors look like they gave it their all for a variety of stunts and action sequences.
I love close-quarters fisticuffs where someone’s arm inevitably gets snapped backwards in the most painful fashion, and it seems like this show might knock a few of those out during its run. But also on display are some gunfights, some car stunts, leaping off of buildings, explosions and…bonding! The most dangerous stunt of all.
Heading up the dubious organization hunting David down is Piper Perabo, which is not the actress one might expect to see in this role. Of course, it wasn't long ago when she jumped from fighting Beth Dutton on Yellowstone to a Grey's Anatomy hostage situation, so I guess it's a natural enough evolution for her. I do hope she doesn't spent most of the movie glaring at screens and phones inside an office, though.
Developed for TV by Gotham and The Mentalist vet Ken Woodruff and novelist Steph Cha (Your House Will Pay), Butterfly also stars Charles Parnell, Kim Ji-hoon, Park Hae-soo, Kim Tae-hee, Nayoon Kim and Sean Dulake.
Daniel Dae Kim is set to be celebrated around the globe when his Fire Lord Ozai is featured in a far bigger way for the upcoming Netflix series Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2. But he'll get to kick ass in a totally different way in this new series that is already making me forget Reacher's name. Okay, not really.
Butterfly will make its debut on Prime Video on Wednesday, August 13.
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