Daniel Dae Kim roped in for upcoming spy thriller series 'Butterfly'

 Daniel Dae Kim will star in and executive produce a series adaptation of the graphic novel 'Butterfly,' which is presently in development at Amazon.

According to Variety, a US-based media house, the series is billed as a character-driven spy thriller. The series is about "David Jung (Kim), 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."

According to insiders, the series will be shot in South Korea and will have dialogue in both Korean and English.

Arash Amel produced the "Butterfly" graphic novel, which he and Marguerite Bennett wrote. Antonio Fuso and Stefano Simeone illustrated it. It was first published in 2015 by BOOM! Studios.

According to Variety, the series is co-created by novelist Steph Cha and Ken Woodruff ("The Mentalist," "Gotham"). Both will act as executive producers as well. Kim executive produces alongside John Cheng under his 3AD label. BOOM! Studios' executive producers are Stephen Christy and Ross Richie, with Amel executive producing through The Amel Company. Co-executive producer Adam Yoelin is on board. Amazon Studios will produce, with 3AD currently under an Amazon first-look TV deal.

"Ken and Steph have come up with a compelling series with truly unique characters, and having it be an international story set in Korea makes it even more meaningful to me," Kim said. "With Stephen Christy, BOOM! Studios and the Amel Company, we've assembled a stellar creative team, and 3AD is proud to have this be its inaugural effort with Amazon Studios."

According to Variety, if the project is picked up for a full season, it will be Kim's first lead part in a multi-season scripted series, while he has previously been in limited and anthology series. It would also be his first regular television role in six years, following his and Grace Park's memorable withdrawal from the CBS revival of "Hawaii Five-O" over wage disparities with their co-stars.