Netflix is leveling up its Korean content slate once again, commissioning a live-action adaptation of Solo Leveling, the wildly popular web novel, webtoon and anime franchise that has become one of Korea’s biggest crossover hits in recent years. The fantasy-action series will star fast-rising actor Byeon Woo-seok (Lovely Runner, 20th Century Girl), with production led by Kakao Entertainment and SANAI Pictures.
Byeon, who has emerged as one of Korea’s most in-demand young stars, has long been fan-cast in the role of Sung Jin-woo, Solo Leveling’s brooding antihero. The actor’s striking visual presence — described by fans as “straight out of a manhwa” (the Korean word for comics) — makes him a natural fit to embody Jin-woo’s transformation from the weakest hunter in the land to humanity’s last hope against supernatural annihilation, Netflix says.
Based on the smash hit web novel published on KakaoPage, Solo Leveling has racked up a staggering 14.3 billion cumulative views globally across its various formats. Earlier this year, its anime adaptation made history as the first Korean IP-based series to sweep the 2025 Crunchyroll Anime Awards, taking home nine trophies, including anime of the year and best action.
Set in a world where portals known as “Gates” connect reality to deadly alternate dimensions, the story follows Sung Jin-woo, an E-rank hunter barely strong enough to survive low-level missions. But after a brutal dungeon raid nearly kills him, Jin-woo awakens with a mysterious new ability: he can “level up” in power through combat, gaining strength faster than anyone before him. As he grows, so too does the scale of the threat he faces — monstrous invaders pouring from the Gates who threaten to obliterate humanity itself.
The series will be co-directed by Lee Hae-jun and Kim Byung-seo, the filmmaking team behind Ashfall, Castaway on the Moon, and Like a Virgin. Netflix says the production will feature a world-class global VFX team to bring the story’s high-stakes fantasy and action set-pieces to life.
Solo Leveling joins Netflix’s growing arsenal of premium Korean genre titles as it seeks to build upon the worldwide expectations it has established with Squid Game, following recent greenlights for Notes from the Last Row, The Rat (WT) and Lovestruck, among others. The project can be seen as representing not only a major swing at the live-action fantasy-action genre, but also a test of Korea’s ongoing efforts to translate its webtoon boom into prestige series success for global audiences.
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