The popular 2023 Korean crime action film Kill Boksoon is getting a spinoff more than a year after its release. Netflix has announced a new project, currently titled Mantis, as a follow-up to the well-received Kill Boksoon.
The cast for this upcoming film includes Yim Si-wan (Misaeng: Incomplete Life), Park Gyu-young (It’s Okay to Not Be Okay), and Jo Woo-jin (Alienoid). Although no release date has been confirmed, fans can expect Mantis to feature a similar focus on contract killers, like Kill Boksoon, which first premiered at the Berlinale last year.
Kill Boksoon tells the story of Gil Bok-soon, who faces the challenge of balancing her life as a single mother and an assassin. Mantis, however, will follow a different set of contract killers, including Mantis, Jae-yi, and Dok-go. The new film is written by Lee Tae-sung and directed by Byun Sung-hyun, the director of Kill Boksoon.
It is produced by SEE AT Film Co., LTD, the same company behind Kill Boksoon, Love and Leashes, and Kingmaker. This movie will also be Lee’s debut feature as a director, though he previously worked as an assistant director on Kill Boksoon and The King.
Yim Si-wan will play Han-ul, an elite assassin also known as “Mantis,” who works for MK Ent. In Kill Boksoon, Cha Min-kyu briefly mentioned that Mantis had “gone on a vacation,” and this spinoff will follow his return to the assassin world, where he looks for new jobs.
Upon his return, Mantis meets his old friend Jae-yi (played by Park), who also trained with him but now feels conflicted about their relationship. Mantis also runs into Dok-go (played by Jo), a retired killer and the founding member of MK Ent. Despite stepping away from active duty, Dok-go becomes the CEO of MK Ent. after Cha Min-kyu’s death and wants Mantis to come back to work.
Who Starred in Kill Boksoon?
Directed and written by Byun Sung-hyun, Kill Boksoon premiered on Netflix on March 31, 2023. The film stars Jeon Do-yeon as Gil Bok-soon, Sol Kyung-gu as Cha Min-kyu, Kim Si-a as Gil Jae-yeong (Bok-soon’s daughter), Esom as Cha Min-hee, and Koo Kyo-hwan as Han Hee-seong.
Following its release, Kill Boksoon received positive feedback, holding a 79% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Nischal Niraula of Collider praised the film as a must-watch and said it was “brutally honest about the emotional struggles of motherhood, which is a refreshing take on a genre that often glorifies and romanticizes motherhood.”
While the Kill Boksoon spinoff is still in development, the original film is available to stream on Netflix.
