Butterfly (2025 TV series)

Last updated

Butterfly
Butterfly (2025 TV series)-poster.png
South Korean promotional poster
Genre Spy thriller
Created by Steph Cha & Ken Woodruff
Based onButterfly
by Arash Amel
ShowrunnerKen Woodruff
Starring
Music by
  • Curtis Green
  • Min He
Country of originUnited States
Original languages
  • English
  • Korean
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes6
Production
Executive producers
ProducerSeon Kwon Hwang
Production locations
  • South Korea
  • United States
CinematographyKanamé Onoyama
EditorMichael Ruscio
Running time44–52 minutes
Production companies
Original release
Network Amazon Prime Video
ReleaseAugust 13, 2025 (2025-08-13)

Butterfly is an American spy thriller television series created by Steph Cha and Ken Woodruff for Amazon Prime Video. It is based on the Boom! Studios graphic novel of the same name created by Arash Amel and written by Marguerite Bennett. Primarily set in South Korea, the series follows former U.S. intelligence operative David Jung (Daniel Dae Kim) and his estranged daughter Rebecca (Reina Hardesty) as they are hunted by the spy organization "Caddis", exploring familial tensions and betrayal amidst the backdrop of global espionage.

Contents

Woodruff serves as showrunner while Kim, in addition to starring, executive produces Butterfly through his production company 3AD, which developed the series with Amazon MGM Studios. After consulting Boom! Studios and Amel, Kim and 3AD changed the source material's Western setting to South Korea as they sought to explore Asian American themes through the series.

Butterfly premiered on Prime Video on August 13, 2025. It received generally favourable reviews from critics, with praise directed at its action, performances, setting, and family dynamics, although its plot and writing received some criticism.

Premise

The consequences of a decision from former U.S. intelligence operative David Jung's past come back to threaten his life and family. Nine years after faking his death, David learns that his daughter Rebecca now works as an assassin for Caddis, a spy organization that he originally co-founded, forcing him to come out of hiding in South Korea to reconnect with Rebecca and bring Caddis down. [1]

Cast and characters

Main

Recurring

Guest

Episodes

No.TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal release date
1"Pilot" Kitao Sakurai Steph Cha & Ken Woodruff August 13, 2025 (2025-08-13)
Former spy David Jung resurfaces after learning that his daughter Rebecca has become an assassin for Caddis, a private intelligence agency he co-founded prior to faking his death nine years ago. After interfering and failing to make contact with Rebecca during her mission to assassinate Russian ambassador Mikhail Karpov in Seoul, David tells his wife Eunju to go into hiding as he cannot bring himself to leave Rebecca again. Caddis director Juno Lund instructs Rebecca and her partner Atwood to track down the interloper. David sets a trap and reveals himself to Rebecca, who knocks him out for abandoning her and informs Juno of his survival. When Atwood attempts to kill David on Juno's orders, Rebecca shoots and kills Atwood.
2"Daegu"Kitao SakuraiSteph ChaAugust 13, 2025 (2025-08-13)
David and Rebecca go on the run from Caddis, while Senator George Dawson questions Juno about Karpov's assassination. Conflicted about her loyalties, Rebecca secretly contacts Juno, who promises to take her back while tracing their call. En route to Busan, David and Rebecca encounter a police checkpoint organized by Caddis, forcing them to take a detour to Daegu. David confronts Rebecca about contacting Juno, and the two reconcile after David explains that he faked his death nine years ago to protect Rebecca from terrorists targeting him. Juno hires the hitman Gun to kill David. Gun and a team of Caddis agents attempt to abduct Eunju at the train station, but David and Rebecca manage to save her and narrowly escape. Aboard the train to Busan, Rebecca learns that David and Eunju have a daughter named Minhee.
3"Busan" Jinmin Kim Diana Son August 13, 2025 (2025-08-13)
David takes his family to a safe house in Busan while he arranges for new passports so they can travel to extradition-free Vietnam. Rebecca accuses David of replacing her with Minhee but soon warms to her. To divert attention from her son Oliver's ties to a recently murdered CIA asset named Jae-hun Lee, Juno provides Dawson with evidence implicating Rebecca as a rogue Caddis agent solely responsible for Karpov's assassination. Gun kills David's contact, Yong Shik, and locates the Jung family. Desperate to prove himself to Juno, Oliver leads a Caddis strike team, along with Gun, to raid the safe house. David and Rebecca kill the Caddis agents, wound Gun, and capture Oliver, who reveals that Juno was the one who betrayed David to the terrorists that threatened Rebecca nine years ago. David calls Juno and forces her to listen as he shoots Oliver.
4"Pohang"Jinmin KimDenise ThéAugust 13, 2025 (2025-08-13)
David and his family take refuge with Eunju's parents in Pohang with Oliver as their prisoner. Juno attempts to bargain with David to get Oliver back, but David doctors Juno's message to deceive Oliver into thinking his mother has abandoned him. Oliver confesses to killing Jae-Hun, who infiltrated Oliver's life on behalf of the CIA to uncover Caddis and Karpov's involvement in selling U.S. intelligence to Russia; Juno had Rebecca assassinate Karpov to cover Caddis' tracks. David asks Eunju's father Dootae, a Korean crime lord and smuggler, to keep Eunju and Minhee safe while he and Rebecca go back to Seoul to approach Dawson, who is already suspicious of Juno, with a proposal to bring Juno and Caddis down. Shortly after the meeting with Dawson, David releases Oliver so that Juno believes he has betrayed her and become Dawson's informant.
5"Seoul" Jann Turner Sung RnoAugust 13, 2025 (2025-08-13)
To sow further distrust between Juno and Oliver, David and Rebecca break into Oliver's apartment and plant a bug for him to find, causing him to grow paranoid that Juno is spying on him. David then asks Dawson to distribute a memo within the CIA about a witness against Juno, as he suspects that Juno has a mole in Dawson's team. The mole relays this to Juno, who becomes convinced that Oliver is the witness and asks him to leave Seoul. When Oliver refuses, David and Rebecca detonate a bomb in his car to make him think Juno tried to have him killed, which provokes Oliver into betraying Juno to Dawson. David and Rebecca celebrate their victory, but Caddis tracks them down and Gun kidnaps Rebecca.
6"Annyeong"Jann TurnerDave KalsteinAugust 13, 2025 (2025-08-13)
Rebecca is brought before Juno, who convinces her to rejoin Caddis. David agrees to owe Dootae a favor in exchange for men and munitions to rescue Rebecca. After intercepting Caddis' convoy en route to the airport, David kills Gun while Rebecca turns on Juno, whom Rebecca convinces David to spare. Dawson and the FBI shut down Caddis' headquarters but Juno flees South Korea in a private jet, on which she exchanges apologies with Oliver over the phone and declares her intention to relocate Caddis' operations. David and Rebecca reunite with Eunju and Minhee, and they contemplate moving to America over dinner. Rebecca accompanies Eunju to the restroom and, when they do not return, David enters and finds Eunju with her throat slit while Rebecca is nowhere in sight.

Production

Development

Butterfly was co-created and co-written by Steph Cha and Ken Woodruff, with Woodruff also serving as showrunner. [2] The series is based on the Boom! Studios graphic novel of the same name created by Arash Amel, written by Marguerite Bennett, and illustrated by Antonio Fuso and Stefano Simeone with colors by Adam Guzowski. [3] Daniel Dae Kim stars and executive produces Butterfly through his production company 3AD, which developed the series under a deal with Amazon MGM Studios. [4] Kim and 3AD attained the blessing of Boom! Studios and Amel to change the source material's American and European setting to South Korea, as they sought to explore Asian American themes through the series. [5] Other executive producers include John Cheng, Stephen Christy, Ross Richie, and Amel. [1] The first two episodes were directed by Kitao Sakurai. [1]

Casting

In December 2023, it was announced that Reina Hardesty would star in a lead role opposite Daniel Dae Kim. [6] In January 2024, Park Hae-soo, Kim Tae-hee, and Nayoon Kim joined the cast in recurring roles. [7] In February 2024, it was announced that Piper Perabo joined the cast. [8] In March 2024, Louis Landau joined the series as a series regular. [9] In April 2024, it was announced that Sean Dulake, Kim Ji-hoon, and Charles Parnell joined the series as recurring characters, while Sung Dong-il and Lee Il-hwa were set to guest star. [10] [11]

Release

Butterfly premiered with all six episodes available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video on August 13, 2025. [1] It premiered in South Korea on tvN on August 22, 2025, and aired every Friday and Saturday at 22:40 (KST). [12]

Reception

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 68% approval rating based on 28 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "A sturdy vehicle for Daniel Dae Kim, Butterfly spreads its wings only modestly but delivers dependable thrills and familial drama." [13] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 61 out of 100 based on 8 critics, indicating "generally favorable". [14]

Viewership

Twelve : South Korea viewers per episode (thousands)
Butterfly (2025 TV series)
SeasonEpisode numberAverage
123456
1699443507421197TBDTBD
Source: Audience measurement performed nationwide by Nielsen Korea. [15]
Average TV viewership ratings
Ep.Original broadcast dateAverage audience share
(Nielsen Korea) [15]
Nationwide Seoul
1August 23, 20252.810%(1st)2.904%(1st)
2August 23, 20251.737% (1st)1.821% (1st)
3August 29, 20252.258%2.367%
4August 30, 20251.760%1.986%
5September 5, 20250.882%
6September 6, 2025
Average——
  • In the table above, the blue numbers represent the lowest ratings and the red numbers represent the highest ratings.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Petski, Denise (June 5, 2025). "Butterfly Trailer: Daniel Dae Kim Is On The Run & "Not That Easy To Kill" In Prime Video Spy Thriller". Deadline. Retrieved August 8, 2025.
  2. ↑ "Butterfly - WGA directory". Writers Guild of America . September 25, 2024. Retrieved August 17, 2025.
  3. ↑ Andreeva, Nellie (May 24, 2023). "Butterfly Series Starring Daniel Dae Kim Based On Comic Ordered By Prime Video". Deadline. Retrieved August 9, 2025.
  4. ↑ Thorne, Will (June 6, 2019). "Daniel Dae Kim Sets Amazon First-Look Deal". Variety. Retrieved August 9, 2025.
  5. ↑ Hermanns, Grant (August 12, 2025). "Why Butterfly Changed Setting To Korea Explained By Cast". Screen Rant. Retrieved September 23, 2025.
  6. ↑ Cordero, Rosy; Andreeva, Nellie (December 8, 2023). "Reina Hardesty To Star Opposite Daniel Dae Kim In Prime Video Series Butterfly". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved August 10, 2025.
  7. ↑ Otterson, Joe (January 29, 2024). "'Squid Game' Star Park Hae-Soo Among Three Added to Cast of Daniel Dae Kim Spy Series Butterfly at Amazon (Exclusive)". Variety. Retrieved August 9, 2025.
  8. ↑ Otterson, Joe (February 21, 2024). "Piper Perabo Joins Daniel Dae Kim Amazon Spy Series Butterfly (Exclusive)". Variety. Retrieved August 9, 2025.
  9. ↑ Grobar, Matt (March 27, 2024). "Louis Landau Joins Prime Video's Spy Thriller Butterfly As Series Regular". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved August 10, 2025.
  10. ↑ Seo, Rachel (April 18, 2024). "Amazon Spy Series Butterfly Casts Sean Dulake, Kim Ji-hoon, Charles Parnell, Sung Dong-il and Lee Il-hwa (Exclusive)". Variety. Retrieved August 9, 2025.
  11. ↑ Chourasia, Srishti (August 6, 2025). "Butterfly Season 1 cast and character guide: Who plays whom in the upcoming Prime Video thriller?". www.soapcentral.com. Retrieved August 9, 2025.
  12. ↑ Kim, Jong-eun (August 24, 2025). [리뷰M] '버터플라이' 낯선 美드라마에서 느껴지는 韓의 향기 [[Review M] Butterfly: A Korean Taste in an Unfamiliar American Drama]. MBC Entertainment News (in Korean). Retrieved August 25, 2025– via Naver.
  13. ↑ "Butterfly: Season 1". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved August 13, 2025.
  14. ↑ "Butterfly: Season 1". Metacritic . Retrieved August 13, 2025.
  15. 1 2 Nielsen Korea ratings:
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