‘Parasyte: -TAMIYA-‘ will see ‘Deadpool 2’ actor Shioli Kutsuna take on the role of Ryoko Tamiya.
Key Takeaways
- Netflix is expanding Hitoshi Iwaaki’s sci-fi horror universe with live-action series Parasyte: -TAMIYA-, centered on Ryoko Tamiya, a parasite posing as a high school teacher who grapples with pregnancy, motherhood, and the possibility of coexistence with humans.
- Shioli Kutsuna stars in what she calls the most challenging role of her career, while Yeon Sang-ho and collaborator Ryu Yong-jae handle planning and scripts, with direction by Kensaku Kakimoto and Kazuhiro Nakagawa.
- Positioned as a return to the original manga’s lore and big questions — “What makes a human?” and whether we can live with beings unlike us — the series follows the global success of Parasyte: The Grey and is slated for a worldwide Netflix release in 2027.
Netflix is returning to the Parasyte universe with a new live-action entry that puts the franchise’s most philosophically complex character front and center.
The streaming giant has officially announced Parasyte: -TAMIYA-, a spinoff series expanding on the sci-fi horror world drawn from Hitoshi Iwaaki’s manga Kiseijuu
The series centers on Ryoko Tamiya, a parasite who embeds herself in human society as a high school teacher, quietly studying the species she inhabited while navigating pregnancy, motherhood, and the limits of coexistence.
Deadpool 2 actor Shioli Kutsuna takes the title role. “Ryoko Tamiya is the most challenging role I have ever played in my acting career,” Kutsuna said in a statement. “This series was brought to life through the dedication of the entire cast and crew, who supported one another through every challenge along the way.”
Yeon Sang-ho, the filmmaker behind Train to Busan and the Netflix series Hellbound, takes on planning and scriptwriting duties alongside his longtime collaborator Ryu Yong-jae, the same writing partnership that shaped Parasyte: The Grey. Direction is handled by Kensaku Kakimoto and Kazuhiro Nakagawa.
The creative team is leaning into the manga’s philosophical core. Netflix Japan’s live-action creative manager Sato Yoshihiro pointed directly to the original work’s enduring questions, saying: “‘What makes a human?’ ‘Can we coexist with beings that are different from us?’ These questions posed by Parasyte more than 30 years ago feel much more pressing for our modern society that has placed non-sentient AI at all of our fingertips.”
The new series arrives as a deliberate return to original manga lore. Where Parasyte: The Grey followed Jeong Su-in and a cast of new characters in a fictional South Korean city, -TAMIYA- pulls focus back to a figure who haunted the
Its predecessor set a high bar. Parasyte: The Grey, a six-episode series that arrived in 2024, topped Netflix charts in 34 countries at launch and held a spot on the Global Top 10 Non-English Shows for four weeks.
Parasyte: -TAMIYA- is currently in post-production, with a global Netflix release set for 2027.
