Random Nerdery: Kim Ji-woon’s Jin-Roh, Netflix’s Wu Assassins, Showtime’s Halo

Originally released in 1999 as an anime feature, Jin-Roh tells the story of an elite police officer that gets drawn into a conspiracy when he fails to stop a suicide bomber. Directed by Hiroyuki Okiura (and adapted from a Mamoru Oshii manga), the original Jin-Roh was praised for its detailed, hand-drawn animation and intricate plot.

Oshii had originally intended Jin-Roh to be a live-action film, and now, two decades later, a live-action Jin-Roh is happening, courtesy of South Korean director Kim Ji-woon (The Age of Shadows, The Good, the Bad, the Weird, A Bittersweet Life). Whereas the original Jin-Roh was set in an alternate version of post-WW2 Japan that was ruled by Germany, Kim’s version — titled Inrang (trans. Werewolf) — is set in 2029 and deals with a secret police force trying to stop terrorists bent on preventing the reunification of North and South Korea.

Inrang will be released on July 25 and stars Gang Dong-won, Han Hyo-joo, and Jung Woo-sung (who previously starred in Kim’s The Good, the Bad, the Weird).

Netflix has announced another genre offering, a martial arts/sci-fi series titled Wu Assassins that will star Iko Uwais (Star Wars: The Force Awakens, The Raid 2, The Raid). Wu Assassins is set in San Francisco’s Chinatown and Uwais, who will also be the series’ fight and stunt choreographer, plays “the latest and last Wu Assassin, chosen to round up the powers of an ancient triad and restore balance once again.”

Oh Netflix… you had me at “martial arts/sci-fi series” but then you had to throw in Iko Uwais as an added bonus. You know me too well. No official release date has been announced but production will begin this August.

Given that it’s one of the most popular (and profitable) video game franchises of all time, you’d think that there’d be at least one feature-length Halo movie by now. But the film has had a long and difficult production despite having names like Peter Jackson, Steven Spielberg, and Ridley Scott attached to it. But maybe Halo was never meant for the big screen, now that Showtime has announced that they’ve ordered 10 episodes of a Halo TV series.

Describing it as their most ambitious series ever, Showtime has tapped Rupert Wyatt as executive producer. Wyatt directed the acclaimed Rise of the Planet of the Apes and will also direct several Halo episodes. While set during the war with the Covenant, it’s unclear where, exactly, in the Halo timeline the series will fall — if it’ll be an adaptation of one of the games or if it’ll be something more standalone. But it will “weave deeply drawn personal stories with action, adventure and a richly imagined vision of the future,” so there’s that.

Showtime’s Halo series is just one of several prestige genre series that have been announced recently. As I wrote earlier, Amazon will be producing a Lord of the Rings series, and Netflix has announced a series based on the Witcher novels, which have already been adapted into several hit video games.