Netflix announces Solo Leveling Live Action series with Byeon Woo-seok as Sung Jin-woo
Looks like we’ll be getting more anime / manhwa adaptations soon with the announcement of a new Solo Leveling live action series starring Byeon Woo-seok as Sung Jin-woo
Check out the official announcement for the casting below on Netflix’s social media accounts
Solo Leveling, the global phenomenon, is coming to Netflix as a live-action series starring Byeon Woo-seok as lead character Sung Jin-woo. pic.twitter.com/tw7TaUONKp
— Netflix (@netflix) July 9, 2025
At this point we don’t have anything other than the first casting news but I guestimate this could come out 2026 at the earliest and 2027 at the latest.
About Solo Leveling
Solo Leveling, also alternatively translated as Only I Level Up (Korean: 나 혼자만 레벨업; RR: Na honjaman rebereop) is a South Korean fantasy web novel written by Chugong. It was serialized in Kakao’s digital comic and fiction platform KakaoPage beginning on July 25, 2016, and was later published by D&C Media under their Papyrus label since November 4, 2016. The novel has been licensed in English by Yen Press.
A webtoon adaptation of Solo Leveling was first serialized in KakaoPage on March 4, 2018; it was illustrated by Jang Sung-rak (Dubu) and the webtoon’s first season concluded on March 19, 2020, followed by its second season, which was released from August 2020 to December 2021.[1] The webtoon has been licensed in English by Yen Press. Its individual chapters have been collected and published in 14 volumes by D&C Media, as of June 2025.[2]
An anime television series adaptation produced by A-1 Pictures aired from January to March 2024. A second season, subtitled Arise from the Shadow, aired from January to March 2025.
A Korean drama adaptation is in development, and spin-off webtoon Solo Leveling: Ragnarok premiered in July 2024.
A role-playing video game titled Solo Leveling: Arise has been released by Netmarble
Solo Leveling Plot
In a world where hunters — human warriors who possess supernatural abilities — must battle deadly monsters to protect all mankind from certain annihilation, a notoriously weak hunter named Sung Jin-woo finds himself in a seemingly endless struggle for survival. One day, after narrowly surviving an overwhelmingly powerful double dungeon that nearly wipes out his entire party, a mysterious program called the System chooses him as its sole player and in turn, gives him the unique ability to level up in strength. This is something no other hunter is able to do, as a hunter’s abilities are set once they awaken. Jinwoo then sets out on a journey as he fights against all kinds of enemies, both man and monster, to discover the secrets of the dungeons and the true source of his powers. He soon discovers that he has been chosen to inherit the position of Shadow Monarch, essentially turning him into an immortal necromancer known as the “King of the Dead” who has absolute rule over the dead, created by a god while in the middle of the war between its two creations of light and dark, the Rulers and the Monarch. He is the only Monarch who fights to save humanity, as the other Monarchs, who are actually the leaders of all monsters, trying to kill him and wipe out the humans.
In the anime, Sung Jin-Woo is voiced by Taito Ban for the Japanese dub, Aleks Le for the English dub
Meanwhile Byeon Woo Seok’s filmography includes Dear My Friends, Weighlifting Fairy Kim Bok-joo in 2016, Welcome to Waikiki, Strong Girl Nam-Soon and his recent hit Lovely Runner.
