Emmy Nominee Lee Jung-Jae Will Star In ‘Deliver Us From Evil’ Spin-Off Series

Lee Jung-jae will star in an upcoming spin-off series based on the Korean action thriller Deliver Us From Evil (2020). Already immensely successful as a veteran actor in South Korea, Lee recently received his first Emmy nomination for his leading role as Seong Gi-hun in Netflix’s Squid Game. The Deliver Us From Evil spin-off series is tentatively titled Ray, with director Hong Won-chan returning to the project as one of its creators.

Originally released in August 2020, Deliver Us From Evil starred Hwang Jung-min and Lee. The film raked in $33.8m at the box office from 4.35 million admissions amid a tough, pandemic-hit theatrical season. The spin-off series will be co-produced by Hive Media Corp (which also produced the original feature) as well as Artist Studio, which produced Lee’s directorial debut Hunt and Netflix’s gripping sci-fi series The Silent Sea.

The series will follow Ray, a mysterious Korean killer from Japan who tracks down Hwang’s character in Deliver Us From Evil for revenge. In addition to reprising his role, Lee will be producing the series, which is currently in the treatment stage. Other creatives attached to the series include scriptwriter Kim Bo-tong from Netflix’s hit series D.P. and acclaimed cinematographer Hong Kyung Pyo. Hong lensed the original Deliver Us From Evil as well as Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite and Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Broker, among others.

Lee’s career has gone from strength to strength, with his debut feature Hunt notching a world premiere in the Cannes Film Festival’s Midnight section in May this year. Two weeks ago, Magnolia Pictures snapped up U.S. rights to Lee’s film, with a December theatrical release in the pipeline. Hunt will also be screened as a Gala Presentation at the Toronto International Film Festival next month.

Set in the 1980s amid high tensions between North and South Korea, the espionage thriller follows two agents (played by Lee and fellow actor Jung Woo-sung) in Korean Central Intelligence who are tasked with finding a mole within the agency. However, in the process, the two agents learn of a grand plot to assassinate the South Korean president.