‘Butterfly’: Daniel Dae Kim, Reina Hardesty & More on Bringing the Spy Drama to Korea

Daniel Dae Kim is one of the most recognizable Korean American actors in the business (thanks to a string of TV successes like Lost, Hawaii Five-0, and The Good Doctor). So when he saw the opportunity to meld the cultures of his birthplace and where he grew up with Butterfly, Amazon’s new six-part spy thriller, he seized on it. The series, which he stars in and executive produces, adapts Arash Amel’s graphic novel of the same name but fully moves the action from Europe to South Korea.

“I’ve always been interested in projects that bridge cultures. Being Korean American, I’ve lived and experienced two different ones that I have never seen really melded together on screen before through the lens of someone like me, a Korean American,” he told TV Insider. “So when this project came along through a meeting that I had with Boom Comics, I thought, ‘Well, it’s a show about a father and daughter. It’s set in Europe, but maybe I can actually change it to Asia, and I can address some of the themes that have been really important to me through my life.’ And that was really what got me excited about this, and that’s where we got the ball rolling.”

In Butterfly, Kim plays David Jung, a retired spy who faked his death after a mission-gone-wrong but has to return to the surface to rescue his estranged daughter, Reina Hardesty‘s Rebecca, after she follows in his footsteps to work for Caddis, the vicious organization he once cofounded with Juno, played by Piper Perabo.

The change is not just one of scenery. The series was fully produced in Korea, and that task presented its own unique set of challenges. Said Kim, “We shot it 100% in Korea with a Korean crew. And anytime you work in a foreign country, there are certain challenges because some of our producing team didn’t understand Korean, and some of our crew did not understand English. So we always had to build in what we called ‘Translation Time,’ and I was going back and forth a lot, just trying to communicate between both parties. And so that took a little time, but it was definitely worth it because there aren’t many people in producing teams who can do a project like this. And that was one of the things that I thought that I could bring to it as a Korean American, the knowledge of both cultures allowed me to mediate, to facilitate, sometimes to interpret, and really make things run efficiently in a way that would have been harder, otherwise.”

Related

'Butterfly' Trailer: Daniel Dae Kim's New Spy Drama Has a Family Twist

For Hardesty, the appeal of joining the series was both its locale and the heart of the father-daughter narrative that backbones the show as it moves from one city to another in a massive cat-and-mouse chase. “I just felt immediately very emotionally connected to Rebecca,” she explained. “The idea of filming something in Seoul was very exciting, too. I always love a fun location that I’ve never been to. But, really, it was the story and the family dynamic of it all that I felt very connected to and wanted to tell that story.”

Similarly, Kim Tae-hee, who makes her Hollywood debut in the series after years of success in Korea, was compelled by the story within the story. “What really drew me in was not only the exciting spy-action [element] but also the touching story about a family’s bond. I believe it’s natural for families to trust each other, but the possibility of betrayal in certain situations made me really curious about how the story would develop. Eventually, spies are human, too, and killers could also have a family. So in that sense, I think anyone can relate to and enjoy our show,” she said.

Meanwhile, Perabo, who previously worked with Kim in the 2005 monster horror The Cave, relished the idea of playing such a complex, powerful, and ruthless person as Juno. “This is one of the greatest villains I’ve ever been offered,” she mused. “I’ve known Daniel Dae Kim for a long time, and when he called, I would say yes, no matter what. But then, when it was a villain, I couldn’t say no.”

Prime Video

Kim credits his costars for their various contributions to the series: Hardesty for her physical preparation, Perabo for her research, and Tae-hee for her Korean star power. “I was so happy to see how physically capable Reina was and how enthusiastic she was about the action. Once we cast her, obviously, we asked her to keep it quiet for a little while, but I started following her on Instagram, and every day on her stories, she would be in the gym, training, fighting,” he remembered. “I just love the idea that she took it upon herself to start training, even before we started the formal training process. She was really dedicated, and she brought a lot of enthusiasm every day to every aspect of the show.”

“Piper and I were friends before we started this show, and that was really important because we had already developed a rapport and a level of trust,” Kim continued. “She is a really, really talented actor, very dedicated. She delved really deeply into her character right from the start…. She’s very dedicated, and so she brought that level of dedication to her character. And so we could go deep very quickly about what their past was, how they feel about one another, and how it could inform little nuances in the scenes. So it was a joy to work with her.” About Tae-hee, he added, “[She] is well known throughout Korea, and has been for decades, and she couldn’t have been more gracious and elegant on set. I just think she brings a flavor to this show that helps make it unique.”

Find out how all of these characters come together for an action-filled clash when Butterfly premieres in full on August 13.

Butterfly, Series Premiere, Wednesday, August 13, Amazon Prime Video