Fans of Academy Award Winner Tilda Swinton will no longer have the opportunity to watch their favorite actress in HBO’s Parasite. The limited TV series comes as something of a sequel to the 2019 South Korean thriller film. Parasite received major critical acclaim and accumulated revenues of $258.7 million worldwide. It also won four Academy Awards in 2020, including Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and even Best Picture. It’s the first South Korean movie to receive Academy Award recognition. Parasite was also the first foreign language film to win the Best Picture award in the Oscars’ 92-year history.
From the Big Screen to a TV Adaptation
The first time we heard about a TV adaptation of Parasite was back in 2020, a month before the Academy Awards. HBO’s limited series is set to be produced by director Adam McKay, whose prominent movies include Don’t Look Up and Anchorman, alongside Bong Joon-ho. Just like its big-screen variation, the TV series will have the same title. It’s set to have six episodes, each of which should be about an hour long. Instead of focusing on retelling the same story told in Parasite, HBO’s TV series will reveal entirely new and original stories. McKay himself describes the project as “… a unique series… that dwells in the same world.” Merely a month after the big announcement, Mark Ruffalo was chosen to star in Parasite. Not long after that, Tilda Swinton was also confirmed to star in a yet undisclosed leading role. The actress told Variety that she still roots for the TV series, even though she’s no longer a part of the project.
What Happens Next
Even though the TV series was announced two years ago, there’s still very little information revealed. Bong Joon-ho has had trouble with adapting movies into TV series before. Most notably, he had technical difficulties with Snowpiercer, a 2013 film of his. The TV adaptation of the same name was set to pilot in November 2016. Instead, it premiered nearly four years later – in May 2020. Parasite was viewed by many as one of the best films of this century. However, the departure of Tilda Swinton might lead to stagnation in the release of the TV series. Also, taking into account that her departure is one of the first things we know about the limited series, it might be some time before viewers have the chance to enjoy the HBO adaptation.