This year, Prime Video released a slate of new action thrillers and each of them found their audience. This included Jensen Ackle‘s Countdown, Daniel Dae Kim‘s Butterfly and the Maggie Q Bosch spin-off, Ballard. Despite all of them making Prime Video’s Top 10 in streaming, only Ballard was given a green light for a second season, while the other two faced the chopping block. Butterfly, in particular, was a head-scratching cancellation, especially as it surged in the streaming charts just days after the announcement of its lack of renewal. It’s clear that fans are still re-living the non-stop action of the show, so don’t let its cancellation dissuade you — Butterfly‘s single season has all the wall-to-wall espionage and heart to make for a fun binge.

‘Butterfly’ Climbed Up Prime Video’s Charts After Its Cancellation

Kim, as David Jung, is in the lead of this spy thriller meets family drama, turning into a retired spy who is presumed dead, but returns to his former stomping grounds to save his daughter from the same fate. Reina Hardesty‘s Rebecca had been groomed into a heartless, elite assassin by David’s former partner, Juno (Piper Perabo). When Rebecca finds out he is still alive, she is torn between her loyalty to her mentor and her father, leading to a cat and mouse chase that also acts as family therapy.

After Butterfly premiered on the streaming service, it hit its peak at #6 on Nielsen’s Top 10 Streaming Originals in the U.S., an impressive feat that made it look like the show would have a future. Combine this with an Audience Rotten Tomatoes score of 83%, and it’s clear that the series has resonated with audiences. So, the news of the cancellation was shocking, to say the least, even if the show dropped from the charts just beforehand. Prime Video cited a broader “slate reevaluation” as the reason for not renewing the series, but what happened a few days after the news probably points to this as being an unwise or rushed decision.

Butterfly rocketed to #3 on Prime Video’s global charts, once again, finding an even bigger audience only after Amazon MGM studios pulled the plug on the show. Whether this is a response to the cancellation or a mere coincidence, it points to the question: was the decision to cancel the show made too soon? The spy thriller is clearly hooking viewers in, and considering it also ends on a wild cliffhanger, there are probably more than a few unsatisfied fans yearning for some answers. However, despite some unanswered questions, there are enough thrills in the lone season to make the show worth viewing if you haven’t already.

‘Butterfly’ Wins Us Over by Blending Together Espionage, Culture, and Emotion

Butterfly may have had a middling critical reception, earning an RT score of 68%, but there was one thing critics collectively agreed on: Kim delivered a stunning performance. Kim’s David was naturally at the center of the show and all its contrasting elements, tying them together through his acting and characterization. He becomes the driving force of the series that makes it so bingeable, even if we know there’s no second season on the horizon. As an action lead, he participates in some of the most mesmerizing and adrenaline-pumping fighting sequences, and as a father, he portrays the vulnerability and guilt of navigating his estranged relationship with his daughter.

On top of this, Kim’s performance is what makes Butterfly a well-rounded cultural milestone. During SDCC 2025, he told Collider that “Korea is definitely a character in our series, and that’s one of the things that makes our show unique.” As such, through Kim and Hardesty’s performances and father-daughter chemistry, Butterfly is able to incorporate Korean culture in an organic way rather than a “token-istic” one. David is constantly introducing Rebecca to different aspects of Korean culture, like drinking Makgeolli or even through how they interact with different cities in the respective episodes titled after them, like “Busan” or “Seoul.”

So, even though Butterfly hasn’t been renewed for a second season, considering the show’s action-packed atmosphere and its importance as a cultural milestone, it’s still definitely worth the watch anyway. The six episodes are filled with so many twists and so much heart, that it’ll suck you in from the second you see Kim’s David skulking around in the shadows. Between its tumultuous pace and emotional storyteling, it is primed for a weekend binge. We may wish that Season 2 was green lit to, at the very least, address the final cliffhanger, but Butterfly’s first season alone is an enticing must-watch, rolling cutthroat assassins and family nuance into one gripping package.

Release Date

August 13, 2025

Network

Prime Video

Directors

Kitao Sakurai

In recent decades, South Korea has released a variety of exceptional thrillers into the global film and TV scene. Bong Joon-ho‘s history-making masterpiece Parasite and Hwang Dong-hkuk‘s international phenomenon Squid Game both connected with international audiences through their incisive look at the ills of capitalism. Park Chan-wook‘s devastating Oldboy and Kim Jee-woon‘s I Saw the Devil take audiences and protagonists alike to dark places. Jung Byung-Gil‘s The Man from Nowhere is exceptional, while Na Hong-jin‘s horrific The Wailing is one of the better supernatural horror films in our era.

Many of these projects blend unflinching looks at human villainy, visceral action, surprising plot twists, and high production value to create some of the most watchable and heart-pounding thrillers we’ve seen. In Mercy for None, So Ji-seob powerfully adeptly plays an emotional juggernaut on a campaign of revenge. Some of it requires suspension of disbelief, but it’s a gritty, action-packed, twisty thriller that satisfies the itch to see hundreds of gangsters yeeted across a room by a very sad man.

What Is ‘Mercy for None’ About?

Eleven years before the events of Mercy for None, legendary gangster Nam Ki-jun (So Ji-seob) has long since abandoned a life of crime (severing his Achilles tendon to do so). When his younger brother, Nam Ki-seok (Lee Jun-hyuk), is ambushed and killed, Ki-jun comes out of retirement to hunt down people and leads to discover who killed his brother and why. He puts himself in the crosshairs of a number of criminal organizations as he plows through opposition, even coming face to face with unhinged young mob heir Koo Jun-Mo (Gong Myoung) and his seemingly endless supply of thugs. It spirals into enjoyably unexpected directions as betrayals, secret plans, and the consequences of vengeance come to light.

So Ji-seob gives a strong performance as grizzled protagonist Nam Ki-jun. He’s certainly a character who does more with actions than words, but Ji-seob emotes well, plodding through obstacles and over bodies with an evident sadness befitting a character suffering loss. He also capably handles the action choreography, with his combat feeling natural with expert efficiency. The series features a few distinct sociopaths who are played with flair, including Gong Myoung as heir apparent Koo Jun-mo. An Kil-kang and Heo Jun-ho also adeptly portray dueling gang heads facing a vulnerable truce.

Many projects attempt to be John Wick-esque these days, but Mercy for None actually deserves the title. The “returned ultra-violent criminal carves a body-strewn path through gangland” similarities are clear from Episode 1, but key differences in style set the projects apart. Avoiding guns allows fight sequences to feel gritty, close, and personal, closer in spirit to Oldboy‘s signature hallway hammer fight than to Wick‘s polished gun-fu. The fight sequences are visceral, bloody, and intense, while So Ji-seob conjures his inner Michael Myers and regulates dozens of foes at a time. It’s not always plausible (sometimes he hits a man, and they go flying in irrational ways), but it’s genuinely fun to watch.

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If You Want a Bloody Action Thriller With Flair, Look No Further Than ‘Mercy for None’

There are minor quibbles that could be had with Mercy for None. It doesn’t dive deep into the interiority of Nam Ki-jun or other major characters. Ki-jun is often silent and perpetually vaguely sad, and rarely do we get a deeper sense of any character beyond dangerous motives like revenge or ambition. One has to simply accept that things are happening and leave it there. That said, Mercy for None lands its blood-soaked action sequences and sufficiently surprising plotting to stay engaging, alongside a solid set of central performances that elevate the threadbare characterization.

It’s hard to describe Mercy for None in a way that doesn’t sound like a John Wick ripoff, but it leans into the tropes of South Korean thrillers to elevate an otherwise simple revenge narrative. So Ji-seob is great as the grieving but deadly protagonist, while supporting players give personality to sometimes underdeveloped characters. It’s a simple series that knows exactly what it is–an exploration of how breakable bodies are — and on that score, it delivers in continually entertaining ways. Bones crack, bodies fly, and blood stains the walls of many villains’ hideaways. Some of the characterization could be richer, details could make more sense, and the physics of particular action scenes is occasionally suspect, but it’s a well-executed thriller series nonetheless.

Mercy for None

Fans of action-heavy South Korean thrillers can’t miss Mercy for None.

Release Date

June 6, 2025

Network

Netflix

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Pros & Cons

• So Ji-sub is great as the grieving, violent protagonist, anchoring the character and landing the action sequences.
• The series maintains the high-energy melee flair that the best South Korean thrillers have, with stellar fight choreography.
• The narrative is sufficiently complex to keep the tale fresh and surprising.

• Some of the characters could be written with greater depth, or specific plot threads developed further.