Daniel Dae Kimwas called one of the world’s 100 most influential people by Time Magazine, and there’s a reason why. If Kim is starring in a production, you can bet top-notch plots will be involved. The actor portrayed Jin-Soo Kwon in the popularscience fiction action seriesLostand Chin Ho Kelly in the reboot of the 1968 police procedural dramaHawaii Five-O(2010–2017), among other roles. Now, he’s starring inone of the most talked-about spy thrillersthat’s dominating the streaming charts,Butterfly. The Amazon Prime Video series, according toFlixPatrol, is currently No. 2, and looks like it won’t be falling out of its top 5 spot anytime soon.
InButterfly,Kim plays David Jung, a former U.S. intelligence operative living in South Korea. The synopsis reads, “The life of David Jung, an enigmatic, highly unpredictable former US intelligence operative living in South Korea, is blown to pieces when the consequences of an impossible decision from his past come back to haunt him, and he finds himself pursued by Rebecca, a deadly, sociopathic young agent assigned to kill him.” Steph Cha and Ken Woodruff create the series, which is based on the Boom! Studios graphic novel series created by Arash Amel.
Alongside Daniel Dae Kim, the main cast also includes Reina Hardesty as Rebecca (David’s daughter), Louis Landau as Oliver Barnes, and Piper Perabo (who starred in the 2010 seriesCovert Affairs) as Juno. The recurring characters and actors include Kim Tae-hee as Eunju Kim, Park Hae-soo as Yong Shik Choi, Nayoon Kim as Minhee Jung, Kim Ji-hoon as Gun, Charles Parnell as Senator George Dawson, and Sean Dulake as Hollis.Butterflypremiered on August 04, 2025, with six episodes, and Kim is adamant that it’s not just another spy thriller. During an interview with Variety, he saidButterflydoesn’t skimp on the action, but it also doesn’t lack character development.
For everyone who loves the action genreand the spy genre, they will get their fill. So many of these kinds of shows really lack character development or relationships that you care about. What I love about our show is that even if you took away a lot of the action, it holds up as a relationship drama. It’s really an examination of families.
How Daniel’s Character in ‘Butterfly’ Resonates with Those Watching, According To the Actor
While viewers watch shows to escape reality and immerse themselves in a fictional world, relatable characters can make the production ten times better. AlthoughButterflyis a spy thriller, David Jung is also a father who believes he did the right thing to protect his daughter. When asked why it takes so long for his character to come back for Rebecca, Kim said:
I will say this, David made certain choices. We’ve all made certain choices in our lives that we thought were right at the time, and through a little bit of experience, age and wisdom, we realized that that choice that we thought was right was actually the complete opposite.
