From starting out as an already beloved webtoon and web novel, Solo Levelinghas truly blossomed as a franchise in the last two years since the release of its anime. Naturally, Netflix saw how immensely popular the series is and tried to get its slice of that success, officially announcing a Solo Leveling live-action adaptation back in July 2025.
Since the announcement, the project seemed to be moving along smoothly, first casting Byeon Woo-seok as Jinwoo, followed by Han So-hee as Cha Hae-in, and eventually even bringing on Kang You-seok as Yoo Jinho. That said, the update fans have been waiting for the most is the release date, and Solo Leveling’s live-action just gave fans its biggest production update yet.
Netflix’s Solo Leveling Live-Action Drops Production Update and Episode Count
According to a recent job listing on the Korean forum Filmmakers Community, Solo Leveling’s Netflix live-action is listed with seven episodes and will begin filming in late April 2026. The listing in question was for prop team members and also reveals that the casting for the main cast has been completed.
This means fans can likely expect to see casting announcements for other characters soon enough, hopefully including Lee Joohee, and the other S-rank hunters like Baek Yoonho and Choi Jong-in.
While fans still don’t have a proper release window to look forward to, the revelation that the series will begin filming and production in April 2026 does help put together an estimated timeline. A seven-episode run is certainly on the shorter side for a K-drama, which means the series might not take too long to film.
That said, in Solo Leveling’s case, a lot of the real magic will definitely be happening in the editing room, and the VFX and CGI elements will certainly take time. All things considered, the live-action series could potentially be looking at a late 2026 release or an early 2027 one at worst.
Solo Leveling’s Live-Action Episode Count is Troubling
Overall, while it’s reassuring that production on the live-action is moving along rather expeditiously, there is still one troubling part of the new update, which is the episode count. Even though K-drama episodes are usually on the longer side, seven episodes are still far too little for a story as vast as Solo Leveling, even if they are each about an hour long.
Naturally, this begs the question of how much of the anime or webtoon the live-action will be able to adapt within seven episodes, and a good bet might be about as much as Season 1 of the anime. Any more and the live-action would risk feeling rushed, which is already a growing issue with the anime.
All that said, while there are many fans who are still skeptical of the live-action, Netflix has admittedly redeemed itself as of late with the likes of the One Piece live-action. Solo Leveling’s stacked live-action cast also suggests hope for a good adaptation, though only time will tell how the series actually turns out.
- Release Date
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2024 – 2025-00-00
- Network
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Tokyo MX, Gunma TV, BS11, Tochigi TV
- Directors
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Tatsuya Sasaki, Toru Hamasaki
- Writers
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Shigeru Murakoshi, Shingo Irie, Fuka Ishii
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Genta Nakamura
Yoo Jin-ho
