We all remember the thunderous success that was when it came out. It won four Oscars in 2020, including even Best Picture and Best Director for , the Palm d'Or at the Cannes Festival, and countless other accolades, aside from becoming a phenomenon on social media, with memes based on its scenes still going around nowadays. A month before the Oscars that year, , with and Bong himself both set as executive producers. But it has been five years since the announcement, and there has been barely any news of what is going on with that project in the meantime. Only recently did the director give the first proper update in years regarding the series' status. So, can we still hope to see it one day?

A foreign-language movie getting a U.S. remake isn't exactly a novelty in the entertainment industry and usually happens whenever one such film is able to break the language barrier. HBO's announcement of a Parasite series got many people excited, coming at the height of the movie's popularity and shortly before it made waves at the Oscars that year. In January 2020, shortly after the announcement, Bong told TheWrap that for the movie, but not all of them fit into its two-hour running time: "So they're all stored in my iPad and my goal with this limited series is to create a six-hour-long film." That same month, in an interview with THR, he hinted that he thought of many stories "that could happen in between the sequences you see in the film."

Seeing how not much was known about the series at that point, Bong's quote gave the impression that it could be an "expanded" remake, especially because he compared his intentions to 's , which was released both as a film and a TV series, with the latter usually seen as the most complete one. However, in April 2021, Adam McKay revealed to the HappySadConfused podcast that the Parasite series wouldn't be a remake but "." He also mentioned that the project was "staffed up with an incredible writers' room" and that he "basically outlined the series with director Bong during the quarantine, with him overseeing." McKay was also fresh off many Oscar nominations for his work on 2015's and 2019's , so it seemed like there was no one better to bring Parasite to the U.S. context than him.

Parasite's historic run at the 2020 Academy Awards seemed to accelerate things regarding the development of the HBO series. Mere days after it took home four of the five awards the film was nominated for, news about the series starting to work on its cast started making the rounds on the internet. , who months later would go on to deliver an Emmy-winning performance for , also on HBO. His affinity for sharp comedies filled with political commentary seemed to make him an ideal name for the series, but his involvement with the project was never brought up again. He is part of Bong Jooh-ho's most recent film, , though.

The other name linked to the Parasite series was . Her potential involvement was also first brought up in February 2020, with speculations that she would play a role equivalent to Chung-sook (), the Kim family mother in the movie, while Ruffalo could play a role equivalent to Kim Ki-taek (), the family's father. Unfortunately, , saying: "I don't think I'll be a part of it, but I'm very happy to be a cheerleader." Swinton and Bong Joon-ho had worked together before in 2013's and 2017's , so her being in the new series felt right, but it wasn't meant to be, apparently.

Delays aside, Parasite's victory at the 2020 Academy Awards was one of the last hurrahs for an industry that would be severely hit shortly after. That same year, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and countless projects had to be put on hold or were straight-up canceled. For at least a year, things happened very slowly (if at all), and . Later, as the world and the industry figured out the next steps going forward, the WGA strike hit in September 2023, affecting many ongoing and developing projects again, and it didn't seem like the series was on anyone's radar.

Only in May 2023 did we get the first update about the status of the Parasite series in over a year... And it wasn't a very uplifting one. Speaking to Deadline, HBO's head of drama, , talked about the state of the television industry post-pandemic and pre-strike and brushed on the series' subject. According to her, at that time, than something that might get picked up anytime soon." Considering that the WGA strike would begin months later, this wasn't good news. "I'm hoping once it's over, we can dig in and see if we can make that real," she finished, but, again, no news for years. Until February 2025, that is.

Now, after years in the dark, we finally got an uplifting update from none other than Bong Joon-ho himself. At the Mickey 17 premiere, he told Deadline that, yes, the Parasite series is happening, but it's still in the development stage. "," adding that "." However, it may take a long time until we see it or even get another update because, as he was leaving, Bong left us hanging, saying, "Just wait a bit longer, it's going to take a while." Bong's remark reinforces McKay's statement in April 2021 about a writers' room for the series, so now we can be sure that there really is some work being done on the project.

So, by the looks of it, right now . Ever since the series was first announced, both Bong and Adam McKay have had many projects going on that also required their attention. Bong had Mickey 17, while McKay worked on other HBO series, like and , and also his own 2021 movie . Those really have been some busier-than-usual years, after all, so we're willing to wait a little longer for whatever Bong and McKay are cooking. It's Parasite, after all.

Parasite is available to stream on Hulu in the U.S.