Netflix has confirmed that The Blue Road, its upcoming Korean-Japanese live action crime series adapted from a manhwa, will premiere worldwide on November 20, 2026. Previously developed under the working title Road, the production is directed by Joon-hee Han, known for D.P. and Coin Locker Girl. Alongside the release date announcement, Netflix unveiled the first official poster and trailer, offering an early look at the dark atmosphere and cross-border investigation at the center of the story.

The series follows two detectives forced to work together after a disturbing series of murders emerges across South Korea and Japan. Seok-gu Son plays Seok Kim, an investigator from the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, while Eita Nagayama portrays Inose, a detective working for the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. Their contrasting personalities and investigative methods are expected to create additional tension as both men attempt to uncover the connection between seemingly related crimes occurring in their respective countries.

The first trailer introduces several unsettling elements surrounding the case, including messages written using the victims' blood, mysterious crime scenes and the recurring image of a tiger. Shin-rok Kim also appears as a Korean-Japanese businessperson whose role is connected to the developing mystery. The promotional poster reinforces the international nature of the investigation, placing the two protagonists in separate Korean and Japanese urban environments while cryptic messages appear behind them in both languages.

The Blue Road is based on Purungil: Ao no Michi, a five-volume Korean-Japanese collaborative comic originally released in 2002. Written by Keishi Edogawa and illustrated by Korean artist Kaya Kwon, the story combines hard-boiled crime fiction with cultural tensions and cooperation between the two countries. Its central case begins after a mutilated body is discovered in Tokyo beside a message written in Korean, followed by a similar murder in South Korea accompanied by a message in Japanese. The similarities ultimately bring the two detectives together as they pursue a killer operating across national borders.