Featuring Filipino folklore and fantasy and a team of Pinoy artists, the Dreamwalker series should definitely be on your radar.
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After the success of his techno-horror movie Deleter at the 48th Metro Manila Film Festival, winning the best picture, best actress (for Nadine Lustre), and best director accolades among others, Filipino director Mikhail Red continues to prove his skill at genre filmmaking. And this time, Mikhail is entering the world of comics as he’s set to take the helm of the action-fantasy series, Dreamwalker.
FILIPINO FOLKLORE AND A MONSTER-SLAYING VLOGGER
Formally unveiled by Variety two days ago, it’s confirmed that a live-adaptation of the chart-topping graphic novel Dreamwalker from writer Mikey Sutton and artist Noel Layon Flores has been greenlit by London- and Singapore-based global media company 108 Media.
Dreamwalker is Sutton’s debut comic book which revolves around the Filipino-American protagonist Kat, a vlogger who has the ability to enter other people’s dreams and retrieve weapons from them that she’ll use to fight monsters and other supernatural beings from Filipino folklore. Sutton, who’s now based in Seattle and is the editor-in-chief of the comic-centric and pop culture website GeekosityMag.com, revealed earlier last year that it was Filipino actress Kate Valdez who inspired him to create Dreamwalker.
“I randomly discovered Kate Valdez in 2018 while recovering from a near-fatal stroke,” reiterates Sutton in the recent press release. “I saw her on the GMA drama Onanay and her emotionally rich performance and timeless beauty made me declare her the Next Big Thing. I modeled and named Dreamwalker after her.”
Valdez, who starred in GMA Network’s teleseryes Unica Hija and the Encantadia sequel, stars as the lead role. Respeto helmer Treb Monteras II is the showrunner while acclaimed Filipino filmmaker Mikhail Red, who worked on Eerie, Neomanila, and Birdshot, is set to be the series director. Meanwhile, Los Angeles-based Filipino-American creative Kaitlyn Fae Fajilan is the head writer. Flores, the Dreamwalker comic book artist, has also previously worked on local series including Encantadia, Mulawin vs. Ravena, and is currently the lead visual artist of Voltes V: The Legacy.
COMING SOON
“The goal is to create an original mind-blowing and visually dynamic series that dives deep into the horrors in our dreams vs. the horrors of our world,” says Monteras. “We will utilize different mediums and techniques to create breath-taking designs that capture Philippine folklore’s intricate universe.” In an earlier feature, Sutton shares that Dreamwalker was inspired by his love for horror stories since his childhood and was influenced by the Japanese manga series Mermaid Saga by Inuyasha writer Rumiko Takahashi.
The show is also envisioned to be an expansive multi-season fantasy universe. Season one zeroes in on Kat’s origin story where she returns to the Philippines under mysterious circumstances, gets thrust to the world of dreams and monsters, and investigates where this supernatural threat comes from. If that’s not enough to excite you, then we don’t know what is. Dreamwalker is slated for release in early 2024.
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