Netflix's 8-Part Female John Wick Series Is One Of Its Best Binges

Published Nov 13, 2026, 7:59 PM EST Cathal Gunning has been writing about movies, television, culture, and politics online and in print since 2017. He worked as a Senior Editor in Adbusters Media Foundation from 2018-2019 and wrote for WhatCulture in early 2020. He has been a Senior Features Writer for ScreenRant since 2020. It’s rare for any thriller to live up to the John Wick franchise, let alone a small-screen show, but one Netflix series with a single season managed this feat. It is tough to think of an action thriller movie from the last 15 years that was more influential than 2014’s John Wick. In terms of pure plot, the Keanu Reeves vehicle was the simple story of a retired assassin killing every criminal involved in his dog’s death. However, in visual and aesthetic terms, John Wick spelled the death knell for the shaky cam style that dominated action thrillers in the 2000s and early 2010s thanks to the popularity of director Paul Greengrass’s groundbreaking Bourne sequels. After John Wick’s release, the movie’s sequels popularized a hyper-smooth, slick action filmmaking style that prioritized gliding, unbroken Steadicam shots over fast-cutting. Soon enough, Atomic Blonde, Bullet Train, Extraction, the Nobody movies, Kate, Gunpowder Milkshake, Pretty Lethal, Violent Night, and almost every other action thriller movie had embraced this CGI-assisted filmmaking style. Few of these efforts could match the John Wick sequels, and even John Wick’s own streaming spinoff The Continental ended up feeling like a knock off rather than a legitimate franchise entry. This is why it is so impressive that Netflix’s under-seen South Korean thriller series My Name recaptured John Wick’s entire appeal perfectly. Netflix’s My Name Is A Killer Female Led Action Thriller About Revenge Image courtesy of Everett Collection As an action thriller about revenge, My Name sounds straightforwardly similar to John Wick in terms of plot. However, the complicated lore of the show’s story makes My Name closer in story terms to the Internal Affairs movies or their Americanized re-imagining, The Departed. Han So-hee’s Yoon Ji-woo is the daughter of a powerful mob member who joins the city's police so she can act as a mole and pass on information to the Dongcheon drug cartel. Yoon Ji-woo’s boss, the kingpin Choi Mu-jin, encourages her to spy on the police, meaning the show’s heroine soon lands a spot on the very task force that is investigating the cartel. However, once there, she learns from her new detective partner that Choi Mu-jin is suspected to have killed her father. With split loyalties, Yoon Ji-woo has no one to trust and every reason to sharpen her combat skills. While My Name’s plot is as complex as any crime drama like Love/Hate, this show is no slow burn, realistic character study. Instead, Netflix’s hyper-stylized My Name is a neon-drenched thrill ride, as Yoon Ji-woo battles her way through the city’s criminal underworld while trying to solve the mystery of her father’s sudden death. Gritty, dark, and fast-paced, the action show is a must-watch for fans of revenge thrillers. My Name’s One-Season Run Makes The Action Thriller A Netflix Must-Watch Every action show needs to find the right balance between constant fights, chases, and gun battles, but My Name’s tense premise gives the story an incredible head start in this regard. My Name’s twisty plot and the complicated machinations of its heroine’s plan mean that even the show’s quiet dialogue scenes crackle with constant tension. There is always a risk that Yoon Ji-woo will be exposed as a mole in either organization, which ramps up tension during quiet scenes and makes the action all the more hard hitting. Even compared to dark crime thrillers like This City Is Ours, My Name’s one-season story is a masterclass in tension building. On that note, the show’s one-season status actually works for, rather than against, My Name as a series on the whole. While it would have been hard to drag My Name’s story out for more than one season, Netflix’s killer John Wick replacement wisely limited its story to just one perfectly paced outing instead. Release Date 2021 - 2021-00-00 Network Netflix Directors Kim Jin-min Writers Kim Ba-da Creator(s) Kim Jin-min, Kim Ba-da