Filmmaker Erik Matti on Tuesday debuted the first look at “BuyBust: The Undesirables," his first collaboration with Netflix, during a Creator-to-Creator session at JAFF Creative Asia 2025 in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
Matti appeared alongside Indonesian director Joko Anwar to discuss Netflix’s growing investment in Southeast Asian storytelling and the opportunities it is creating for regional filmmakers. The session included a preview clip from the project, which expands the world of Matti’s 2018 action film "BuyBust."
The footage reintroduced Anne Curtis in her original role and revealed the addition of Gerald Anderson, along with several returning and new characters. Netflix described the new installment as a larger, more ambitious story that pushes the original narrative in new directions.
Matti said the idea for an expanded universe began shortly after the 2018 film’s release, eventually developing into a nine-episode series set to premiere on Netflix in 2026. The new storyline moves away from the drug war themes of the first film, he said.
“We made it about rich and poor — the powerful and the powerless,” Matti said during the panel. “We wanted to talk about the Philippines as a country and whether it was impossible to ‘clean it up’ without going political. We are focusing on real characters and the real conflicts of each of them.”
"BuyBust: The Undesirables" marks Netflix’s first partnership with Matti, who's known for his detailed world-building and character-driven genre work. The project adds to the streaming service’s efforts to bolster its slate of original Southeast Asian titles.
The series is set to arrive on Netflix in 2026.