A rare blood type. A contract killer sworn to protect her. A decades-old massacre that refuses to stay buried. Netflix’s new Thai action romance My Dearest Assassin blends brutal combat, tragic romance, and high-stakes conspiracy into one of the platform’s most visually explosive Asian releases of the moment.
Directed by Taweewat Wantha, the film follows a young Vietnamese woman forced to live in hiding after becoming the target of powerful criminals obsessed with her extraordinarily rare blood type. Assigned to protect her is a cold and highly trained Thai assassin whose mission slowly evolves into something far more personal. But when the man responsible for her parents’ murder reappears years later, the story erupts into a violent showdown fuelled by revenge, loyalty, and forbidden love.
Now streaming on Netflix, My Dearest Assassin openly embraces the influence of classic Hong Kong heroic bloodshed cinema from the late 1980s and early 1990s, combining emotional melodrama with stylised gunfights, relentless action choreography, and operatic intensity.
The film stars Pimchanok Luevisadpaibul, Thanapob Leeratanakachorn, and Sivakorn Adulsuttikul in a triangle of loyalty, love, and grief that the narrative puts under increasing pressure as it moves toward its finale. At its core, My Dearest Assassin is a melodrama in the spirit of Hong Kong’s heroic bloodshed movies, especially those of the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Here’s everything you need to know about My Dearest Assassin: from the story and cast to critical reactions and release details. The trailer is at the end of the article.
My Dearest Assassin: full details
- Title: My Dearest Assassin
- Original title: Lueat Rak Nakkha (เลือดรักนักฆ่า)
- Format: Movie
- Runtime: 2h 7m
- Genre: Action, Romance, Crime, Drama
- Country: Thailand
- Language: Thai
- Director: Taweewat Wantha
- Screenplay: Watthana Veerayawattana
- Cast: Pimchanok Luevisadpaibul, Thanapob Leeratanakachorn, Sivakorn Adulsuttikul, Toni Rakkaen
- Production: Sunwrite Moonact
- Platform: Netflix
- Release date: May 7, 2026
- Age rating: TV-MA
What is My Dearest Assassin about?
Lhan, a Vietnamese girl with an uncommonly rare blood type, flees Pruek – a ruthless treasure hunter who murdered her parents. Poh, the leader of the assassin organization House 89, rescues her and offers her refuge in Thailand. Alongside Pran, Poh’s son, and M, another orphan taken in by the organization, Lhan builds a new life defined by learning to face danger. The bond between Lhan and Pran deepens into a romance, until Pruek returns, determined to claim her rare blood at any cost.
The film’s central tension is built on an inherent contradiction: Lhan is sheltered by people whose profession is violence, yet she herself was never trained for it. When a brutal attack claims the lives of many in her found family, hunted and forced to confront an old enemy, she undergoes intensive training to fight alongside those she loves. The premise uses the Thai action film genre’s characteristic blend of sentiment and bloodshed to examine what it costs to belong to a world you never chose, and whether love forged under those conditions can survive what that world demands.
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Who directed My Dearest Assassin?
Taweewat Wantha – previously the director of Death Whisperer 3 and the horror film Attack 13 – brings to this production a characteristic efficiency and a willingness to lean into montage as a structural device. His approach to the genre is rooted in spectacle and emotional directness. The screenplay was written by Watthana Veerayawattana, whose previous credits include Rabbit on the Moon. Together they have constructed a film that prioritizes kinetic energy and emotional amplitude over narrative intricacy – a choice that reflects the traditions of the heroic bloodshed genre the film openly courts.
Main cast and characters
Pimchanok Luevisadpaibul as Lhan: Known internationally as Baifern, and recognizable from Friend Zone (2018) and Beauty Newbie, Pimchanok plays Lhan – the film’s central figure. Outside of AI Love You, this is her first Netflix project, and the role places considerable physical and emotional demands on her. Lhan moves through the film as both a victim of circumstance and, eventually, an active participant in the violence that has always surrounded her.
Thanapob Leeratanakachorn as Pran: Known as Tor, and previously seen in Netflix’s 2021 film Ghost Lab as well as One for the Road and Nice to Never Meet You, Thanapob plays Pran – Poh’s son and Lhan’s protector-turned-romantic-partner. The character carries the weight of obligation and inheritance that the film’s thematic concerns circle around: a man trained to kill who is asked to feel, and the friction between those two modes of being. He is also well known in Thailand as a singer and former member of the boy group 9×9.
Sivakorn Adulsuttikul as M: Known as Porsche, Sivakorn is prominent in Thai music as well as acting, with roles in Great Men Academy and In Family We Trust. He plays M – the third member of the found-family trio at the film’s core. His character has drawn particularly strong audience responses, and the film treats his arc with a degree of emotional seriousness that has resonated with viewers well beyond the film’s home market.
Toni Rakkaen as Pruek: Toni Rakkaen plays Pruek, the film’s principal villain – a ruthless treasure hunter whose need for Lhan’s rare blood drives the central conflict. The character has drawn mixed critical notice: some reviewers find him a memorably relentless antagonist, while others have noted that his motivations remain underdeveloped across the film’s runtime.
Is it based on a true story?
My Dearest Assassin is not based on real events. It is an original screenplay written by Watthana Veerayawattana, produced as a Netflix Thai original by Sunwrite Moonact. The premise – a woman with a rare blood type hunted for transfusion by a powerful criminal – is fictional, though it draws on conventions well established in Southeast Asian action cinema.
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What critics are saying about My Dearest Assassin
Critical reception has been mixed but largely appreciative of the film’s genre commitments. Screen Anarchy positioned it squarely within the heroic bloodshed tradition, noting that its raison d’être are the overamped action sequences – blood and bone-breaking deployed with something close to poetic intent. That framing explains both the film’s strengths and its resistance to subtlety.
Viewer responses on Letterboxd have been enthusiastic about the action choreography while flagging structural issues: the 127-minute runtime accommodates montages and relationship drama that some find excessive, though the consensus is that the nonstop gunfights and high-stakes finale deliver on the genre’s promises. Audience scores on MyDramaList sit at 7.5 out of 10, based on 572 users at time of publication.
More measured assessments have pointed to the villain as an area of weakness – reviewers at DMTalkies and But Why Tho noted the antagonist struggles to achieve full memorability despite evident effort – and to a tonal imbalance between the romance and action registers that the film does not always resolve cleanly. The critical consensus positions My Dearest Assassin as genre entertainment with genuine emotional investment in its three central characters, rather than as a formally ambitious work.
Why it’s worth watching
If you enjoyed Ong-Bak or The Raid, My Dearest Assassin explores similar territory, combining the physical intensity of Southeast Asian action cinema with a romantic melodrama strand that gives the violence its emotional stakes and makes the losses hit harder than pure genre exercises tend to allow. The three central performances – and the chemistry between them – give the film a human core that survives the carnage surrounding it.
When it’s streaming
Streaming on Netflix starting May 7, 2026. Watch My Dearest Assassin
Trailer
Watch the official trailer below — and prepare yourself for what’s coming.
