Trese (TV series)

Lore & Background

The series was first announced in November 2018, with Jay Oliva as executive producer and director. Other directors include David Hartman, Mel Zwyer, and Tim Divar. The series was written by Zig Marasigan, Mihk Vergara, and Tanya Yuson, who also served as executive producer for BASE Entertainment with Shanty Harmayn. At the Netflix Anime Festival in October 2020, it was revealed that Trese komik artist Kajo Baldisimo and writer Budjette Tan would serve as showrunners. The series was produced by BASE Entertainment (from Singapore) and Lex+Otis Animation (from the United States) and animated by Tiger Animation (from South Korea).

In 2009, Tanya Yuson was looking for material to adapt for a series or film. She picked up Trese following a recommendation and forwarded it to fellow producer Shanty Harmayn. Together, they developed the pitch, which eventually led to Netflix Anime agreeing to adapt Trese. Jay Oliva later joined as director. Oliva tried to balance the series to satisfy existing fans and newcomers, retaining the source material's central theme of 'family and duty.' Three separate dubbings—English, Filipino, and Japanese—were made, with the Filipino dub recorded separately and based on the original script.

Reader's Guide

Trese was adapted from the first three volumes of the comics, originally intended to be standalone but written to connect the three volumes into one single arc. The series was made available on Netflix starting June 10, 2021 in the United States, followed by Singapore on June 11. The release featured six episodes. At Netflix's virtual 'Geeked Week' livestream on June 9, the first five minutes of an episode were previewed.

As of June 13, 2021, Trese was in the top 10 TV shows list on Netflix in 19 countries, ranking highest in the Philippines (#1), Qatar (#3), United Arab Emirates (#4), and Jamaica (#5). Other countries where the show ranked included Austria, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Canada, Estonia, Germany, Kuwait, Lithuania, New Zealand, Nigeria, Oman, Serbia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and the United States. The series' marketing promotions were praised online, including billboards on EDSA and major streets in the Philippines designed to appear vandalized or torn, which garnered attention on social media. ABS-CBN Corporation promoted the series by replacing the logo outside their broadcasting headquarters with the logo of the fictitious media company ABC-ZNN, and lit up their ELJ Communications Center building with the word 'Trese' on the facade.

Did You Know?

• Shay Mitchell, who voiced Alexandra Trese in English, had to recite some lines in Filipino and worked with a dialect coach via Zoom.
• Liza Soberano, who voiced Alexandra in Filipino, was initially hesitant because she felt voice acting is 'a different game from acting.'
• The theme song 'Paagi' (Visayan for 'excuse me') was written in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
• In non-Filipino versions, some Filipino dialogue such as 'tabi tabi po' was retained to encourage foreigners to learn the Filipino language and culture.