Erik Matti’s ‘BuyBust’ gets Netflix series; Gerald Anderson joins Anne Curtis in lead cast 

The teaser was shown at the JAFF Creative Asia 2025 in Indonesia.

“BuyBust” premiered at the New York Asian Film Festival in 2018.

Netflix will release a nine-episode sequel to the acclaimed director Erik Matti’s 2018 action thriller “BuyBust,” starring Anne Curtis, in 2026.

“BuyBust: The Undesirables” will expand the original film’s universe and feature returning characters like Curtis, as well as introduce new characters led by Gerald Anderson.

A teaser of “The Undesirables” came out on Tuesday, Dec. 2, and showed Curtis and Anderson in action. The official synopsis reads, “A vengeful ex-cop and a haunted corporate outcast are drawn together by the murder of a senator’s daughter and a citywide manhunt for the mysterious drug lord ‘Judas.’ Thrust from the Capital’s shadows into the anarchic exile zone of Matungao, they must survive betrayal, unmask the true Judas, and confront the cost of justice in a society where everyone is disposable.”

The clip was also shown at the Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival (JAFF) Creative Asia 2025 in Indonesia, where Netflix hosted a “Creator-to-Creator” session.

During the JAFF panel, Matti said after the release of “BuyBust,” his team began working with the streaming giant to work on the nine-episode series.

“We moved on from the drug war story, and we made it about rich and poor—the powerful and the powerless,” he said. “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.”

Curtis and Matti’s reunion project was announced in February 2023, but its content was not revealed. Last May, Curtis teased followers by sharing her wolf haircut, which would be seen in “The Undesirables” trailer.

“BuyBust” revolves around a Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency team conducting an entrapment operation in the slums of Manila. The mission goes awry, and the team members had to deal with ruthless drug lords and enraged locals throughout the night to survive.

Its ensemble cast includes Curtis, Brandon Vera, Victor Neri, Arjo Atayde, Nonie Buencamino, Lao Rodriguez, Alex Calleja, Levi Ignacio, Ricky Pasua, and Joross Gamboa.

It premiered at the New York Asian Film Festival in June 2018 and was released in the Philippines and North America the following month.

 

 

BuyBust: The Undesirables” will expand the original film’s universe and feature returning characters like Anne Curtis, as well as introduce new characters led by Gerald Anderson.

 

 

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