Webtoons are making another big jump into Hollywood, and this time Charlize Theron is getting involved.
Hulu is developing The Mafia Nanny, a live-action adaptation of the hit Webtoon series created by Violet Matter with art by shoo, Drawniels, and Roususu. Theron is attached as an executive producer, with 20th Television developing the project.
The adaptation is still in the early stages, so there’s currently no release date or casting news. Still, The Mafia Nanny is a pretty interesting choice for Hollywood’s first live-action Webtoon series, especially considering just how huge the comic has become since its 2023 debut.
The story centers on Davina Diavolo, also known as Davina Bonetti, a graduate of the Elite Nanny Association who isn’t exactly your average childcare professional. Her training includes cybersecurity and hand-to-hand combat, skills that come in handy when she’s hired by the Angelini family.
Davina’s new boss is Gabriel Angelini, a tall, silver-haired and emotionally guarded man connected to a powerful mafia family. Her job is to protect and care for his young son, Mikey Angelini, while following Gabriel’s orders and keeping her personal feelings out of the equation.
Davina has her own painful history with the Angelini family, putting her in the uncomfortable position of protecting people tied to her past. Throw in the comic’s slow-burn enemies-to-lovers romance and Gabriel’s cold exterior hiding a softer side, and Hulu has plenty of material for a slick crime-romance series.
There’s certainly an audience waiting for something like this. The Mafia Nanny currently spans three seasons and 115 chapters on Webtoon, where it has racked up more than 334.2 million views and 4.4 million subscribers.
The Webtoon page has also expanded the story through special video episodes featuring voice performances from Erin Nicole Lunquist as Davina and Nico Fragoso as Gabriel. It gives fans another way to experience the characters while the live-action version starts taking shape.
The move into television also fits with just how much webtoons and manhwa have grown in mainstream entertainment.
Rachel Smythe helped push Webtoon further into the spotlight with Lore Olympus, which has accumulated more than 1.7 billion views and won the Eisner Award for Best Webcomic three consecutive years in 2022, 2023, and 2024.
Other Webtoon hits such as Tower of God and Solo Leveling have made successful jumps into anime, while titles including Heartstopper have shown how web-based comics can expand into television, physical publishing, merchandise, and much larger franchises.
Webtoon itself now has 145 million active users across 150 countries, with more than 27 million comic creators publishing work on the platform. Its mobile-friendly format and focus on full-color, serialized storytelling have created a massive pipeline of stories that studios can potentially adapt.
Now The Mafia Nanny gets its shot at live-action. There’s no word yet on who will play Davina, Gabriel, or Mikey, and those casting choices are going to be a big deal for readers who already have strong ideas about these characters. Theron’s involvement as executive producer also makes this one worth keeping an eye on as development moves forward.
It’ll be interesting to see how this project comes together.
