After nearly two years of waiting since Solo Leveling Season 2 concluded in early 2025, fans finally have official confirmation that the anime franchise is returning to the screen. Rather than unveiling the long-awaited third season, the series announced a brand-new anime film, Solo Leveling; Beyond the System, alongside a stunning new key visual featuring Sung Jinwoo in striking monochrome with his piercing blue eye.
The announcement came during the Crunchyroll Showcase at Anime Expo 2026, where Sung Jinwoo’s English voice actor Aleks Le introduced a teaser concept video and the film’s first key visual. It was also confirmed that Crunchyroll is co-producing the movie alongside Aniplex, Netmarble, D&C Media, Kakao Piccoma, and returning animation studio A-1 Pictures, signaling that the franchise’s next chapter is already well underway.
Solo Leveling: Beyond the System’s New Movie Marks Solo Leveling’s Long-Awaited Return
Solo Leveling: Beyond the System closed out Crunchyroll’s Anime Expo 2026 showcase as one of the convention’s biggest anime announcements. While the reveal stopped short of offering a full trailer, fans were treated to a teaser concept video and an eye-catching first key visual confirming that Sung Jinwoo’s journey will continue in theaters after Season 2.
From E-Rank Hunter to Shadow Monarch · Eight Questions How Well Do You Know Solo Leveling? “Arise.”
💻The SystemQuest update
👑Shadow MonarchArise
⚔Hunter AssociationS-Rank ascension
👈Gate DungeonsDouble dungeon
👾IgrisKnight of the Shadow
01
Solo Leveling’s protagonist is a Korean E-Rank hunter widely mocked at the start of the series as “the world’s weakest” — before a near-death experience in a double dungeon transforms him into the Player. Name him (Korean original).
✓ Correct! Sung Jinwoo — the “world’s weakest hunter” who supports his ailing mother and younger sister Jinah on D-Rank gate raids until a near-fatal raid in the Cartenon Temple double dungeon makes him the Player. The Japanese-localised anime adaptation renames him Shun Mizushino, but the original Korean novel/webtoon name is Sung Jinwoo.
✗ Wrong. The answer is Sung Jinwoo. Cha Hae-In is the South Korean Hunter Association vice-guildmaster and S-Rank swordswoman (and Jinwoo’s eventual love interest). Yoo Jinho is his loyal best-friend chaebol-heir teammate. Baek Yoonho is the White Tiger Guild’s S-Rank guildmaster. The protagonist is Sung Jinwoo.
02
Solo Leveling didn’t start as Japanese manga or anime. It originated in 2016 as a Korean web novel on KakaoPage, was adapted into a colourful vertical-scrolling webtoon (drawn by Jang Sung-rak / Dubu) and only later became an A-1 Pictures anime in 2024. What term describes its native Korean comic format?
✓ Correct! Manhwa — Korean comics — specifically a webtoon, the vertical-scroll, full-colour mobile-first format dominated by KakaoPage and Naver. Solo Leveling’s webtoon adaptation began in 2018 and concluded in 2021; its breakout success internationally helped establish the broader “Korean tower-climber/hunter LitRPG” pipeline that now feeds shows like Tower of God, The Beginning After the End and Eleceed.
✗ Wrong. The answer is manhwa (webtoon). Manhua is the Chinese equivalent. Doujinshi is Japanese fan-comic self-publishing. Manga is the Japanese term. Solo Leveling is Korean — manhwa, specifically a vertical-scroll webtoon adaptation of a 2016 web novel.
03
The original Solo Leveling web novel ran from 2016 to 2018 on KakaoPage and was written under a single mononymous pen name. The author is famously private, with very little known about him — but he’s widely credited with single-handedly resetting global expectations for what Korean web fiction could be. Name him.
✓ Correct! Chugong (추공) — a deliberately mononymous Korean web novelist whose real identity has never been publicly confirmed. His original 2016–18 novel ran 270 chapters and was translated into English, Japanese, Chinese and Spanish via KakaoPage’s international expansion. The webtoon adaptation by Jang Sung-rak (better known as Dubu) was the version that broke through globally; Dubu’s death from cerebral hemorrhage in 2022 was a high-profile loss for the medium.
✗ Wrong. The answer is Chugong. SIU is the creator of Tower of God. TurtleMe is the author of The Beginning After the End. Singshong is the author of Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint. The Solo Leveling novel is Chugong’s.
04
In Solo Leveling’s world, mysterious gates have appeared on Earth and only awakened “hunters” can enter the dungeons inside them. Hunters are evaluated by the Korean Hunter Association on a letter-grade scale from the lowest to the strongest. What rank does Sung Jinwoo start with, before becoming the Player?
✓ Correct! E-Rank — the lowest assigned tier in the Hunter Association’s grading scale (E-D-C-B-A-S, with S as the absolute peak). At E-Rank, Jinwoo barely earns more from a raid than the medical bills the raid produces, which is why he keeps going on dungeon runs despite being the “world’s weakest hunter”: he’s funding his mother’s medical care and his sister Jinah’s tuition. The Player System fast-tracks him from E-Rank to S-Rank-and-beyond over the course of the series.
✗ Wrong. The answer is E-Rank. F-Rank doesn’t exist in Solo Leveling’s scale (E is the lowest). D-Rank is one tier up — where Jinwoo’s teammate Yoo Jinho sits. “Unranked” isn’t a category. Jinwoo starts the series as an E-Rank, the bottom of the recognised ladder.
05
After the Cartenon Temple double-dungeon massacre, Jinwoo wakes up in a hospital and begins seeing a personal RPG-style HUD that nobody else can see — daily quests, stat windows, level-ups, Notices written in glowing blue text. The franchise calls Jinwoo’s unique designation what?
✓ Correct! The Player. Sung Jinwoo is the only individual in his world who has access to the System — the personal RPG-style interface offering quests, stat allocations and level-ups. Late in the series it’s revealed that the System was given to him by the Architect (a tool of the Rulers) specifically to forge him into a vessel for the dying Shadow Monarch Ashborn. Becoming the Player is the prelude to becoming the new Shadow Monarch.
✗ Wrong. The answer is the Player. “The Awakened” is the general term for any human with hunter abilities — not unique to Jinwoo. “The Vessel” and “The Heir” aren’t official labels. Jinwoo’s unique status as the System’s sole user is named the Player.
06
The Solo Leveling anime adaptation premiered in January 2024 to record streaming numbers on Crunchyroll — the most-watched debut in the platform’s history. The animation studio is the same Aniplex-affiliated house behind Sword Art Online, 86 and Lycoris Recoil. Name it.
✓ Correct! A-1 Pictures — the Aniplex-owned studio behind Sword Art Online, Fairy Tail (later seasons), 86, Lycoris Recoil, KonoSuba (S1–2), Kaguya-sama and 7 Deadly Sins. Director Shunsuke Nakashige and a Hiroyuki Sawano-led score made the action centerpieces (the Cartenon Temple double dungeon, the Igris fight, the S-Rank arena duel) some of the most-discussed sequences of any 2024 anime.
✗ Wrong. The answer is A-1 Pictures. MAPPA does Jujutsu Kaisen and Chainsaw Man. Studio Bind does Mushoku Tensei. Madhouse did the original Hunter x Hunter (1999) and One Punch Man S1. A-1 Pictures is the SAO/Lycoris-Recoil studio that adapted Solo Leveling.
07
As Jinwoo levels up he unlocks the Shadow Extraction skill, which lets him raise the corpses of defeated foes as loyal shadow soldiers. The first major shadow soldier he raises — a red-armored knight extracted from the Job Change dungeon Knight Captain — becomes one of his signature fighters. Name him.
✓ Correct! Igris (sometimes Igrit) — the Knight Captain Jinwoo defeats and raises during the Job Change quest. Igris is one of the highest-ranked named shadows in Jinwoo’s army (an Elite Knight tier) and personally serves as his bodyguard during the Jeju Island arc and the Monarchs War. Other named shadow soldiers in the army include Iron (orc warrior), Tank (steel-fanged Lycan), Tusk (Lycan mage), Beru (Ant King) and Bellion (the Grand Marshal).
✗ Wrong. The answer is Igris. Iron is the orc warrior raised from the Demon Castle quest. Beru is the Ant King raised at the end of the Jeju Island arc — one of the most powerful shadows. Tank is the Lycan from the same arc. The first major named shadow knight Jinwoo extracts is Igris.
08
Late in the series, the System reveals that Jinwoo isn’t merely the Player — he’s the chosen successor of the dying ninth Monarch of the Shadows, who sided with the Rulers against the other eight Monarchs. Jinwoo inherits his title and his power. Name this previous Shadow Monarch whose mantle Jinwoo takes up.
✓ Correct! Ashborn, the Monarch of Shadows. He betrayed his fellow Monarchs of Destruction in the ancient war and aligned with the Rulers, but at the cost of being mortally crippled. Working with the Rulers’ tool the Architect, he engineered the System over centuries to find a worthy human vessel — ultimately Sung Jinwoo — to inherit his throne. By the series’ end, Jinwoo wields the full power of the Shadow Monarch and uses it to rewrite the timeline.
✗ Wrong. The answer is Ashborn. Antares is the Monarch of Destruction (the King of Dragons) and the series’ final-fight antagonist. Bellion is Ashborn’s Grand Marshal — one of Jinwoo’s strongest shadows but not a Monarch. Querehsha is the Monarch of Plagues. Jinwoo’s predecessor as Shadow Monarch is Ashborn.
System Notification · Final Tally Your Hunter Standing
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Shadow Monarch — or still E-Rank?
The artwork places Sung Jinwoo front and center, emphasizing the darker direction that has increasingly defined his character. Rendered almost entirely in black and white, the poster shows his glowing blue eye as the lone burst of color, alongside the mysterious “Beyond the System” subtitle for the movie name, while hinting that Jinwoo’s journey is entering an entirely new phase.
Although Crunchyroll has not revealed a theatrical release date, the announcement of Beyond the System is another big milestone for the adaptation. First unveiled at Anime Expo 2022, Solo Leveling debuted in Winter 2024 before returning with Season 2 -Arise from the Shadow- in Winter 2025. The anime’s first season also earned Anime of the Year at the 2025 Crunchyroll Anime Awards, proving just how quickly the series became a global hit.
What Solo Leveling: Beyond the System Could Mean For Solo Leveling Season 3
Although the spotlight is on the upcoming movie, fans are already wondering what it means for Solo Leveling Season 3. The third season of Solo Leveling has recently been confirmed by D&C Media in its fourth quarter results, saying that Season 3 is expected between 2027 and 2028. Crunchyroll also confirmed that Beyond the System will continue directly from where Season 2 ended, making it the next canonical chapter in Sung Jinwoo’s story rather than a standalone adventure. That also suggests the film will play an important role in shaping whatever comes next for the television series.
The announcement also strengthens the possibility that the movie will adapt the fan-favorite Double Dungeon Arc, which sees Jinwoo revisit the temple where his journey first began and search for answers about the mysterious System. While that storyline has not been officially confirmed by the production staff, it is the logical next step following the events of Season 2 and would naturally set the stage for a future third season.
A stunning new trailer previews scenes from the major arcs that are going to be in Season 3 of the Solo Leveling anime, and fans don’t want to miss.
Still, the future looks considerably brighter than it did only days ago. After months of speculation fueled by rumors and silence, fans finally have concrete confirmation that Solo Leveling is continuing. Even if Season 3 is still not releasing until 2027 or 2028, the franchise has clearly entered its next chapter, and the success of Beyond the System could help determine just how quickly Sung Jinwoo returns to television after his long-awaited comeback in Solo Leveling’sanime.
