A Neurosurgeon, Four Knives, and Words That Shouldn't Exist
The newly released trailer wastes no time establishing the show's unsettling premise. A neurosurgeon is found dead in a Tokyo underground parking garage with four knives embedded in his throat. More killings follow. And at every crime scene, investigators find the same cryptic phrases: "ALIUS LAB" and "They control Homo sapiens."
Kuranosuke Sasaki plays Sano Shogo, a veteran detective in the Metropolitan Police's First Investigation Division who doesn't hesitate to bend the rules to catch a suspect. His personal life is equally complicated: three years ago, his wife left without explanation, and the wound hasn't healed. According to a report on Japanese entertainment news site Eiga Natalie, the full trailer captures Sano and his team as they follow the trail from that parking garage into territory that challenges what they thought was scientifically possible.
Taishi Nakagawa (Boys Over Flowers Season 2) plays Kanzaki Toru, a researcher seconded from the National Research Institute of Police Science, while Yuri Tsunematsu (Alice in Borderland) plays Hazumi Anna, a detective who becomes Sano's right hand. Maki Sakai rounds out the main cast as Tatsumi Kaoru, Sano's ex-wife.
Six New Faces Join the Conspiracy
Alongside the trailer, WOWOW announced six additional cast members: Hatsunori Hasegawa, Kenta Inozuka, Ryo Ikeda, Yuya Matsuura, Hiroshi Okochi, and Takashi Yamanaka. Their characters span the show's web of intrigue: doctors who meet mysterious ends, covert public security detectives, figures orbiting an AI company, and ambitious politicians.
The key visual released alongside the trailer positions Sano, Kanzaki, and Hazumi at its center, surrounded by digital-noise distortion, a ruined landscape, and an eerie silhouette. The tagline draws on the title's Latin root ("alius" means "other"): "The suspect is something 'other' than human."
An Original Story With a Cross-Media Twist
ALIUS is not adapted from an existing novel or manga. Screenwriter Soichiro Kojima, whose previous WOWOW credit includes the wrongful-conviction drama Sirius no Hansho, wrote the original screenplay. Daisuke Yamamoto directs. The score is by Takashi Tsuzuki and Seita Tsuzuki.
The show is also part of a broader cross-media venture between WOWOW and Rakuten called the ALIUS Project. A vertical-scroll webtoon sharing the same world launched on Rakuten's R-TOON and LINE Manga ahead of the drama, connecting to the live-action story through a shared conspiracy surrounding the ALIUS entity.
Looking Ahead
All six episodes of ALIUS premiere on WOWOW Prime and WOWOW On Demand starting July 19, 2026 at 10:00 PM JST. WOWOW is a premium satellite and streaming service available in Japan; no international streaming partner has been announced for this title. International viewers without a WOWOW subscription currently have no confirmed legal way to watch the series outside Japan.