Park Website positioning-joon and Han So-Hee interview: On Netflix’s sophomore season for ‘Gyeongseong Creature’

“Abnormal life was all I ever dreamed of; I simply needed to stay the bizarre life,” muses Yoon Chae-ok, one of many protagonists of the 2023 Korean present, Gyeongseong Creature. Chae-ok’s life is something however bizarre, and much more so when she crosses paths with Jang Tae-sang, the rich proprietor of a pawnshop in Japanese-occupied Korea within the Forties. 

Within the second season of the present which drops on September 27, there’s much more that continues to be extraordinary, this time although in modern-day Seoul. Chae-ok, performed by Han So-hee, has survived the Gyeongseong spring of 1945 and finds herself in Seoul in 2024, the place she encounters Jang Ho-jae (Park Website positioning-joon), who bears a hanging resemblance to Tae-sang. If the primary season of Gyeongseong Creature adopted Tae-sang and Chae-ok unearth the mysterious happenings at Onseong hospital — with scores of individuals trapped in a basement ward and a lethal monster on the unfastened — the second season will see the return of some outdated horrors, and a bunch of recent ones following a time leap. 

“Chae-ok is the pillar of the story. 70 years have handed, she didn’t stop to exist. She’s the centre of the whole lot that occurs and propels the narrative ahead,” says Han So-hee, in an interplay forward of the present’s launch. The time leap was one thing each she, and her co-star Park Website positioning-joon say they had been conscious of, whereas making ready for his or her roles. 

“On condition that I play a seemingly totally different character with no recollection of his previous recollections, not the whole lot is spelt out about my development. I needed to interpret this and fill it with my very own creativeness,” says Website positioning-joon. His Ho-jae within the second season, is an enormous departure from the grandiose attraction of a strong, rich informant from the primary season. “ I needed to bear in mind to depict Ho-jae as somebody who was experiencing the whole lot for the primary time, and adapt to the trendy method of talking and appearing,” Website positioning-joon says. 

Whereas the actors labored on the present’s debut season and had a little bit of time earlier than they went into filming its sophomore, Website positioning-joon says the change in setting to the current meant that they mirrored on the methods by which they might make the present much more entertaining. “I used to be nervous to set foot on the set once more. The present has a lot of motion, and never one simple scene,” describes the actor. A licensed Hallyu star, Website positioning-joon has starred in a variety of hit Okay-dramas throughout genres, which embody the romantic comedy What’s Unsuitable With Secretary Kim and the vastly profitable Itaewon Class. 

For So-hee, her character in Gyeongseong Creature demanded each an emotional and bodily vary. A number of sequences in each seasons function the actor partake in high-octane battle sequences and stunts, one thing she isn’t any stranger to given her earlier outing within the action-packed thriller My Identify. 

“As an alternative of claiming I significantly get pleasure from motion, I believe motion is a method to specific a personality. My character is somebody who protects herself, may be very proactive with main her life and I have a tendency to love individuals who  put themselves first,” So-hee says. 

Amongst her preliminary scenes for season two was capturing underwater, and So-hee recollects how she braved the frigid waters. Website positioning-joon, although, is fast to chip in at this revelation.” You could have a ‘najin’, and are a superhero, so that you in all probability had been okay,” he chuckles. A parasitic creature, the najin was utilized by the Japanese to experiment on people within the present, and is what Chae-ok’s mom was contaminated with in season one, in the end resulting in the creation of the monster. A najin takes over Chae-ok as nicely, rendering her ageless and alive a long time later. 

Shorter Okay-Dramas that deviate from the usual 16-episode format, in addition to sequels are slowly however certainly changing into in style. Netflix’s Korean originals particularly have dabbled with sequels far more than different productions, with Hospital Playlist, Alchemy of Souls, and Kingdom all having fun with second seasons.

Engaged on the sequel for Gyeongseong creature, director Chung Dong-yoon says that whereas it was excellent news for him as a director to work on a second half, it wasn’t with out doubts of a attainable sophomore stoop on whether or not the follow-up would stay as much as the primary. “Author Kang Eun-kyung and I believed that two seasons would do that story justice, and had been enthused concerning the concept of a time leap. We checked out Season 2 as a totally totally different present, and approached it as two totally different narratives,” he says. 

Amidst all the phobia, grisly monster assaults, and fending off stealthy Kuroko fighters, a steadily rising romance additionally manages to discover a place within the chaotic proceedings. Romantic chemistry, So-hee says, is one thing that this season can have much more of. 

“All the pieces within the final season was all main as much as this, and it’ll be enjoyable for individuals watching to see the way it all unravels. There’s a lot to be defined, however the present can be very quick paced,” Website positioning-joon says, summing up what’s in retailer.

Gyeongseong Creature Season 2 premieres on Netflix on September 27