‘Squid Game’ Star Lee Byung-hun Begins Production on ‘The Koreans’
Disney+ has begun production on “The Koreans,” a remake of the critically acclaimed FX series “The Americans,” which will star Lee Byung-hun and Han Jimin as North Korean spies living undercover in South Korea.
Set against the wave of democratization and cultural modernization that swept through South Korea in the early 1990s, the series centers on a middle-class family hiding a treacherous secret. Although they appear to be ordinary citizens to their friends, neighbors, and even their own children, both parents are in fact North Korean elite operatives working to destabilize the South from within. The series follows the pair as they are pulled back and forth between loyalty to their homeland, their sense of self, and their bonds as a family, while a ruthless Korean counterintelligence agent comes closer to unmasking them.
Lee Byung-hun, known for ‘Squid Game’ and ‘No Other Choice’, and Han Jimin of ‘Heavenly Ever After’ and ‘Love Scout’ lead the cast. Ahn Gilho, whose credits include “The Glory” and “Memories of the Alhambra,” directs. The series is produced by Imaginus, behind ‘Tempest’, ‘Typhoon Family’ and ‘Can This Love be Translated?’, alongside Studio AA, a co-producer of ‘Tempest’.
The screenplay was adapted by Park Eunkyo, known for “Made in Korea” and “Mother,” from the original FX series created by Joe Weisberg and directed by Weisberg and Joel Fields, starring Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys. The original series won the Golden Globe for Best Drama in 2019 and earned AFI TV Program of the Year honors in each of its first five seasons, from 2014 to 2018.
“The Koreans” will be released internationally exclusively on Disney+ and on Hulu in the US.
The announcement positions the series as the latest addition to Disney+’s growing Korean content lineup, which currently includes “Made in Korea,” “Tempest” and “The Tyrant.” The streamer also has several more Korean originals in the pipeline, including ‘Perfect Crown’ starring IU and Byeon Wooseok, ‘Portraits of Delusion’ (working title) with Suzy and Kim Seonho, and ‘The Remarried Empress’ starring Shin Mina, Ju Jihoon, Lee Jongsuk and Lee Seyoung, as well as second seasons of ‘A Shop for Killers’ and ‘Made in Korea’.
