‘Hellbound’ Director Yeon Sang-Ho Answers Your Burning Questions About Season 2

When the first season of Hellbound premiered on Netflix in 2021, it dethroned Squid Game to become the streamer’s most-watched TV show globally. Three years later, Netflix has dropped the second season of the supernatural thriller series directed and co-written by Yeon Sang-ho.

Yeon, a veteran filmmaker, screenwriter and animator, first gained international attention back in 2011 with the release of his acclaimed adult animated thriller The King of Pigs, which was screened at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. His zombie flick Train to Busan captivated the world in 2016 and launched a film series.

Hellbound was Yeon’s first foray into directing a TV show. Based on the eponymous webtoon which he co-created with Choi Gyu-seok, Hellbound introduces audiences to a terrifying world where people are issued “decrees” that prophesy the date and time of their death. At the specified time, hulking supernatural monsters suddenly emerge and brutally beat these condemned individuals before incinerating them.

Since the premiere of Hellbound Season 1, Director Yeon had been keeping busy with various projects, including other Netflix hit shows like Parasyte: The Grey and The Bequeathed, which accounts for the delay in Hellbound Season 2’s release.

But now that the highly anticipated second season is finally out, many viewers are curious to know more about some of the characters, themes and scenes presented in the show (not to mention the jaw-dropping final episode!).

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I spoke to Director Yeon over Zoom to find out the answers to some of the burning questions that viewers might have about Season 2 of Hellbound.

Warning: Major spoilers ahead!

Regina Kim: What were some of the most difficult challenges you faced while making Season 2 of Hellbound?

Yeon Sang-ho: When I started working on the webtoon along with co-author Choi Gyu-seok, there were many different kinds of scenarios that could come out of the Hellbound universe. At first we didn’t think about any particular story—we just thought of various [short] episodes that could arise from that universe.

Some of them were connected together to form a coherent storyline for Season 1. For Season 2 as well, there were many possible scenarios that could arise from that universe. But I think Season 1 had more of an omnibus feel—Episodes 1, 2 and 3 told [one story] and Episodes 4, 5 and 6 actually formed a different story.

But we didn’t want that format for Season 2, so even though there were many different episodes or scenarios, we thought a lot about how to turn them into a single, coherent story. So after seeing the positive response from fans who watched the first season on Netflix, we fleshed out the bigger story based on what we thought they might want to see.

Kim: What about when you were shooting Season 2—were there any scenes that were particularly difficult to film?

Yeon: I think the scene of the “grand revival meeting” with Park Jung-ja in Episode 4—it was a scene featuring a massive crowd, so when we were writing the script, we wondered if we could bring that scene to life. There are a lot of people gathered, and then a riot breaks out, so it wasn’t easy to film that scene. So we used CGI and various other means to create that scene.

Kim: How did you come up with the idea for the New Truth Society and the Arrowhead? For example, I’ve heard that there are still many religious cults in Korea. Were the New Truth and the Arrowhead inspired by what you were seeing in Korean society?

Yeon: The New Truth Society can be seen as an embodiment of powerful forces that create and push their own propaganda. They don’t necessarily have to be related to religion though. And the series depicts people who follow them.

In Korea, a lot of this stuff actually happens on the internet. So the idea for the New Truth Society didn’t originate from any religious group per se, but rather from people who create and promote their own propaganda in general, and people who shape public opinion online. We crafted Season 2 with the thought that it was going to be a story about people who try to advance their own ideologies—whether it’s the Arrowhead, [Senior Secretary] Lee Su-gyeong, those who attempt to take advantage of Park Jung-ja—basically, people who try to create ideologies that are favorable to their goals.

Kim: I thought the makeup and costumes worn by the Arrowhead looked pretty interesting. What inspired those looks?

Yeon: We thought it’d be nice if they had a pagan look. Paganism isn’t limited to a particular country—pagan makeup and other elements associated with paganism exist in every country. And since people who shape public opinion online often conceal their true identities and place a lot of importance on anonymity, the makeup was a way to represent that.

Kim: Was it hard finding someone else to replace Yoo Ah-in in the role of Chairman Jung Jin-su in Season 2? How was Kim Sung-cheol cast in the role? (Due to a major drug abuse scandal, Yoo Ah-in, who played Chairman Jung in the show’s first season, was dropped from Hellbound last year.)

Yeon: Kim Sung-cheol is a young actor who’s receiving growing attention for his acting, and at the time I was watching another work he was in with a lot of interest. I did worry that viewers might find it disconcerting that the role was now being played by a different actor.

But Sung-cheol is also a famous musical actor in Korea. One day he invited me to see his musical, so I went. He was starring in the Death Note musical at the time, and he had a very commanding stage presence. And since double-casting (where two actors take turns playing the same role) happens quite often in musicals, I thought this situation might feel a lot like double-casting to him, since you could say that two actors are playing the same role [in Hellbound], in a sense. So I thought it might not seem weird to him.

And I think rather than trying to tailor his acting to fit the previous actor’s portrayal, he instead interpreted the role in his own way.

Kim: I have to say, I thought his acting was very different from Yoo Ah-in’s. Did you decide to cast Kim Sung-cheol after seeing him in the musical, or were you already considering him for the role before that?

Yeon: I went to see his musical after I’d already made up my mind to cast him. Sung-cheol is known for being a young actor who can really draw audiences in with his acting. So when I was thinking about [who should play] the role of Jung Jin-su, Kim Sung-cheol was nearly the sole candidate.

Kim: Really? So I guess that means it wasn’t difficult to find someone else to play Jung Jin-su?

Yeon: Our production company actually did suggest a few candidates, but when I saw Sung-cheol, I thought he was right for the role. And since I’m the co-creator of the Hellbound webtoon that this series is based on, the most important thing to me was the fact that Sung-cheol really resembles the Jung Jin-su from the webtoon.

Kim: You mean in terms of his appearance?

Yeon: I felt that his appearance and the vibes he gives off were very similar to Jung Jin-su in the webtoon, so I made a rather quick decision [to cast him].

Kim: Are you worried at all that international viewers who may not be aware of Yoo Ah-in’s situation might wonder why a different actor was cast for this role?

Yeon: I don’t think it would have too much of an impact on viewers’ experience, because we basically re-shot that whole scene from Season 1 where Jung Jin-su reveals that he received a decree a long time ago. [Season 2] starts with that symbolic scene and also shows Jung Jin-su’s journey to Hell and his resurrection—all of that is dealt with for a huge chunk of the first episode.

We did have some concerns when we were editing Season 2. We thought about whether it made sense to repeat such a long scene that was already shown in Season 1, but since the actor changed and it was important to show the nature of Hell and resurrection in one continuous sequence of events, we decided to recreate that scene, even though it made for a pretty long opening scene.

Kim: What exactly are those monsters that suddenly show up and kill people—are they like grim reapers? And how many of the “Resurrected Ones” are there? I believe only three people are shown to be resurrected in Season 2, right?

Yeon: Regarding the “Resurrected Ones,” they all get resurrected at different times. There are those who get resurrected immediately after undergoing a demonstration—like what we see [with the baby]—and so I thought the timing could be different for every person. Someone could be resurrected far away into the future, or maybe even into the past.

Kim: But not everyone gets resurrected, right? So how does a person get chosen to be resurrected?

Yeon: Actually I imagined that almost everyone would be resurrected. It’s just that it might not be their time. Or maybe they did come back to life, but their resurrection didn’t catch a lot of attention from the media or the public. Some people might’ve been subjected to a demonstration in a place where no one else was around to witness it. So these people might go on living their lives without anyone else knowing they’ve been resurrected.

Kim: And what about those monsters? What on earth are they?

Yeon: This is something that I thought about for Season 1 as well, but I was thinking they could be humans. Even though they’re monsters, they’re human beings inside. I imagined what it would look like if hatred and other similar feelings and thoughts that humans had were to manifest themselves externally, and that became the basis for the external appearance of these creatures from Hell. For example, we see a character transforming into one of those creatures in the latter half of Season 2—I imagined what it might look like if all the fear, hatred and disgust that the character harbored inside were to manifest themselves externally.

Kim: So does this mean that Jung Jin-su really does turn into one of those grim reapers?

Yeon: Yes, that’s correct.

Kim: Is there any message you’d like to send to your viewers with the release of Season 2 of Hellbound?

Yeon: In a way, hell can be seen as misfortunes that might suddenly befall us at any time in real life, and I’d say Hellbound is a fantastical representation of such things. So although [the show] might seem like it’s about a fantasy world that doesn’t exist, if you look at the symbolism contained in it, in a sense it represents the misfortunes we face in our lives.

So I think the struggles that all these characters undergo in Hellbound are stories that are worth thinking about and that we can empathize with in the real world. I think it’s a show where [viewers] can observe the characters’ thoughts and ask themselves, “What would I do if I were in that situation? And how would I live my life?”

Kim: Does Heaven also exist in this series?

Yeon: I believe it certainly exists. In the first half of this season, when Park Jung-ja is asked what Hell was like, she answers that it was a feeling of never-ending longing and despair. I actually thought she was [still living] in her own Hell when she said that. She wants to see her kids, but she realizes that meeting them might cause them harm, so she begs [the current New Truth chairman] not to let her kids visit her. And that feeling of never-ending longing is Hell for her.

But in the end, she finally reaches the unreachable (her kids). So at that point, she’s already escaped from her Hell. If Heaven were the complete opposite of Hell, in the end Park Jung-ja has reached a state that is the opposite of her Hell.

I don’t think Hell or Heaven is a place; I think it’s closer to the [thoughts and feelings] people have inside of themselves. So I think Hell definitely exists for human beings, and hence the opposite concept that is Heaven also exists.

This interview was conducted in Korean and has been edited for clarity. Many thanks to Director Yeon Sang-ho for taking time out of his busy schedule to chat with me!