FX‘s acclaimed spy series “The Americans” is getting a reboot/reworking of sorts, however, not in the traditional way you may be thinking, as Disney+ is behind the big-budget remake that will instead pivot to Korea, with actors Lee Byung-hun (and Han Ji-min set to star. Also, we’ll see Lee Hee-joon taking a undisclosed part in the show.
Instead of Soviet spies (KGB officers) posing as a picture-perfect all-American family in Washington D.C., this new reimagining sees our two main characters hailing from North Korea and using the cover of a happily married couple, with the new setting, as you might suspect, taking place in South Korea during the 1990s.
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The report hailing from THR also mentions a logline:
“The Koreans” will follow a middle-class family hiding a parallel treasonous secret. While seemingly ordinary citizens in the eyes of their friends, neighbors, and even their children, both parents (played by Lee Byung-hun and Han Ji-min) are actually elite North Korean spies working to bring down the South from within. Highlighting the stark differences between the two formerly united countries, the series will again follow the spies as they wrestle with conflicting feelings of patriotism, loyalty, identity, and love, while a ruthless Korean counterintelligence agent draws ever closer to discovering their identities.
That’s not it, as “The Koreans” is set to be written by Park Eun-kyo, who is the co-writer of Bong Joon-ho‘s crime thriller “Mother” and previously worked with Disney+ on the series “Made in Korea” with Ahn Gil-ho (“The Glory”) set as director. This creative pairing will be the main force on series, bucking American traditions of making television deciding to do without writing rooms and enlisting multiple directors.
“I was the guy who developed ‘The Americans,'” Eric Schrier (Disney’s head of international originals) said in an official statement. “I’m still very close with Joe Weisberg and Joel Fields, the originals’ creators, so I wasn’t so sure about this idea, because it’s all very near and dear to my heart.” Adding they were able to get the “blessings” from both Keri Russell and Matthew Rhy, the previous leads.
Lee byung-hun should be well-known to Western audiences after having a key part in Netflix‘s mega-popular show “Squid Game” alongside other projects like “No Other Choice, “I Saw The Devil,” and played the martial arts villain Storm Shadow in multiple “G.I. Joe” films.
Sounds like quite the ambitious project and we cannot wait to see some footage from “The Koreans,” and if they’ll attempt to secure other well-known Korean acting talent for it.
- Christopher Marc
- Christopher Marc
- Christopher Marc
- Christopher Marc
- Christopher Marc
- Christopher Marc
