The Stars Of ‘Gyeongsang Creature’ Were Surprised By The 2nd Season

Gyeongseong Creature is a story about monsters, the monsters who create them and the star-crossed lovers who must battle both. The first season of the series is set in 1945 during the occupation of Gyeongseong (Seoul) by the Imperial Japanese Army. The Japanese forces inflict brutal biological experiments on civilians, in some cases successfully turning them into monsters. The second season starts with a dramatic time shift, propelling the plot decades into the future. At a recent press conference for the second season, Park Seo-joon recalled his surprise that his character—or someone like him—now existed in 2024.

“It was set in the present day rather than the 1940s,” said Park.

In the first season Park plays Jang Tae-san, the owner of the House of Golden Treasure, the best pawnshop in Gyeongseong. He’s a man with connections. But as the second season starts he’s suddenly Ho-jae, a man who exists in present-day Seoul. Is he a reincarnation? Immortal? The character has lost his memories and that may include his memories of the woman he loved, Yoon Chae-ok, played by Han So-hee. In season one Chae-ok was a woman who specialized in finding missing people, but now, because she’s not quite human anymore, she must live in the shadows. She’s very confused when she sees Ho-jae in present-day Seoul. He looks exactly like the man she loved but that’s impossible.

Shifting his performance from the 1940s to 2024 took some adjustment for Park. After embodying a character in the 40s he had to think and act like a person, somehow potentially the same person, who's living in modern day Korea.

“I tried to have that gap between Jang Tae-sang and Ho-jae in the beginning,” said Park. “And I think the moments when he has flashbacks of his memory and when he finally got all his memory back were very important moments. So I used my imagination to fill the void, the moments that did not exist in the script. So it was quite challenging, but it was also liberating and fun as an actor to use that freedom to imagine what would've happened between all those times. And I think what was really important for me as an actor was to really nail the moment when he got his memories back. So I thought of things like, should I talk in a way that te talked in season one, or should I speak in a modern way?”

He ultimately decided to use a certain tone of speech with some characters and not others.

“I tried to be flexible with my way of speech and way of action, but it was quite difficult because there were a lot of gaps in the time zone and in the script. So I tried my best to make sure that I look like one character.”

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In the second season, the city is no longer occupied by the Japanese Army, but the evil experiments continue at Jeonseung Biotech, where monsters roam the underground corridors. The monsters are terrifying on screen, but acting with the empty space they supposedly occupied was a challenge for the actors.

“Actually, I never got the hang of it,” said Park with a smile. “I would imagine that the creature would move in a way and kind of do whatever I could, but it kind of made me very shy. It was very challenging because I would be punching in the air. But when I'm focusing, I feel proud of myself for focusing without anything in front of me.”

Han admits she also never quite mastered acting with imaginary creatures. Not in either season, although viewers might never suspect as much since their action scenes are meticulously choreographed and executed. The very idea made her laugh, especially when she considered how one of the monsters was supposed to be related to her.

“I also never got the hang of it,” she said. “In season one, the creature was my mother. Director Chong told me that the creature was my mother. So when he told me that, lots of thoughts went through my head, but I tried to keep my focus and I was also proud of seeing myself being focused in the situation.”

The second season is a heart-pumping succession of such intricate action scenes in which Park and Han enthusiastically battle both monsters and thugs. There was a lot of wire work and CGI played a huge role in delivering the well-choreographed scenes. Park was pleased with how it all came together.

“They did a very impressive job,” said Park. “They created something from nothing, and while it was challenging, it was very joyful as well.”

Director Chung Dong-yoon found it much easier to film the second season.

“If I'm filming in an era of 2024, I'm actually living that era,” said Chung. “So it was, I guess, easier to approach modern day society. Of course, we had other concepts that we had to create from scratch, for example, the Kurokos. But in general, I think the modern day Seoul was much easier to create.”

For Han the most surprising part of season two as the finale.

“I think the finale was a big surprise to me,” said Han. “Because I thought it would not be the finale for this kind of genre, but that happened, so that was a big surprise for me.”

To find out what surprised Han in the finale, viewers will have to watch the second season. Gyeonseong Creature was written by Kang Eun-kyung, and directed by Chung and Roh Young-sub. The second season also stars Lee Mu-saeng as Captain Kuroko and Bae Hyun-sung as Seung-jo. Both seasons air on Netflix.