Na Hong-Jin Previews 'Hope' at Comic-Con, Hails Hoyeon Casting
SkimNews Take
Hoyeon's leap from "Squid Game" to Na Hong-Jin's alien-action feature underscores how Korean streaming breakouts now function as a reliable casting pipeline into global theatrical genre projects.
Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- Na Hong-Jin debuted at San Diego Comic-Con in Ballroom 20 to preview his alien action film "Hope," a 10-year passion project being released by Neon on September 9 in the U.S.
- Na told the audience to "completely abandon" any assumptions from his previous work — "The Chaser," "The Yellow Sea," and "The Wailing" — saying "Hope" shares the same metaphor but is entirely different in style, thought, and content.
- Na called casting Hoyeon (the Emmy-nominated "Squid Game" star) one of the best decisions on the film; co-star Hwang Jung-min recommended her despite having never met her, and she signed on after reading the script over takeout.
- Two exclusive clips played for the Comic-Con crowd — a shootout culminating in a face-to-face encounter with a gigantic fanged alien, and a highway chase where a character leaps from horseback into a moving police car — but Na said the hardest scenes were the forest horseback chases.
- Hoyeon spent six months learning to drive a manual stick-shift car so she could perform high-angle driving stunts herself, with Na saying he and his DP "almost died of anxiety" watching her.
- Na teased that "90%" of the film's characters might perish but refused to reveal who, drawing a roar of laughter from the crowd.
- "Hope" also stars Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander, Taylor Russell, and Cameron Britton; it premiered in competition at Cannes, and Na revealed a sequel script already exists and he would shoot it "if possible."
Why it matters: Na Hong-Jin — the Korean auteur of "The Chaser" and "The Wailing" — is pivoting to an alien creature feature with an international cast including Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander, a sharp tonal shift for a director known for slow-burn Korean thrillers. With a Cannes competition premiere, a September 9 U.S. release via Neon, and a sequel script already written, "Hope" is positioned as a potential franchise launch — and Neon's biggest genre bet since "Parasite."
