Following on from the success of Squid Game, Netflix has been dipping into more of the Asian country’s offerings again with their new dark sci-fi thriller Hellbound. The horror-tinged series barely begins before giant demons are bursting into the center of Seoul and torturing one poor member of the public to death. If this opening doesn’t catch your attention then you are clearly not in the right place, and once again we are in the kind of sinister territory that Asian cinema does so well, and of course that means that a second season from creator Yeon Sang-ho is coming.
Yeon has received international acclaim for his zombie-based thrillers Train to Busan and Peninsula, and similar to how the former of these was preceded by an animated prequel, entitled Seoul Station, Hellbound originated from an animated source. After starting life as a two part animated film, the idea was then expanded to a webtoon on Korean digital platform Naver, and is now the live-action adaptation is sitting at the top of the streaming platform’s top non-English language series.
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Hellbound is set in an alternative reality where angels visit those who have done wrong and advise them of their approaching death, which comes at the hands of beastly demons that arrive on earth with the express purpose of carrying out the gratuitously violent death sentence. In the mix is a group of individuals forming the cult The New Truth, led by grandmaster Jeong Jin-soo, who are in full support of the death-bringing demons.
Speaking to Variety, Yeon was asked about his previous desire to develop a “Yeoniverse” which would encompass his work, and whether that would have any bearing on his future with Netflix and the second season of Hellbound. Through a translator, he said:
It is certainly a telling sign of the difference between eastern and western attitudes when it comes to the world of TV and film. American franchises are usually looking to push out more and more episodes and sequels in a short space of time, while both with Hellbound and Squid Game, their creators have made it clear that they will be creating new seasons but in their own time. In turn, this could well explain why so many offerings from Asia hit the mark, and only makes us look forward to the next big thing to come from Korean soil.
“I will say that it’s true, the process of working with Netflix was very enjoyable on my end. They very much agreed to and related to my creative vision, but they also created an environment where I didn’t have to think about anything else aside from focusing on my creativity in terms of distribution or when or how to release the series. Because Hellbound is based on the original webtoons, my partner Choi Kyu-Seok and I have decided that the story afterwards will be told first through the webtoon and, as for whether we would want to turn that into another live-action series, that’s something that we will need further discussion on. As you know, we have only just released Hellbound season 1 and so we didn’t have any time to discuss that issue with Netflix. So I would say this is something we need further discussion on.”
