“We weren’t aiming for a star-studded cast,” says Kim Hee-won of Disney+’s new spice thriller, “The Tempest.” “In fact, I believe something really fortunate has happened.
The fortune brought together Janna Jun, Gang Dongwon, Jon Cho, Lee Misque and Park Haejean for the streamer’s most ambitious Korean original, a politically conspiracy thriller that launched its first three episodes on September 10th.
In an exclusive interview with Variety, co-directors Kim (The Queen of Tears) and Hui Mion-Hen (The Roundup: Punishment) analyze a collaborative approach to fusing intimate character work with a massive international plot.
For Kim Hee Won, known for combining romance with social commentary with hits like Vincenzo, the key to “The Tempest” was to base his high-stakes spying on emotional truth. “One of the questions that the question director Ho always asks is, “Why is this action necessary?” or “Is this really necessary?” Kim explains. “His intention is to pay attention to action sequences that are included solely for spectacles or purely functional reasons.”
This philosophy shaped their approach through production. “I wanted this action to emerge at the emotional peak of the scene, and to continue to connect with a new emotional turning point, creating a constant cycle,” Kim says. “As the series’ universe expanded, we aimed to get closer to them in a more intimate way, rather than emotionally separate ourselves from the characters.”
Heo, whose previous works established him as a master of athletic behavior, embraced this character’s first approach. “If an action-driven story is like a bold and straight line, I think a spice thriller is like a zigzag,” he recalls. “I wanted to make the story events and the process of solving them more complicated and more complex and full of obstacles and complexity.”
The series boasts one of the most impressive international lineups in Korean dramas. For Kim, the casting philosophy was easy. “Actors have to be the person the audience wants to see and the staff want to work with.”
Rather than pursuing a star-studded ensemble, Kim emphasizes the organic nature of the final cast. “We had a group of veteran actors like this, so we didn’t have to force a particular direction to maintain a consistent tone,” she says.
Kim said the key was to find the right rhythm. “Each episode has its own rhythm, which coincides with the rhythm of the story itself. At one moment, it’s like it’s in slow driving mode, but in other things you have to keep your foot on the gas from start to finish.”
The work with Kim and writer Jung Sok-yeon (“Decision to Leave”) brought a unique literary sensibility to the project. “A writer’s scripts are always vividly descriptive,” Kim points out. “When I received one of her scripts, it feels like I’m walking through a spectacular museum from the first floor to the top.
“In this project, I moved away from the stylistic approach I used in the past and pursued the most realistic visual language I’ve ever worked,” she explains. “The concept combines both spice thriller and melodrama, so I felt that bringing too much to the stylized or artificial mise-en-scène would make the story feel detached from reality.”
Heo shared this commitment to storytelling grounded in his action sequence. “I think it is important to maintain a tone and attitude that remains true to the overall story of the script, so that the audience can understand and empathize with the character when they get caught up in action.
The unified visual metaphor that emerged was the ocean. “There are many different types of oceans in the story: lyrical seas where whales can swim, dark and ominous seas with things lurking underneath the surface, seas where violent waves crashed just before the storm,” says Kim. “Many of these states in the ocean are a phantom reflection of the characters and the emotions of the world we face.”
“Tempest” represents a continuing investment in Disney+’s Premium Originals and is based on the success of titles such as “HyperKnife”, “Nine Puzzle”, and “Killer’s Shop”. According to Carol Choi, executive VP of Original Content Strategy for Walt Disney Company Asia Pacific, the series exemplifies the platform’s creative ambitions of “creating premium, talent-driven, original, high-quality collections from APAC for global audiences.”
“There are several reasons why I’m so excited about ‘Tempest’. And there’s a reason it’s the most anticipated series of the year. It focuses on the fascinating narrative as a high stakes cross spyromance, combining the most successful global hits to master the “Tempest” while achieving rich cultural idiosyncratics and seeking universal tensions, while attaining rich cultural idiosyncratics, the likes of mastering action, political intrigue and romantic hits.
As Korean content continues to find global audiences, “Tempest” is positioned as both a showcase of national storytelling skills and a template for international collaboration. With a blend of intimate character work and elements of a massive thriller, the series aims to capture what Kim describes as the viewer’s journey.
