Hyun Bin on 'Made in Korea' Season 2: A Gesture That Speaks Volumes

South Korean star Hyun Bin has revealed the subtle craft behind his character's transformation in the upcoming second season of Disney+'s 'Made in Korea.' Returning as Baek Kitae, a fictional deputy director of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency, Hyun Bin said the new episodes required a deliberate shift in his portrayal.

"A lot of things changed about my character, from my perspective," he said. One key choice was introducing a recurring habit: Kitae touching his face. "People's hands tend to go to their face more often when they're feeling something negative rather than positive," Hyun Bin explained, adding that the gesture serves as a device to express a troubled aspect of Kitae's psyche.

The actor noted that this was planned well in advance. "Since we had already decided, while making Season 1, that we would go on to produce Season 2, that was one of the things that was very deliberately planned."

Set in 1979, the season unfolds during one of the most turbulent periods in modern South Korean history, following the assassination of President Park Chung-hee and the lead-up to the December 12 military coup. The series, however, focuses on fictional characters at the periphery of these events rather than the historical figures themselves, according to director Woo Minho.

Woo Dohwan, who plays Kitae's younger brother, Lieutenant Colonel Baek Kihyun, said his most challenging scene was his first encounter with Hyun Bin. The scene follows a nine-year time jump, requiring the actors to establish the state of their relationship through a single conversation. "We had to establish what kind of relationship they had had over those nine years, what their relationship is now, and then carry that forward from there," Woo Dohwan said.

Season 2 of 'Made in Korea' premieres on September 9.