‘Pachinko’ Team Talks Season 2: Soo Hugh, Minha Kim and Jin Ha Share Insights As The Show Goes It Alone
Apple TV+ will be diving back into the multi-generational world of Sunja, Solomon and more with Pachinko Season 2 already in the works.
In its first season, Pachinko focused on the early life of Sunja as she moves from Korea to Japan, and her grandson Solomon’s unrelenting efforts to close a critical finance deal and prove his worth. But with an emotional finale that featured a bittersweet death, a heart-wrenching arrest and a key character’s return, Pachinko sets the stage for an even more dramatic and history-packed Season 2.
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“We do get to World War II in Season 2,” shares series creator and showrunner Soo Hugh.
Of course, the series’ World War II arc will center on young Sunja (Minha Kim), who was last seen in 1938 selling kimchi to provide for her two sons following her husband Isak’s arrest. Hugh says the upcoming season, after a “little bit of a time jump” will also focus on the family’s second generation: a young Mozasu and older brother Noah. The two children appeared in the first season, but further details about their childhood remained largely unexplored.
Kim shares that Sunja, now her family’s main breadwinner, will “become stronger, even though there are so many burdens on her shoulders.”
Inside ‘Pachinko’, The AppleTV+ Hit From Soo Hugh That Captured Hearts
“It’s about the story of her, continued from Season 1… even heavier, but still, there’s joy,” she teases. “Still, there’s joy.”
At the end of Season 1, Kim’s Sunja wasn’t the only character resorting to desperate measures. Pachinko last sees Jin Ha’s Solomon striking a deal with Mamoru Yoshii, a seedy, yet powerful Japanese businessman. With this newly formed alliance, Ha says he can only imagine that “a sort of moral conflict will certainly be part” of Solmon’s Season 2 arc, which will be “completely new” and separate from the original source material.
“I think we are seeing him question his preconceived notions of what success looked like when we meet him at the beginning of the season, and I’m rooting for him to find a healthier and less toxic idea of success,” Ha says. “But I leave it to the skilled brains of the writers and Soo.”
For more from the team behind Pachinko, check out the cover story for the latest issue of AwardsLine, here.
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