KIm Ha Neul and Jung Ji Hoon in 'Red Swan'

Chaebol family. Infidelity. Love affair. Revenge.

Those common themes in K-dramas may easily lead a series to a formulaic path, which could eventually bore viewers. But with the episodes available so far for Disney+ K-drama Red Swan, those familiar storylines are woven seamlessly into a fast-paced, action-packed narrative and well-developed, fleshed-out characters.

Red Swan (or Hwain Family Scandal) stars Kim Ha Neul, Jung Ji Hoon (Rain), Jung Gyu Woon, Seo Yi Sook, and Ki Eun Se. It is directed by Park Hong Kyun (who also directed A Korean Odyssey, Warm and Cozy, and The Greatest Love) and written by Choi Yoon Jung (who also worked on dramas Only Love and Three Sisters).

(From left) Director Park Hong Kyun, Seo Yi Sook, Jung Ji Hoon, Kim Ha Neul, Ki Eun Se, and Jung Gyu Woon

In the series, Kim Ha Neul is Oh Wan Soo, a former professional golfer and Goodwill Ambassador. Wan Soo's husband is Kim Yong Kook (Jung Gyu Woon), the heir to one of Korea's top conglomerates, Hwain Group; a serial adulterer, he is having an affair with a woman named Jang Tae Ra (Ki Eun Se), and Wan Soo is aware that he's long been unfaithful. Further complicating things within this family is the power struggle between Wan Soo and her mother-in-law, Park Mi Ran (Seo Yi Sook), the chairman of Hwain Group. Due to an assassination attempt on Wan Soo, a mysterious new bodyguard, Seo Do Yoon (Jung Ji Hoon), enters the picture with a hidden agenda.

'Red Swan' cast members (from left) Seo Yi Sook, Jung Ji Hoon, Kim Ha Neul, Ki Eun Se, and Jung Gyu Woon

Though Red Swan only has 10 episodes, each one is packed with twists and different stories that, as Kim Ha Neul said, make every single episode 'intriguing' and 'gripping.' The plot is indeed exciting, but we think the series also has the perfect cast members to embody the characters.

Kim Ha Neul on Oh Wan Soo

'I'm the Goodwill Ambassador and also the head of the NOW Foundation, so I monitored a lot of what the Goodwill Ambassadors do in public. They are very confident, very graceful, so I tried to learn from their gestures and how they stand before the public and their mindsets and everything when I researched my character. So it was also very important how I looked, so I focused on being presentable and how to dress on these public occasions and how to dress for each and every event, exuding that graceful, soft charisma.'

Kim Ha Neul

Jung Ji Hoon on Seo Do Yoon

'[When the] script came along and I read it, I thought that nothing much was required of me because I didn't have that many lines, being a bodyguard. But still, there was a very strong presence that this character exudes. It did require some effort to put together that presence, that tone, the vibes of this bodyguard. I had an instructor who helped me out. I did put a lot of thought into how exactly to put this character together. I tried really hard to control my tone of voice and my detailed acting… For me, I don't have that many lines, so it was more difficult for me because I had to express those emotions without saying them out loud. It has to be done with your eyes and in the script, it would say, 'Do Yoon looks at Wan Soo as if he understands everything,' like that would be what's written in the script. My eyes aren't the largest of eyes so I would skip dinner because I couldn't afford to have my face swell. I needed to be as expressive as possible with my eyes, so that's how passionate I was. Or [I would do] morning runs before going on set.'

Jung Ji Hoon

Jung Gyu Woon as Kim Yong Kook

'This character originally was almost the opposite of what you now see. He was someone very rigid, someone very restricted. But I wanted to go a different route and I suggested maybe having, visually, like a Spanish or Italian vibe. I let my hair grow out a little to give that kind of look. I would sometimes have my hair in a ponytail and I just tried different hairstyles. And I think I almost tried to make up for what I may lack in skill with my hair.'

Jung Gyu Woon

Seo Yi Sook on Park Mi Ran

'In the case of Oh Wan Soo, she's someone who came from the bottom, from the ground up. She built her life but my character is someone who was born into wealth. So I felt like when you're just born into wealth, I didn't really think that she was the most educated person or the smartest of people. And so I thought about what lacked in her life. Now, in most chaebol families, there are different classes among them, right? There are those who come from generational wealth and then there are those who have made themselves wealthy as a first generation. And so for those different classes and certain chaebols, we see different figures, we see them from the media, we hear these stories about how they sometimes treat people like dirt and I think all of that comes from some kind of deficiency that they must have felt when they were raised. So I thought about that as I was thinking about my character and I really leaned into that sense of deficiency, and she's a wild one.'

Seo Yi Sook

Ki Eun Se on Jang Tae Ra

'I think the trailer only focused on her being the very provocative character. But she is, to put it in simple terms, she's a villainess. But I focused on not wanting to appear only as a villain.'

Ki Eun Se

Red Swan is exclusively available on Disney+

Photos courtesy of Disney+

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