The director of Hellbound – Netflix’s latest smash hit South Korean series – has revealed that he would love to create a shared universe incorporating the new series and his previous film Train to Busan.
Speaking to The Korea Herald, Yeon Sang-ho explained that his wish was to see characters and settings from his various projects existing in the same world, although he conceded that it would be a tricky task.
“I have always imagined creating a complete package, similar to Stephen King’s imaginary world Castle Rock,” he said. “[But] because my works are created and published by different networks and production companies, I think it is a difficult dream to accomplish.”
Hellbound is the latest series from South Korea to take the streamer by storm following the monumental success of Squid Game earlier this year, and focuses on mysterious supernatural beings who appear out of nowhere to condemn people to hell.
Discussing his inspiration for the series in the same interview, Yeon remarked: “I became extremely curious about how the word ‘hell’ was created in the first place. On what kinds of experiences did our ancestors go through to come up with this word even though nobody saw what hell is like.”
As well as the aforementioned zombie film Train to Busan and its sequel Peninsula, Yeon’s previous directorial work includes the 2018 superhero movie Psychokinesis and animated films The King of Pigs and The Fake, while he also wrote the 2020 series The Cursed.