In 2017, a first seed was planted. Min Jin Lee, a Korean-American author, had just released her second novel that had been over 20 years in the making, titled Pachinko . Following a Korean family that has immigrated to Japan in the 1920s, the book is a heart-wrenching narrative for the aching plight of Zainichi , a word used to refer to long-term Korean residents of Japan.
In the five years after, a movement had begun to take root—the seemingly small narrative of one Korean girl, Sunja, was being transformed into a beautiful historical epic. Adapted by creator Soo Hugh from its namesake novel, the 2022 release of Apple TV+’s Pachinko Season 1 drew widespread acclaim , proving to be a wildflower that would bloom into something much bigger than itself. Two years on, Pachinko Season 2 has decidedly returned to the small screen.
And so has its starry cast . From Kim Minha and Lee Minho who portray the younger Sunja and Hansu respectively, to Academy Award winner Youn Yuh-jung who plays the older Sunja and on-screen grandmother of Jin Ha’s character, Solomon. Only the stories have grown more complex, as the threads of Sunja’s past slowly begin to untangle and reveal itself through her older and younger portrayals.
“I had to figure out what Sunja’s defining belief is. To me, it was the amount of love she has inside of herself, so I tried not to lose that within me,” ruminates Kim, who kicks off the first episode of Season 2 with already two children of her own, Noa an.