'A Shop for Killers' season two peddles high-octane counterattack with international cast

“A Shop for Killers” (2024-) is back for a second season, with Lee Dong-wook returning as the very much alive, present-day version of his character after the first season’s surprise twist.

Lee reprises his role as Jin-man, whose apparent suicide brings his niece Ji-an to his rural home, where he had seemingly been selling agricultural tools through an online shopping mall. If the first season followed Ji-an as she uncovered her uncle’s secret identity as an arms dealer for assassins and fought off the killers sent after her, the second season will see the uncle and niece duo go on the offensive.

“There’s a phrase I really like: Every attack invites a counterattack," Lee Kwon, the director of the action thriller, said at a press conference in Yeongdeungpo District, western Seoul, on Monday.

The second season of the Disney+ original series, set for release on Wednesday, picks up after Ji-an takes on her new role as head of the weapons mall, Murthehelp. Unlike the first season, which stayed relatively close to Kang Ji-young’s novel series of the same name while changing a few settings, the second season branches off into a separate storyline, director Lee said. 

“The story was expanded by asking ourselves, ‘What would Ji-an do here?’ and ‘How would Jin-man respond when he meets Ji-an again?’” he said.

Season two will introduce the criminal organization of Babylon, bringing in a multilingual, international cast that includes Masaki Okada, the Japanese actor who starred in the Oscar-winning film "Drive My Car" (2021). With the new characters, an expanded plot and a living, breathing Jin-man, the second season will deliver even more high-intensity action, the cast and crew emphasized at Wednesday’s conference.

"The second season is about [Ji-an] striking back after she realizes that if things continue to go on [as they are], everyone around her will get hurt," said actor Kim Hye-jun, who plays the now-hardened young woman.

Geum Hannah, who won the Blue Dragon Best Supporting Actress award for her portrayal as Min-hye — an elite killer and protector of Murthehelp's executives — said she learned how to ride a motorcycle and do stunts on wires professionally for the second season, after focusing mostly on close-quarters combat in season one.

“[Min-hye] has something to protect now, so she fights with her life on the line,” Geum said.

Lee Hyun-ri, a Tokyo-born Korean actor who newly joins the series as the assassin Q, said she gained 5 kilograms (11 pounds), mostly in muscle, and trained for three to four months for the action scenes while traveling back and forth between Japan and Korea.

“During rehearsal before my first action scene, I found it so thrilling and fun that I was too excited to sleep before going to the shoot,” she said. “After we finished filming, the martial arts director told me, ‘You’ve crossed the river now. There’s no going back.’ […] There’s an adrenaline and dopamine rush you can only feel when doing action.”

Okada, who plays the top-tier mercenary J, adjusted much of his character on set with director Lee, eventually shaping J into someone “hip, who enjoys his work and does it with a sense of fun,” according to the director — the kind of character who listens to beat-driven music as he heads into a fight.

“Every day, I learned that action is not simply about movement, but can also become a form of dialogue,” said Okada, who tries his hand at action for the first time in the series. “It was an incredibly valuable opportunity.”

“Many of the characters have their own distinct style of action. I think that is what makes the [series'] action feel differentiated and unique,” Lee Dong-wook said.

BY KIM JU-YEON [[email protected]]