The show’s past timeline enters the Second World War era this year. What’s the benefit of telling stories set amidst a big, flashbulb moment in history?
We always said that this show needed to be the “epic intimate” — in the same breath. It feels like that’s how life is. I only think about my life in terms of, like, “I’m drinking coffee now. I’m seeing you on this [Zoom] screen.” And these huge things are happening in the world behind us and in front of us. To be able to do a story that reflects that feeling is really interesting.
One of the past plotlines fans have really latched onto is the volatile attraction between our heroine Sunja and our antihero gangster Hansu. How does that dynamic evolve this year?
I think it gets really rich and complicated — because now, for the first time, we see an actual friendship start forming between them. And that friendship is really very much because of Noa; they’re both parents of a child. What’s interesting is whether or not a “romance” will ever spark between them. That’s the heat of the show. That’s the fun part of the show. Will they or won’t they? It’s energy that so many narratives draw propulsion from, but I think more important than “Will Sunja and Hansu ever get together?” is “What do they bring out in each other?” In some ways, Hansu’s the bad guy in our show. He’s done some terrible things. He is a very problematic character. But the question is whether or not Sunja makes him a better human being — which I find more interesting as a storyline.
With all the table-setting and figuring things out that goes into a first season, is season two just inherently easier?
Yes and no. Season one, you’re working in a complete vacuum. You’re making decisions being like, “Is this the right decision?” But there is something nice about that innocence. You don’t know what you have to prove. There’s a sense of, “Well, no one knows who you are. Let’s just go for it.” An audacity that comes from a season one. In season two, there’s a confidence that you have because you know you’ve done it before, but there’s also that fear of, “Will it be as good as season one?” They’re both very different [experiences]. It doesn’t get easier, though.
I heard another showrunner say that writing doesn’t really get easier, no matter how many times you’ve done it . . .
Oh yeah, I hate writing. I’m a writer, but I really don’t enjoy it — at all. I feel like the older I get, I dislike it more and more — and really, I know it’s because I’m afraid of failing. It feels more high-stakes the more you do it. Whereas I remember being younger and being a writer, and when you have nothing to prove, it’s so much easier.
Is the fact that a Korean-centric series can now thrive on this major U.S. streamer a sign that audiences’ tastes have evolved, or that networks just weren’t trusting audiences in years past?
It’s the “Chicken or Egg” question, right? I think it’s both. You need networks to make things and you need an audience to watch it. They both almost have to happen at the same time for shows like this to exist.
Finally, all told, how would you sum up season two of Pachinko?
I would say season two is as if the beating heart is getting closer and closer and closer. You feel like things are going to come to a head.
Pachinko, streaming Friday, October 11 on Apple TV+
MEMORABLE ROLES:
This accomplished TV scribe has lent her talents to such series as murder mystery The Killing, Stephen King adaptation Under the Dome and season one of horror drama The Terror, on which she served as co-showrunner.
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The South Korea-born, Maryland-raised writer channelled a bit of her own immigrant experience into her most successful project yet: creating the epic family drama Pachinko. Based on the 2017 novel by Min Jin Lee, it spans from 1915 to 1989, from Korea to Japan to America, tracking one Korean fam across four generations as they carve out a place for themselves amidst displacement, discrimination and tragedy. Season one netted Hugh a Peabody Award back in 2022. Season two concludes this week.