Train to Busan director Yeon Sang-ho spills new details on the sequel

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

TRAIN TO BUSAN largely took place on a train to Busan as a zombie apocalypse broke out in the country, threatening the safety of the passengers. The South Korean film was a wild ride, and surprisingly emotional, as well as a critical and commercial success. The film will be receiving a sequel in the form of PENINSULA, which follows a Jung-seok, a former soldier who has managed to escape overseas but is given a mission to return to the devastated Korean peninsula and unexpectedly meets up with survivors.

Director Yeon Sang-ho returned to helm the follow-up, but recently told ScreenDaily that he doesn't think it'd be right to call the film an official sequel. "It takes place four years after Train To Busan, in the same universe, but it doesn’t continue the story and has different characters," Yeon said. "Government authority has been decimated after the zombie outbreak in Korea, and there is nothing left except the geographical traits of the location – which is why the film is called Peninsula." Yeon also teased just how much bigger PENINSULA will be than its predecessor.

The scale of Peninsula can’t compare to Train To Busan, it makes it look like an independent film. Train To Busan was a high-concept film shot in narrow spaces whereas Peninsula has a much wider scope of movement.

Although Yeon Sang-ho was initially reluctant to develop a TRAIN TO BUSAN sequel, he soon warmed to "the idea of being able to build a post-apocalyptic world – which would be sort of savage but also in a way like ancient times, or like ruined modern times, with rules of its own – was interesting to me. There could be many stories that could keep coming out of that world. Destroyed, isolated, extreme, but with hope of escape and humanism, and the way world powers would look at this place. There could be a lot of material with a lot of greater significance." Yeon also touched upon the COVID-19 pandemic which is currently sweeping the globe, saying, "I never dreamt of anything like the new coronavirus. But recently I have been learning news about the collective selfishness that you do see facets of in Train To Busan and in Peninsula, that brings about tragedy."

PENINSULA is slated to debut in cinemas in Korea this summer.