‘Squid Game’ Star Wi Ha-jun Talks Hollywood Ambitions & Learning To Love His Character’s Pursuit of Justice
This article contains spoilers from Squid Game Season 1 that impact the plot of Season 2.
Wi Ha-jun has played several memorable supporting roles in Gyeongseong Creature and Little Women, before landing one of his biggest roles yet in the history-making Squid Game series as Jun-ho, the younger brother of In-ho/Front Man (played by Lee Byung-hun).
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In the second season, Jun-ho wakes up in hospital, after being shot by his brother and falling off a cliff in Season 1. He crosses paths again with game-winner Gi-hun (played by Lee Jung-jae) and Jun-ho embarks on a quest to find the island where another instalment of the violent, winner-takes-all game is taking place.
“It was my first time portraying one character over several seasons and I came to realize how important it is for me to love the character,” Wi tells Deadline, about his growth as an actor across both seasons. “I’ve learned so much about this in-depth exploration and research about the character and then translating that into nuanced expression on screen.”
On what he loves most about Jun-ho, Wi points out that he admires the character’s moral compass amid the deep personal strife and emotional turmoil he is experiencing about his long-lost brother.
“I’m not saying that Jun-ho is a character who is perfectly moral, but seeing how he puts his life at risk to pursue truth and realize justice was something that I really loved about him as a person,” says Wi. “I also thought that he’s the kind of person that we need these days. So I learned a lot from him, and I loved him.”
Wi also shared about his ambitions to be part of a film or show in Hollywood, following in the footsteps of fellow cast members like Lee Byung-hun (G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra) and Lee Jung-jae (Star Wars: The Acolyte). While there are many directors and actors stateside that Wi wants to work with, he highlights Christopher Nolan as one among his dream list.
“I really revere Christopher Nolan,” says Wi. “If I do have an opportunity, I think I would like to act in an action genre piece and show what K-action can be. I know that Lee Byung-hun has already done a very good job in this, but I hope that I can show a different aspect of it too.”
For the second season of Squid Game, Wi embraced the physicality of playing Jun-ho as he crosses land and sea to find his brother and the games. He says that his most memorable scene was the first scene he appears in Season Two, where he wakes up in the hospital with his mother by his bedside.
Wi adds that he grew a beard for the scene and also lost weight to represent his character’s transformation.
“It was so physically challenging, which made it all the more rewarding while shooting the scene,” says Wi.
Wi says that the most important keyword that Squid Game creator and director Hwang Dong-hyuk gave him to guide his performance was “balance,” in expressing Jun-ho’s temperament.
“Jun-ho is a very emotionally burdened character and it’s very challenging to express that part of Jun-ho, but director Hwang gave me the advice that Jun-ho needs to be very well-balanced in terms of emotion,” says Wi. “Even though he’s personally going through a lot of emotional turmoil, he still has to relentlessly search and achieve his goals, to the very end. That’s the direction I received from the director and it helped me a lot in acting.”
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