‘Peninsula’ Director Is Already Working On The Next (Animated) ‘Train To Busan’ Sequel
In 2016, animatorYeon Sang-ho’s live-action directorial debutTrain to Busanbecame a global sensation, with critics hailing the taut zombie thriller as one of the best horror movies of the decade. But Yeon never forgot his animation roots, directing an animated prequel toTrain to Busan,Seoul Station, which chronicled the beginning of the zombie plague that devastates South Korea. Yeon is planning to dive back into the animation realm again, with an animated sequel toTrain to Busan, which acts as a prequel to hisTrain to Busanfollow-up,Peninsula. And thoughPeninsulajust hit VOD and select theaters today, Yeon is already deep into working on this animatedTrain to Busansequel.
Yeon is already working on an animated prequel toPeninsula, his highly anticipated follow-up to 2016’s smash hitTrain to Busan, the filmmaker revealed toPolygon. Yeon said:
“A prequel toPeninsula: we are currently in talks about making a cartoon about the relationship between Unit 631 and Min-jung. I am hopeful that the story can be further expanded upon through the less inhibited cartoon medium.”
This animatedPeninsulaprequel would be a departure from hisTrain to Busananimated prequel, which followed a different group of (far less likable) characters rather than the ones we grow attached to in the 2016 film. As such,Seoul Stationdidn’t leave quite as much of an impression asTrain to Busan. By expanding on the stories of lead characters inPeninsula— in this case, Lee Jung-hyun’s Min-jung, the mother of two young girls who rescue Gang Dong-won’s protagonist Jung-seok — this animated prequel could be more compelling.
BothPeninsulaandTrain to Busanare distinctive because they take place outside of the parameters of the typical zombie outbreak movie — forPeninsula, it’s after the zombie apocalypse has devastated Korea, forTrain to Busan, it’s on a small, claustrophobic space that gets wind of the outbreak too late. The image of a post-apocalyptic backdrop specifically appealed to Yeon, who got the idea while researchingTrain to Busanby touring abandoned train stations.
“AfterTrain to Busan, I talked a lot about a post-apocalyptic backdrop with the staff that accompanied me to the various locations,” Yeon said. “So, I thought if I were to make a sequel toTrain to Busan, I wanted to portray a devastated Korea in a post-apocalyptic movie.”
From that idea came the image of “a young child driving a dump truck in the ruined Korea,” which led toPeninsula. But with the prequel, Yeon will get to further explore that post-apocalyptic landscape, hopefully to better success thanSeoul Station.
