Actors Woo Do-hwan and Lee Sang-yi reunite in Netflix’s action series “Bloodhounds” (2023–) season two, throwing punches once again. And this time with a deeper bond that goes beyond bromance, in what is being called a levelled-up “bro-melodrama.”

“The friendship between the two has grown much deeper,” said Woo during the show’s press conference held in Jung District, central Seoul, on Tuesday. “People often call it a ‘bromance,’ but we like to think of it as a ‘bro-melodrama,’ a new kind of genre we’re carving out.”


“Our characters have both experienced losing someone precious, which makes them want to protect each other even more and hope that no one gets hurt.”

Lee echoed Woo’s sentiment, while director Kim Ju-hwan described their dynamic as “one of the best bromances I’ve worked on so far.” Kim is known for projects centered on male partnerships, including the films “The Divine Fury” (2019) and “Midnight Runners” (2017).

Directed by Kim, the second season of “Bloodhounds” returns with duo fighters Gun-woo and Woo-jin, picking up three years after they took down a loan shark operation. Now training under Woo-jin as his coach, Gun-woo continues to pursue his dream of becoming a boxing champion. However, when he becomes a target of Baek-jeong, an operator of an illegal international boxing league, the duo once again join forces to protect their dream and the people they care about against the underground world.

Actors Woo and Lee reprise their roles as Gun-woo and Woo-jin, respectively. They are joined by singer-actor Jung Ji-hoon, better known as 2000s pop star Rain, who plays new antagonist Baek-jeong.

Known for its boxing-driven action, the series faced the challenge of elevating its already well-received realism. For Kim, the answer was “to face it head-on.”

“One of the reasons ‘Bloodhounds’ received so much love was its realistic portrayal of boxing,” Kim said. “This time, the challenge was how to make that realism go even further and much of that responsibility fell on the actors.”

“So, we decided to face it head-on. Instead of holding back, we trained even harder and dove deeper into boxing to make the action feel more raw and authentic. We really wanted to showcase a kind of K-action that only our actors can pull off.”

To fully embody the action, the actors said that they endlessly trained and rehearsed, reaching a level Lee referred to as like performing a “couple's dance.”

The second season also introduces a new villain on screen, Baek-jeong. Director Kim noted that Jung was the only actor who could match the character’s aura, physicality and charisma.

Taking on his first villain role, Jung admitted he “felt a lot of pressure,” though it was a challenge he had long wanted to take on.

Jung described Baek-jeong as a “cold-blooded” character, whom main purpose is to make Gun-woo and Woo-jin miserable as possible. To portray someone shaped by such a life, he immersed himself deeply in the role, even bringing the character home at times, which didn’t end well.

“I thought that if it looks staged, it won’t work,” Jung said. “I wanted to showcase someone who has been like that for their whole life, and it even slipped into at home once and I got in trouble for it. I basically lived as that character for almost a year.”

Action series “Bloodhounds” season two will be released on Friday on Netflix.

BY KIM JI-YE [kim.jiye@joongang.co.kr]