“I chose to be a part of The Silent Sea because I always wanted to challenge myself” – says Gong Yoo on being part of sci-fi series on Netflix

By Monica Yadav -

December 22, 2021 - 5:20 PM IST

Netflix is ready end the year with sci-fi South Korean series The Silent Sea which is arriving on December 24 on the streaming service. Set in the year 2075 when the depletion of natural resources has devastated Earth, this Netflix Series tells the story of an elite team sent on a special mission to an abandoned research base on the moon. It marks the comeback of Gong Yoo in full-flegded role on Television after reigning superstar in movies.

“I chose to be a part of The Silent Sea because I always wanted to challenge myself” – says Gong Yoo on being part of sci-fi series on Netflix

At the global press conference of The Silent Sea held on December 22, Gong Yoo, who was last in mega-hit Squid Game in most viral cameo ever, spoke about why he chose this particular project. "The reason I chose to be a part of The Silent Sea is because I always wanted to challenge myself to play a role in a genre series," he said. "As a member of the audience, I like to consume content, and I’m very interested in the dystopian backdrop. So, everything kind of came together, in terms of the subject matter, the story, the backdrop, and it all felt very refreshing. I would even say that there was no particular reason not to join the production and Bae Doona said this as well, but it really made me want to take on a new challenge. I wouldn’t say always, but I am a person who wrestles with the idea, who looks into the idea of diversity, often. And there were a lot of times where I felt like we could do better, right? But we did not have a diverse range of content from Korea, I think. We hear a lot of stories that are within the same genre, so as an actor, I always thought a lot about expanding the horizon in terms of the genres. And if I could take part in a project that could do that, I wanted to do that. So that would be why."

Adding to that, Gong Yoo talked about his character Captain Han. "He is a former veteran, so I wanted him to have a more rugged and tough look to him, able to see how tough of a life he led through his appearance. So I got a little bit tanned, and if you look at the tattoo he has on his neck, he has an insignia of his former military unit. So it’s not so much that I tried to create a “tough” appearance, but I just wanted it to hint at the history that we don’t really see in the series, the history this character had. And in the past, I have done a lot of more romantic roles where I had very polished looks, with a little bit of curl in my hair and things like that. I wanted to get rid of all those aspects in this character this time because he is a former veteran, I had a much clean-cut hairstyle. At the time, because I had this new haircut, I know that fans had different opinions about that particular haircut. But I want to let the fans know, that hair was not for Gong Yoo, it was for Han Yunjae. When you see the character in The Silent Sea, you’ll understand," he said.

The sci-fi series also required the stars to be hanging on wires for zero-gravity scenes. "Looking back on it, in low-gravity, we would use wires and we also had choreographers who guided the way, who coached our motions," he added. "But I think it really helped us that the suits were so heavy because it comes naturally. You can’t move as easily as you would without the suit, so it came naturally to us to portray that zero-gravity and absence of gravity."

South Korean superstars Gong Yoo, Bae Doona led the series along with critically acclaimed actors Lee Joon, Kim Sun Young and Lee Mu Saeng. Song Jian (Bae Doona), an astrobiologist who has just set foot on the moon. She is a member of an elite team sent to the moon to save Earth from ruin with its depletion of natural resources. This lone figure on the moon, still an infinitely mysterious place that remains an uncharted territory for humans, piques our curiosity in this story of exploration and prepares the ground for the question, “What happened at an abandoned Korean research base?” While looking for clues to save Earth, team members become mired in mysterious predicaments and unforeseen events that occur in outer space. Their fates hanging by a thread will keep viewers on the edge of their seats.

The Silent Sea is a series based on director Choi Hang Yong’s short film by the same name, which received much acclaim at the 13th Mise-en-scène Short Film Festival in 2014. Actor Jung Woo-sung was enthralled by this story that Choi has been crafting over a decade. “I loved the spectacular ideas behind the story. I wanted to be involved in creating a sci-fi series that is uniquely Korean,” Jung said.

His participation in the production of the series has garnered much attention from early on. Also joining the creative process of this intriguing story of exploration is writer Park Eun Kyo, who received Best Screenplay awards at the Korean Association of Film Critics Awards for Mother and at the Blue Dragon Awards for Crush And Blush.

A juggernaut cast — consisting of Bae Doona, Gong Yoo, Lee Joon and others — portrays the elite team members who risk their lives to participate in a special mission. With the synergy and the intense suspense they create, the sci-fi thriller The Silent Sea will surely become the grand finale of the year 2021 for Korean films and series.