More brutal, more human: actor Lee Dong-wook on 'A Shop for Killers' Season 2

For Lee Dong-wook, returning to Disney+’s “A Shop for Killers” meant more than reviving a once-presumed-dead uncle who runs a clandestine weapons mall for assassins — it meant quietly adding 8 kilograms, guzzling water to “not look older” and rethinking what it means to be a guardian.

Lee plays Jeong Jin-man in the Disney+ action thriller, a former team leader for the mercenary company Babylon, now the operator of a clandestine shopping mall, fighting to protect his niece Ji-an and push back against Babylon’s network.

The first season drew strong international acclaim, landing on The New York Times’ best international TV show list and among Time magazine’s top four Korean dramas of the year in 2024.

Released Wednesday with two episodes and rolling out two more every Wednesday for a total of eight, Season 2 follows Ji-an as the mall’s new CEO join forces with her uncle to launch a full-scale counterattack.

“I’m grateful we could come back with Season 2 because Season 1 was loved so much,” Lee said during an interview with The Korea Times in Seoul Thursday.

“It ...