Disney+ unveils South Korean spy series based on FX’s The Americans

Award-winning FX espionage series The Americans

Global streamer Disney+ has begun production on The Koreans, a reimagining of FX’s period spy drama series The Americans, which starred Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys.

Produced by South Korean prodco Imaginus (Tempest) and Studio AA, the new show features Squid Game star Lee Byung-hun and Han Jimin playing seemingly normal parents who are actually elite North Korean spies working to bring down the South from within.

It will stream on Disney+ internationally and on Hulu in the US. The series adds to Disney+’s slate of Korean originals which already includes The Tyrant and Made in Korea.

Set during the wave of democratisation and cultural modernisation that swept across South Korea in the early 1990s, the series is directed by Ahn Gilho (The Glory) and adapted by Park Eunkyo (Made In Korea, Mother) from FX’s The Americans.

The original FX series won the Golden Globe for Best Television Series – Drama and was named AFI TV Program of the Year for five consecutive seasons.