Family: The Unbreakable Bond is a spy comedy about a National Intelligence Service agent who poses as an ordinary office worker and husband and his sweet wife who is also keeping a big secret from him. Starring in the series is the duo whose collaboration never fails to become a sensational hit, Jang Hyuk and Jang Nara. The two actors are reunited after nine years for their fourth project together. A lot of fans are thrilled to see the pair together. On top of that, the series also stars Chae Jungan and Kim Namhee, whose excellent performance is only matched by their irreplaceable charm, ramping up fans’ anticipation.

SOUTH KOREA – Family: The Unbreakable Bond Press Conference

The director of this series is Director Jang Jeongdo, whom has worked on countless projects as an executive producer, including TV series Live, What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim, The Crowned Clown, Our Blues, Alchemy of Souls, and Island just to name a few, and has returned as the director of this upcoming series. We are pretty sure that this would be one of the best TV series of 2023, created by the best production team and cast.

Jang Hyuk plays the character of Kwon Dohoon in the series who leads a double life as a secret agent and an ordinary husband. He mentioned that this series would be very fun and comical, especially surrounding this family, but there will also be elements of excitement and tension of a spy thriller.

Jang Nara plays the character of Kang Yura in the series while Chae Jungan’s character, Oh Chunryun is a high-ranking officer that controls the National Intelligent Service and a very professional character.

Kim Namhee plays the character Cho Taegu. He is a very suspicious man and he hopes that the viewers can find out for themselves what this suspicious man is up to in the series.

Family: The Unbreakable Bond is also a story about family and trust between family members.

The next segment of the press conference comprises hashtags tagged to each character of the series.

#no eyebrows

Emcee: In the still cuts shown during the press conference, it shows that you have no eyebrows. How did you film this scene? Did you really have to shave your eyebrows? JH: I didn’t shave my eyebrows off, it’s actually make up, plus CGI effects to make me look like I didn’t have eyebrows. When I first read the script, I knew that I had to take on the role because I knew that my coworkers (Nara, Jungan, Namhee) are in it but one thing that made me hesitant was having no eyebrows. It was a big thing and I had second thoughts about it as I have not tried it before. This was the first experience in my entire life with no eyebrows. But I still chose this drama to give it a try. I thought that the scene was necessary.

#wine

Emcee: The second hashtag is “wine”. Do you like wine? JH: I don’t know how to appreciate wine, actually. I have tried wine, of course, but I’m not knowledgeable. I think I drink wine to create or enjoy a certain mood — there is something about the maturity of the drink Emcee: Dohoon would enjoy wine with his wife, right? But it doesn’t sound like Dohoon drinks wine with his wife. JH: There is a reason why Dohoon needs to drink wine with his wife, which you will find out when you watch the series.

#jjajangmyeon

Emcee: The last hashtag is “jjajangmyeon” (black bean noodles). Were there any particular episode associated with the dish? JH: My character is supposed to be an undercover secret agent so he doesn’t have much time to have proper meals. He has a junior agent working under him, and when he has a meal with this person, he always orders jjajangmyeon. He also gets upset whenever the pickled radish is missing.

#travelling alone

Emcee: The first hashtag for Kang Yura is “travelling alone”. Where is this coming from? I thought Yura dreams of having the perfect family. Why would she want to travel alone? JNR: In the series, Dohoon is someone who never keeps his promises. So that was also one of the reasons why his eyebrows were missing. When you watch Episode 1, you will be amazed by how many penalties he needs to carry out because he didn’t keep his promise. It will be super funny. Yura is not the type of person who would go on a trip alone without her family, but if she did, that means something must have damaged her trust.

#Number 1 in the family

Emcee: Let’s move on to the second hashtag, which is “Number 1 in the family”. Is Kang Yura Number 1 in the family? JNR: Undoubtedly Number 1. She has the full support and love of her family, and everyone trusts her. On the other hand, her husband is really at the bottom of the hierarchy in the family — so far down that it goes underground. Yura is definitely Number 1 in the family. Emcee: You play a character who hides her power underneath her gentle façade. What made her Number 1 in the family? JNR: I think I paid a lot of attention to my character’s facial expressions. Yura feels okay, but looks tired. She always seems a little low on energy. She does so much of the house chores and takes care of every single event that happens within the family, big and small. That’s why she looks tired. But nonetheless, she is Number 1 in the family.

#Kwon Minseo

Emcee: The last hashtag is “Kwon Minseo” and if I remember correctly, it’s the name of Yura’s daughter, isn’t it? JNR: Yes. Minseo is so adorable it was almost shocking. It was such a new experience for me. Shin Sua, who plays the character Minseo, is very smart. I often found myself amazed by what she said, much like how Yura feels about Minseo in the script. The family in this series is very adorable and they are a little strange and quirky. And I believe at the center of all that weirdness is Minseo. You won’t be disappointed.

#a clutch

Emcee: The first hashtag reads “a clutch.” Earlier, we saw a short clip of you fighting off an attacker with a clutch, which was very impressive. The elevator scene in the highlight video was also amazing, and the action moves were very sophisticated. What was it like? CJA: I found them very difficult to pull off but please look forward to my action scenes. Emcee: Jang Hyuk is the expert in doing action scenes, and he reassured us that we can all keep our expectations high for Jungan’s action. Would you like to elaborate? JH: The choreography was not easy. She had to use some big movements within the tight space of an elevator. And this small space captures the emotions of the character very well, and not only pulled off the action nicely but also portrayed her character’s emotions very well. The elevator scene actually is the beginning of this series. You won’t be disappointed at all. CJA: Jang Hyuk probably would have been able to complete the scene in five minutes. On the contrary, I probably would have needed a couple of years to do the scene if I really wanted to do the scene justice. But I had to complete the scene within a short period of time. I think it took me about a month and a half. I learned a lot doing action scenes in the series. Chunryun doesn’t just use a clutch to fight off her enemy she uses a scarf too and is excellent in using that as well.

#Kwon Dohoon

Emcee: The second hashtag is “Kwon Dohoon”. As I understand, your character is the senior agent that mentors Kwon Dohoon, right? Why do you think we have his name in the hashtag? CJA: My character bosses Dohoon around a lot, and by doing so, takes advantage of his family. He is good at what he does, after all. And Chunryun pays him well because she is well off. She does take care of him, but I think my character is probably responsible for Dohoon’s missing eyebrows. But ultimately, Dohoon is someone that Chunryun cares deeply about, and she hopes that he holds his family together.

#heavy drinker

Emcee: The last hashtag is “heavy drinker.” I was very taken aback when I saw a still image of your character and Yura sharing about 10 bottles of liquor. What was it like to film a scene where your character had to drink? JNR: I felt full. Because I kept drinking barley tea. Emcee: You were filling your stomach with tea. Jungan, any interesting behind-the-scenes stories to share? CJA: I generally drink real alcohol if my character only needs to drink a couple of shots in a scene. I want to have that natural blush from being drunk to tap into more raw emotions. But for that particular scene you mentioned, I figured I wouldn’t be able to work at all if I had to drink that much alcohol. So, we had barley tea instead. Nara does not drink at all. To me, she almost seems like a baby who can only drink milk, but when we filmed that scene, she made me believe that she was actually drunk. I think she is very observant and picks up on the behaviour of drunk people.

#uninvited guest

Emcee: The first one is “uninvited guest.” Namhee, you have played a lot of characters with a strong presence in your previous projects like Mr. Sunshine, High Class, and Reborn Rich. I assume that your character in Family: The Unbreakable Bond will leave quite an impression on the viewers as well. What do you think? KNH: I hope so. I really do. Emcee: The image shows your character in gold-framed glasses, and it seems like your character is hiding something. And now we have the hashtag, an uninvited guest. What is that about? KNH: An uninvited guest literally sums up who my character Cho Taegu is. He is the uninvited guest to the family in the series. He plays a role in bringing in new developments in the story of the series.

#Kang Yura

Emcee: The second hashtag reads “Kang Yura”. Yura is Number 1 in the family, but to everyone else, she is just an ordinary housewife. I’m dying to find out how Taegu is related to Yura. KNH: He is deeply connected to Yura. He might even be more closely connected to her than Dohoon. He holds one of the biggest secrets that Yura desperately wants to hide.

#a twist

Emcee: The last hashtag happens to say “a twist.” I was informed that Cho Taegu starts appearing midway through the story. Does this mean that the character itself has a twist, or does he push the overall story into a big twist? KNH: He does have a big twist. He is someone who creates a series of twists in the story. The unexpected elements you see in this character will be quite interesting to watch and hopefully viewers will find him intriguing. And one of the biggest twists will be Minseo.

#janghyuk #jangnara

Emcee: The first hashtag is Jang Hyuk and Jang Nara. When it was announced that they were cast for this series, a lot of viewers got very excited. This is their fourth project together after a nine-year break. Director Jang, how did you manage to bring them together again? Director: I have been their long-time fan both as actors and a singer. I grew up watching their performances, and obviously, they are still very active in the scene, so I always wanted to see them perform together again. This project happened to be a perfect fit for them, and so, I offered the script to them. Both of them asked who they were going to perform with, and simply by learning that the other actor would be on the series, they accepted the offer. I was so grateful and happy that I got to work on this project with the actors that I respect so much. Their chemistry is so great that they didn’t have to say much to each other — simply by looking at each other, they could communicate. No single take took us more than two hours, and they had so many great ideas, so I didn’t even feel like I had to direct much. I thoroughly enjoyed the process.

#comedy #spy action

Emcee: The second and third hashtags are comedy and spy action. These are genres that sound like they won’t make a good match, but you somehow managed to marry these two perfectly. What was your focus when blending these two different genres? Director: It being a mesh of different genres, it wasn’t easy to code-switch between comedy and action or something that is more serious. It’s something that I had a lot of conversation about with the cast, and most of them have far more experience working on set than I do, so they helped me a lot. We tried to lighten up a scene for comic scenes and dial down the energy for more serious scenes in a way that these two contrasting moods stay somewhat harmonious. I made a lot of effort to discuss this with the actors. In terms of the style of the production outcome, I tried to make the comic scenes easy to watch. Ultimately, this is a story about family, and I tried to film the scenes of the family in a way that can help people relax and release the stress from their daily lives. For the genre-driven or action scenes, I wanted to create a continuum for that particular part of the series rather than creating something that is close to real life or ordinary.

Be sure to catch Family: The Unbreakable Bond on Disney+ from 5 May 2023 onwards!