SEOUL – The press conference of Disney+‘s THE ZONE: Survival Mission 2 took place on 13 June 2023.

The trio (Lee Kwangsoo, Kwon Yuri and Yoo Jaesuk) shared that they are happy and honoured to be back for a second season after 8 months.

A highlight reel for Season 2 of the show is revealed for the first time during the press conference. We see scencs consising of helicopter, speed boats and the trio in different parts of South Korea (mountains, bunker and even a campus). We’ve also spotted snippts of the guests that were being casted for this 2nd season and we’re really excited for it!

The press conference consist of 3 parts, and the first part is Level Up Mission Talk.

As we all know the main gist of this show is to survive a given mission for 4 hours, and keywords were given to the cast members and the 2 producers (PD) to choose and elaborate on.

Yoo Jaesuk chose the keyword, Mission. He mentioned that just like Season 1, they had to hold it out for 4 hours in order to suceed at the given mission. However for Season 2, everything is being scaled up and taken up by a notch. He’s surprised at the scale of the missions and how it is being executed. And even though 4 hours is not long. but if you are put under certain circumstances it would be difficult to hold it out. He’s scared, surprised and taken aback everytime.

Lee Kwangsoo chose Imagination. There was a scene shown in the highlight reel whereby the trio are on a bed and the bed started moving through a campus. This is something that one would imagine during school days, and it indeed happened in real life.

Time is the keyword that Yuri chose. They have to hold it out for 4 hours and that is how they survive. Like Season 1, if they do not complete the tasks correctly, they would have to hold out longer as time will be extended and they might end up holding out longer than 4 hours eventually. But if they succeed in the given tasks, time will be taken off their list. So they learn to become more effective and efficient.

Cho PD chose Everyday Life as the keyword that he would like to elaborate on. Season 1 was filmed during the pandamic. And the theme is How to Survive. Now, pandamic has become endemic and there are various situation in life that we would have to hold it out. So Season 2 is about Holding it Out, just like how we are doing it in our everyday lives.

Lastly, Kim PD chose the last keyword, Hold It Out. In the show, the trio have to endure/hold it out until the mission is completed for each episode. The staff have to be there with the casts and hold it out until filming is completed too. Everyone watching the show are also holding it out in their daily life. There are bound to be stress in life but Kim PD hopes that viewers enjoy themselves when watching the show

Level Up Scale Talk

Season 2 of the show doesn’t takes place on set. It was actually filmed in different parts of South Korea from Seoul to Incheon, Ilsan, Dangjin, Wonju, Daejeon and more.

The second part of the press conference got the casts chosing which city do they want to introduce their fans to.

Yoo Jaesuk chose Incheon as his favourite city. In Episode 2, they played Golf in Incheon and initially everything looks so pretty until nature starts taking it’s course and things started to look bad for the trio if they do not complete their mission fast. Jaesuk mentioned that he played quite a bit of golf in the mid 2000s but wasn’t able to play well during the mission. Lee Kwangsoo played golf for the past 1 year, he looks confident but ended up playing pretty badly for the mission. Kwangsoo mentioned that he thought he played so badly and ever since after filming that episode, he has never play golf again. His swing was way below what he imagined to be.

Lee Kwangsoo chose Dangjin as his favourite city. They had to film in a hospital and he thought that they were really going for a medical checkup. But suddenly, the ambience changed and turns out that the hospital is haunted with ghosts everywhere. It was so scary for him, beyond his imagination.

Kwon Yuri chose Daejeon, where the Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology aka KAIST is located at. The campus is a whole new world to her. She could feel that the staff members put their heart and soul into this episode. In this episode, the trio had to sit on top of a moving bed that moved them around the campus. At the point of filming, it wasn’t a weekday hence there was a couple having their wedding ceremony in one of the building on campus. Yoo Jaesuk thought that they were part of the cast for this episode, but turns out that the couple indeed was getting married there. It would definetly be a great memory for the couple as Yoo Jaesuk gave them congratulatory money too, out of his own pocket!

Level Up Chemistry Talk

The final part of the press conference got the casts and producers to point at a person that fits most to the questions asked by the emcee.

Question 1: I have the best chemistry with this person.

Cho PD chose Yoo Jaesuk as they both go way back as they worked together during X-Man days. Jaesuk sometimes gets angry with Cho PD as he puts Jaesuk in missions that scares him.

Question 2: Of the 3 members and 2 producers, who is the smartest?

3 votes went to Yoo Jaesuk and 2 votes went to Cho PD.

Those who voted Jaesuk was because he was able to navigate through the disatrous missions that the PDs put him and the other 2 members into.

Cho PD was because he did really well in school, gradudated from a prestigious university and uses a lot of fancy words when he speak.

Question 3: Who is the person that probably watches Season 1 repeatedly?

Everyone unanimously voted for Kim PD as he is the one editing the videos. And in fact even for the final cut of the episodes, everyone felt that Kim PD would still be the one watching it repeatedly as he is fond and confident of his own work. Kwangsoo shared that when Kim PD shows him short edits of clips of the epidodes, he would laugh at his own edits.

Question 4: If there were to be a Season 3, would be the first member of the cast to agree to it?

Yuri was chosen as the member to agree to filming Season 3 first. Cho PD explained that Yuri seems to have great affection for the show and she’s always having a great time during filming. She is someone who stands out on set and is always consistent in doing her best everytime.

Kwangsoo also mentioned that he feels Yuri really likes him and Jaesuk a lot. She would think about them often and bringing them gifts during the holidays.

Be sure to catch the first 3 episodes of THE ZONE: Survival Mission 2 on Disney+ now!