The political winds in Korea are shifting; power plays, personal rivalries, and high-stakes secrets collide in a new gripping political thriller that will have you questioning every alliance. Find out what happened at the “Tempest” Press Conference, ahead of the series premiere on 10th September. “Tempest” will premiere exclusively on Disney+.

Q: It is your first project together, what was it like?

Gianna Jun: I am a long time fan of Dongwon, and I’m not lying! I’ve always wanted a chance to work with him and that was big reason why I took up this role. As we were filming, I got to know him as person and became an even bigger fan of his. As Dongwon plays Sanho, I could better immerse in my role and we had great synergy. Gang Dongwon: As we were filming on set, I was so immersed in Gianna’s charms. She was having so much fun throughout the entire production which also made me happy. I was like wow, she is a really cool person.

Q: The narrative is a love story. What kind of melodrama can we expect from the leads?

Gianna Jun: Munju and Sanho are from very different backgrounds and they are drawn to each other as they are so different. The more they learn about each other, they kind of look back at themselves. As the narrative progresses, the emotions evolve.

Q: You’ve mostly worked on movies in the recent years and this is your return to the small screen after twenty years. Why did you chose this project and as it was a very long production, was it challenging?

Gang Dongwon: I decided to join because of Gianna! We’ve never had the chance to collaborate until now and I am so happy to finally work together. For the production being long, I shot films for eight months, so I have experience of being a part of a long production so that was not especially a challenge but the difference was that we had to do more scenes per day. Preparation for the performance was no different from other projects.

Q: What kind of action from Dongwon can we expect from Tempest?

Director Heo Myeonghaeng: Dongwon and I worked on a lot of projects together, we’ve teamed up the most among all of the actors I worked with. As all of you are aware, he is in perfect shape so even if he does the same gesture as everyone else, there is more coolness and aura to the moves. When the series drops, you should just watch it for yourself as it is better than any words can describe!

Q: Gianna, you got to work with John Cho on set, what was that like?

Gianna Jun: John is such a global celebrity, he is an amazing actor and I was curious about how he would go about his performance. When I was working with him for the first time on set, I could feel that he had that very laid-back vibe, exactly like how we see on screen. As he was acting very naturally, I could also feel at ease. That is something he brought to the set, he is someone who really changes the atmosphere on set.

Q: Director Kim, from what we heard, from even before this title was planned, you shared with the writer that in your future projects, you wanted to portray a powerful woman and that woman had to be Gianna.

Director Kim Heewon: All directors in Korea would probably imagine Gianna to take on the role when they are portraying a powerful female character. For a very long time, Gianna is the absolute number one on the casting list and so I decided to ask her and she called me right back, asking for a meeting. So I was like YES, we got lucky. I was so happy.

Q: After the casting lineup was announced, the whole world was excited to see this pair finally on screen together. Director Kim, you are the first to capture these two on screen, so what was it like?

Director Kim Heewon: I was so happy directing every day! I loved having this beautiful couple screen and without putting in too much work, everything came very organically. Both actors are tall so with the production designer, we had to make higher ceilings as we couldn’t have sets with low ceilings. As no matter how high the ceilings were, when the two entered the screen, it suddenly becomes as if it was a tiny house.

Don’t miss Tempest, premiering on 10th September 2025, exclusively on Disney+!