So Apple TV+ released its first trailer for the series adaptation of Min Jin Lee‘s best selling, critically acclaimed, iconic novel Pachinko and…well… you know how there are trailers for TV shows or movies that can make your heart swell with emotion to the point of tears? Add Pachinko to that list.
Told across many generations in three different languages – Korean, Japanese, and English 00 Pachinko is an epic family saga in scale but is intimate in tone. It begins with a forbidden love and then flourishes into a story that journeys between Korea, Japan and America to tell an unforgettable story of war and peace, love and loss, triumph and reckoning.
Created by Soo Hugh, the series chronicles the hopes and dreams of a Korean immigrant family across four generations as they leave their homeland in an indomitable quest to survive and thrive. Starting in South Korea in the early 1900s, the story is told through the eyes of a remarkable matriarch, Sunja, who triumphs against all odds. It juxtaposes her story with that of her grandson, Solomon, in the 1980s.
Pachinko stars Oscar-winning queen Yuh-Jung Youn as “Older Sunja”; Lee Minho as “Hansu”; Jin Ha as “Solomon”; Minha Kim as “Teenage Sunja”; Anna Sawai as “Naomi”; Eunchae Jung as “Young Kyunghee”; Inji Jeong as “Yangjin”; Jimmi Simpson as “Tom Andrews”; Junwoo Han as “Yoseb”; Kaho Minami as “Etsuko”; Steve Sanghyun Noh as “Isak”; Soji Arai as “Mozasu”; and, Yu-na Jeon as “Young Sunja.”
The series is set to premiere on Apple TV+ on March 25, with the first three episodes followed by new weekly installments each Friday during its eight-episode season through April 29. Pachinko is written and executive produced by Hugh (The Terror, The Killing), who also serves as showrunner. Kogonada and Justin Chon are executive producers and directed four episodes each, with Kogonada directing the pilot.
Michael Ellenberg and Lindsey Springer executive produce for Media Res; Theresa Kang-Lowe executive produces for Blue Marble Pictures; and Richard Middleton also executive produces. Media Res’ Dani Gorin co-executive produces along with David Kim and Sebastian Lee.
