'Squid Game' Star Lee Byung-hun Boards Martial Arts Film 'Nambeol'
May 6, 2026 3:17am PT
‘Squid Game’ Star Lee Byung-hun Boards Martial Arts Film ‘Nambeol’
By
Naman Ramachandran
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Naman Ramachandran
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‘Squid Game’ Star Lee Byung-hun Boards Martial Arts Film ‘Nambeol’
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JC Olivera/WWD
Lee Byung-hun, known internationally for “Squid Game” and “No Other Choice,” has been cast in the lead role of “Nambeol” (working title), a martial arts action film set in the early Joseon Dynasty that will mark the feature directing debut of veteran DP Lee Mo-gae. Hive Media Corp. is producing.
The story centers on a unit of nine soldiers – drawn from across the military hierarchy – dispatched to Tsushima Island to bring home Koreans taken prisoner by Japanese pirate groups. The title draws on a historical term for a southward military expedition. The narrative is fictional but rooted in a documented period of instability during the early Joseon era, when the new dynasty faced relentless pirate incursions along its southern coastline and was compelled to answer them through a combination of military campaigns and negotiation.
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