Rising stars take the lead in Netflix’s All of Us Are Dead

All of Us Are Dead, the latest K-zombie attraction on Netflix, is the No. 1 content for the international streamer’s Filipino subscribers, as of writing.

There's a lot of things going for this survival thriller slash coming-of-age South Korean series, but one of its strongest suits is the ensemble cast that includes a former child actor, a Squid Game actress and an award-winning newcomer.

In All of Us Are Dead, a high school becomes the epicenter of a zombie apocalypse, which literally leaves student survivors to their own devices — from musical instruments to the school’s P.A. system — to fight off the horde in uniform that’s out for their blood. But the “infected” schoolmates not only turn into the undead. Others somehow mutate into a hybrid variant of the K-zombie that we know of, and they either become an asset or a threat to the last teens standing. Streaming since Jan. 28, the 12-episode series is based on a popular webtoon titled Now at Our School.

In a virtual roundtable interview, director Lee JQ revealed how the All of Us Are Dead found its all 25 years old and below main cast. An interesting tidbit about the whole process was that he chose actors who resembled the characters in real life. And the more expressive they were of their emotions, the better, as the filmmaker wanted to capture more authentic reactions from young people when thrown into stressful situations.

“When I was casting the line-up, I thought it was very important that the actual actors are very close to the characters that we wanted to portray. I wanted to pick the cast who are similar to the characters in real life, and especially if they were particularly emotional, I thought that was also a plus point,” director Lee shared.

“Working with them was very great. We placed a lot of emphasis on having rehearsals so that (the series) would have a very realistic sense to the viewers… But what’s more important is to make that immersive so that it provides a realistic experience for the viewers. We had a lot of rehearsals and we wanted to make sure that the cast could improve their emotions and expressions going forward.”

The STAR learned other details about the cast and their characters during the recent media junket and subsequent roundtable interview.

Park Ji-hu plays the role of On-jo, whose survival skills her father taught her will come in handy during the zombie infestation. “I’m actually very similar to my character On-jo because we are both kind of clumsy and very upbeat, and I like hanging out with my friends. In a lot of (the scenes), I thought to myself, if I were On-jo, I would have done the same,” said Ji-hu, whose 2019 debut in House of Hummingbird won her the Best Actress in an International Narrative Feature Film Award at the 18th Tribeca Film Festival.

Being the youngest of the cast at 18, she also shared, “We met a lot before the shoot so we became really close friends. They would give me some advice on how to get into college and they would also give me advice on, you know, the adult society as well.”

Yoon Chan-young is Cheong-san, On-jo’s childhood best friend and secret admirer. Chan-young loves that his character is “very fast… he’s really good at escaping from zombies.”

The ex-child star also has one of the most intense action sequences in the series, where he tries to fend off the school bully and student zombies while running on top of bookshelves. “For the library scene, we had a full-day rehearsal. And we kind of walked through the choreography of how we would act, and it actually took four days (to shoot),” he disclosed.

Cho Yi-hyun plays the class president but loner achiever Nam-ra. She learns to “break down her walls” while joining forces with her newfound friends to survive. The actress, whose last Netflix drama is Hospital Playlist, has been repeatedly cast in high school-themed dramas.

“I think I look pretty good in a school uniform, and I am thankful that I am cast in these student roles,” the 22-year-old mused. “I have a rather younger looking face, which might be the secret to my being able to play these roles. And if I am lucky enough to be given more opportunities, I’m very willing to play more high schooler roles.”

Lomon portrays Su-hyeok, a former bully and now defender of the bullied. “He wants to be a soldier. So he uses all his might to protect his friends during the zombie outbreak. He goes all out and takes on dangerous tasks. So, he’s kind of like a leader,” he said of his character.

The former model has also become the show’s resident heartthrob, and when pointed out to him during the presscon, he said, “I want to thank you for that compliment. In the script, it says that Su-hyeok is a role who is good-looking and uses his body well. No, that was actually a joke, but I did try to look as good-looking as possible on screen. I just concentrated on making it as real as possible.”

Yoo In-soo plays Gwi-nam, a notorious bully but a pushover in his circle of friends. “He has a hang-up about that and he does whatever’s necessary to survive. He becomes an even bigger threat to the survivors rather than the zombies,” said In-soo, describing his role. The actor, who was first introduced to K-drama fans in Strong Girl Bong-soon, also figures in a number of “large-scale” fight scenes in the show.

Lee You-mi is the wealthy girl Na-yeon. “All the issues and conflicts that happen in the series are spurred by her, basically,” You-mi quipped. “She is charming, though.”

The actress was last seen on the Netflix megahit Squid Game as the selfless Player No. 240. In All of Us Are Dead, she is the mean girl. According to You-mi, it’s OK if viewers hate her character. After all, she had tried to “appear my best” in the series and such reaction could only mean she succeeded.