Director Kim Hong-sun has begun shooting The Hit List, a Korean martial-arts revenge film set in the Joseon era. The project brings together Jung Woo-sung, Wi Ha-jun and a creative team that includes members of Kim’s recent work on Gangs of London, while adapting a Kakao webtoon that has recorded more than 120 million views.

Filming started in October. Cheum Film, Studio Take, Library Company and B&C Group are producing, Mascot Company is presenting, and Finecut is handling the project as its second collaboration with Kim after Project Wolf Hunting.

Those are the firm details available so far. There is no stated release date, distributor, trailer, rating or confirmed information on where audiences will eventually be able to watch the film. But the announced premise, cast and crew establish the intended shape of the project: a period-set conflict driven by political power, personal devastation and martial action rather than a contemporary crime story.

A revenge story built around power in the Joseon era

The Hit List centers on Han Myeong-hoe, described as one of the Joseon era’s most powerful men. Han has reached that position through bloodshed. Jung Woo-sung plays Han, placing the actor at the center of the story’s power structure rather than simply on one side of a straightforward hero-versus-villain fight.

Against him stands Baek E-hwa, a woman whose life is destroyed by Han. Her response is to devote herself to revenge. The supplied production information does not identify the actor playing Baek, nor does it specify the precise event that sets her on that path. That restraint matters: the basic conflict is clear, but the film’s larger character relationships and plot turns remain unannounced.

Han is also surrounded by dangerous allies. His right-hand man, Jang Gil-do, is characterized as a formidable warrior. In a martial-arts actioner, that description signals an important practical point about the story’s dramatic architecture: political authority and physical force are both likely to matter. Han’s position gives him influence, while Jang’s stated role suggests that influence is backed by a fighter capable of enforcing it.

Wi Ha-jun plays Grand Prince Suyang, a royal figure pursuing the throne of his young nephew with Han’s support. The role places Wi’s character in a struggle for succession and makes Han more than an isolated antagonist in Baek E-hwa’s revenge narrative. The announced setup therefore has at least two connected pressures: one personal, centered on loss and retribution, and another political, centered on a bid for the throne.

The term Joseon era identifies the film’s historical Korean setting. Based on what has been announced, it should not be treated as a claim that the movie will function as a documentary-style historical account. It is being presented as a martial-arts revenge action film, and the available description foregrounds genre stakes—bloodshed, vengeance, warriors and courtly ambition—rather than a detailed statement of historical approach.

Why the webtoon audience is notable

The film adapts a Kakao webtoon with more than 120 million views. A webtoon is a digital comic format, commonly designed for reading on screens and often released in installments. For a screen adaptation, a substantial view total indicates that the underlying story has already reached a large audience before cameras began rolling.

That does not automatically tell us how closely the film will follow its source, or guarantee a particular commercial result. No adaptation details have been announced regarding characters, story changes, running time or how much of the webtoon the movie will cover. Still, the existing readership gives the title an identifiable starting point. Potential viewers familiar with the comic will have expectations around Han, Baek E-hwa, Jang Gil-do and the throne-centered conflict; new viewers have a genre premise that is easy to grasp without prior knowledge.

It also means the production is working with material whose appeal can operate on several levels. The revenge thread provides an emotional engine. The royal succession struggle provides a larger political frame. Martial arts provide a physical means of expressing the conflict. A movie has to condense and prioritize those elements differently from a serialized comic, but the initial description suggests each is central to the adaptation’s identity.

Jung Woo-sung and Wi Ha-jun take key positions

Jung Woo-sung’s listed credits include 12.12: The Day, Hunt, A Man of Reason and The Good, the Bad, the Weird. In The Hit List, he plays Han Myeong-hoe: the powerful figure whose actions set Baek E-hwa on a path of revenge and whose support helps Grand Prince Suyang pursue the throne.

That is a significant concentration of narrative responsibility in one character. Han is not described merely as a court official or an obstacle to the protagonist. He is a figure whose rise has involved violence, whose political alignment affects the succession fight and whose actions have direct consequences for Baek E-hwa. The film’s eventual dramatic tension will depend heavily on how those dimensions intersect, although the production has not disclosed further character detail.

Wi Ha-jun, recognized for the Squid Game series, plays Grand Prince Suyang. His character’s reliance on Han is a useful detail because it defines the relationship as one of political dependence, not just alliance. The exact balance of power between the two has not been described, but the stated premise makes their partnership a core part of the film’s stakes.

The casting announcement notably leaves some questions open. The performer portraying Baek E-hwa has not been provided in the available information, despite the character’s central revenge motivation. Nor has a cast member been named for Jang Gil-do. Those omissions make it premature to build assumptions about the full ensemble, the action matchups or the movie’s final perspective on its central conflict.

Kim Hong-sun’s action background and returning collaborators

Kim’s earlier work includes Traffickers (2012), The Con Artists (2014), The Chase (2017) and Metamorphosis (2019). His 2022 film Project Wolf Hunting screened in the Midnight section at the Toronto International Film Festival, later played festivals including Sitges and Brussels, and was distributed in more than 70 countries. Kim subsequently signed with WME.

He also directed Season 3 of Gangs of London. Two colleagues from that production have joined The Hit List: Lars Cox as director of photography and Kieran Waites as gaffer.

A director of photography, often called a cinematographer, is responsible for the visual execution of a film in collaboration with the director: the camera work, lighting approach and visual presentation of scenes. Cox’s prior credits include House of the Dragon and The Witcher. A gaffer leads the lighting department, helping put the production’s lighting plan into practice. Waites has worked on The Odyssey and the Fast & Furious films.

Their arrival does not establish exactly what The Hit List will look like; no imagery or production design specifics have been released. It does, however, clarify part of the working relationship behind the camera. Kim is not approaching the project with an entirely new technical team, and the production is pairing his Korean genre-film experience with crew members whose work includes large-scale international productions.

Finecut has emphasized that mix of Korean storytelling and international production expertise, particularly in relation to the action set pieces and the period world. “Period world” in this context means the visual and practical environment used to establish the Joseon setting—locations, costumes, sets and the overall sense of place. The announcement does not provide a breakdown of sets or action scenes, so those elements remain broad ambitions rather than a checklist of confirmed sequences.

What is confirmed—and what viewers should not assume

There is enough information to identify The Hit List as an ambitious Korean action project, but less information than a finished-film announcement might imply. It is confirmed to be in production, to adapt the high-viewership Kakao webtoon, to feature Jung Woo-sung as Han Myeong-hoe and Wi Ha-jun as Grand Prince Suyang, and to involve Kim, Cox and Waites in the roles announced.

  • Confirmed: filming began in October.
  • Confirmed: the story includes Han Myeong-hoe, Baek E-hwa, Jang Gil-do and Grand Prince Suyang.
  • Confirmed: Han supports Grand Prince Suyang’s effort to take the throne from his young nephew.
  • Not yet stated: a release date, distribution plan, trailer, full cast, or detailed action and production-design information.

That distinction is especially useful for projects adapted from popular digital comics. A recognizable title can encourage fans to read casting or genre labels as proof of exact scenes, character arcs or visual choices. At this stage, the reported facts support interest in the concept and the talent involved, not definitive claims about the finished adaptation.

There is a broader filmmaking lesson in that caution. A production’s challenge is not simply to reproduce familiar material, but to make its story, performances and setting work in a different medium. That tension between recognizability and screen execution is also central to discussions of how difficult it can be to get a film right, as explored in Dr. Dre and Ice Cube’s account of the challenges behind Straight Outta Compton.

For now, The Hit List has positioned itself clearly: a Joseon-set revenge tale with a webtoon audience, a political struggle for the throne and an action-focused creative team. Its next major milestones will be the details still absent from the announcement—additional casting, footage, release plans and a clearer view of how Kim’s production will translate the story’s martial and political conflict to the screen.