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Woo Do Hwan shared his thoughts on returning as Woo Jin and the blood, sweat, and tears he poured into the Netflix series Bloodhounds Season 2.
Bloodhounds follows two young boxers who take down a powerful loan shark. Returning with Season 2, it is now set against the backdrop of a global underground boxing league, where Geon Woo (Woo Do Hwan) and Woo Jin (Lee Sang Yi) face off against Baek Jeong (Rain).
First released in 2023, Bloodhounds thrilled audiences worldwide with its intense action, as two young boxers faced off against illegal loan sharks with nothing but their fists. The series returned for a second season, promising a grander scale and intense action.
"I didn't know whether Season 2 would be made or not. Season 1 did well in a way I hadn't anticipated, and now so many people seem to like Season 2 as well... There are lots of memes imitating Dempsey Roll, many boxers training, and lots of funny stuff," said Woo Do Hwan.
In Season 2, his character fights on a bigger stage as a world champion.
"I am grateful that I could play a champion, but it was extremely difficult." "I understood why actors don't take these roles and why directors and writers usually don't give the champion title [to characters]. Most roles are set at about a silver medalist level because a person who has a champion title cannot have even a slight flaw in boxing."
"Because I was number one in that weight class, the pressure was huge, but I tried very hard to do well," he shared, adding, "I put in a lot of effort because I worried that if I didn't do well, people would say, 'He's a champion, why can't he fight any better?'"
Regarding how Geon Woo has changed compared to Season 1, he said, "In Season 1, I thought of him as a boy. He couldn't express himself well, smiled awkwardly, and lacked social skills. And he was even called a rookie, right? Over the past three years, he must have worked extremely hard to reach the world championship, and I wondered how much better his body needed to be for that."
Woo Do Hwan gained 13 kg compared to his current weight and 5 kg more than in Season 1.
"I think I exercised a lot [more] and in a more systematic way [for this season]. In the early part of Season 1, he had the body of a boxer, but in the later part, when he goes down to the countryside, we tried to make him bigger, though we only had a month. For preparing for Season 2, I had about three to four months. I ate four meals a day. I ate right up until I went to sleep. My face got puffy, and I tried to gain fat. If I don't work out, I don't eat much, so I gain weight when I work out. After training, I would eat chicken breast no matter what, and if I got tired of it, I'd order ZicoBa [famous South Korean chicken franchise known for its grilled chicken]. I absolutely had to eat four bowls of rice. I exercised from the moment I woke up in the morning until I got to bed. I figured building stamina was important. With other projects in between, I thought I wouldn't have enough stamina. If you don't have stamina, you can get injured during filming... I wanted to build stamina, so I went to action school to train, did workouts at the gym, rested, and then went running. That is how I prepared," he said.
He also spoke about the challenges of doing action roles. "I had the mindset that I should do better that in Season 1. Playing the role of a world champion is rare, so I think it was really challenging. I felt some pressure about how well I needed to perform, but I thought of trying to add some new techniques."
"I lived with muscle pain. I took muscle relaxants every day. Since there were so many running scenes, my thigh muscles just wouldn't hold up. I think I kept asking the physio team to let me run just one more time. Since we filmed so many hitting scenes, my neck wouldn't turn. Seeing me in that state, no one on set could say they were in pain. I don't remember using a stunt double at all, so I did mention wanting to swap faces with AI. Doing that was difficult because I had to take my shirt off, and since everyone has a different boxing style, it was not possible."
Regarding the appeal of action acting despite the physical challenges, he said, "I think there’s a charm that comes out on set. It feels good to even just look at the on-set edited footage come out exactly as it should. It feels like dopamine bursting. When we nail a shot in a single take and give a high-five, dopamine and adrenaline seem to surge. Before filming Season 2, I used to think Tom Cruise was truly amazing for not using a stunt double. But now I understand why. I've only done a few stunts, but the feelings from the tension that come when doing them make you feel alive.
"I told the director that if we do Season 3, it would be very limiting to rely only on punches, so please include more stunts. If the director tells me to hang from a plane, I think I'll do it. (In Season 2,) running barefoot was also in the script. It was winter, and I had to run at full speed on asphalt, so I thought, 'Let's just wear shoes and edit [the scene] up,' but for episode 1, I had to exert effort, so I was [concerned about] the soles of my feet. The [production team] prioritized the actors' safety, but there was a look [in their eyes] that said, 'Just say you can do it.' But if something was dangerous, it was okay not to do it. I think that's why I was able to do more. When I say I can't do something, it really means I can't, so I hoped they wouldn't make me do it. But I've never once said I can't."
He also expressed positive thoughts about making Bloodhounds a multi-season series. "I want to go as far as season 5 or 6," and added, "I want to do it even when I'm older." "I hope Bloodhounds will be remembered in the same way Mission: Impossible is remembered. There are still many things I want to show while I am healthy, both physically and in stamina." "I'm absolutely ambitious for season 3."
He also expressed why the Bloodhounds series is a particularly precious production in his filmography.
"This is the work that made me feel most of my physical and mental limits." "It was the set where I endured the most, overcame [challenges] the most, accomplished the most, and felt the sense of making together the most strongly."
"It also feels like a reward for having lived a life of diligent self-management," and "It makes me realize that I did it right by following the routines [and habits] I quietly made for myself, even though no one acknowledges it. That makes me feel even more affection for it and want to do it best."
