Director Yeon Sang-ho's 2016 zombie thriller, Train to Busan, is slated to release its sequel, Peninsula in 2020 which will further explore the aftermath of the zombie outbreak and loosely connect to the original movie.
Not only did Train to Busan reinvigorate the modern zombie movie with a unique, terrifying take on the tried and true creature, but the emotional weight of the film and the bleak commentary of social decline resonated with horror audiences in a very big way. The recent success of other foreign language films, such as Academy Award winner Parasite, can be attributed to the groundbreaking quality of films like Train to Busan, which defied language barriers and brought a good story to horror audiences. Available to stream on Netflix as of April 2020, Train to Busan follows the early stages of a zombie outbreak in Korea while passengers are confined on a train and traveling to various destinations.
While many zombie movies focus on the aftermath, such as 28 Days Later and even scripted series like The Walking Dead, Train to Busan was unique in that it showed the panic of people slowly realizing that life as they knew it was rapidly changing in front of their very eyes. As many passengers clung to their phones and watched television broadcasts about the outbreak, there was an element of impending hopelessness and the desire for escape and security that would likely not be possible. However, Peninsula looks to capitalize on these more common themes while staying true to the original.
Peninsula Is NOT A Direct Sequel To The Original Movie
According to an interview with Collider, Sang-ho stated that Peninsula is not a direct sequel to Train to Busan at all. In fact, the movie is more of a "spiritual sequel", a term that has been tossed around by other filmmakers recently, such as Nia DaCosta and Jordan Peele regarding the reboot of Candyman. What this means is that Peninsula carries the heart and spirit of its predecessor, but intends to expand on the universe and build it out rather than exploring the same characters and connections as the first movie. This is an especially good choice since there were few survivors in the first movie, and while their stories could have continued, Sang-ho seems focused on the world at large and life in Korea after it has been ravaged by zombies. The director commented that the name, Peninsula, stems from the fallout where "there is nothing left except the geographical traits of the location".
How Peninsula Fits Into Train To Busan's Universe
Peninsula is set four years after the events of Train to Busan, which gives the world time to settle after the initial shock of its complete decimation. Many zombie movies and shows use this formula to explore questions related to what life and civilization are like for any survivors who are left behind and forced to recreate society from the ground up. Of course, with this responsibility and the freedoms provided by a world without laws, government, and any sort of real sense of humanity save for those who are still living, there are always problems. Gang Don-won stars as a soldier who has managed to escape the area formerly known to be South Korea and follows his experiences with the discovery of a group of survivors. Sang-ho expressed an interest in creating a post-apocalyptic world that was subject to its own rules and belief systems in the absence of a ruling power.
As of this writing, the COVID-19 pandemic is fresh on the minds of the entire world as the virus continues to spread and global governments fight to contain it; the notion that a movie that could be otherwise depressing, even though it's difficult to compare COVID-19 with complete global devastation, as seems to be the case in Peninsula, there is an aspect of recovery that Sang-ho has discussed relating to hope for the future. Other zombie movies, such as The Girl With All The Gifts, explore children as the future; this is another theme that was explored in Train to Busan, as one of the survivors of the initial outbreak was a young girl and a pregnant woman.