Disney+ has begun production on The Koreans, a reimagining of the acclaimed FX series The Americans, with Lee Byung-hun and Han Jimin set to star as North Korean spies living undercover in South Korea.

Set in South Korea in the early 1990s, when a wave of democratisation and cultural modernisation swept through the country, the series revolves around a middle-class family harbouring a secret. Though appearing to be ordinary citizens to their friends, neighbours and even their own children, both parents are in fact elite North Korean operatives working to destabilise the South from within.

The series will track the pair as they are pulled between allegiance to their homeland, their sense of self and their bonds as a family, while a relentless Korean counterintelligence agent edges closer to exposing them.

Lee, known for Squid Game and No Other Choice, and Han, of Heavenly Ever After and Love Scout, lead the cast. Ahn Gilho, whose credits include The Glory and Memories of the Alhambra, will direct the show.

The series is produced by Imaginus, alongside Studio AA.

The screenplay is adapted by Park Eunkyo, known for Made in Korea and Mother, from the original FX series created by Joe Weisberg and showrun by Weisberg and Joel Fields, which starred Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys.

The original series took home the Golden Globe for best drama in 2019 and earned AFI TV Program of the Year awards in each of its first five seasons, from 2014 to 2018.

The Koreans is the latest addition to Disney+’s expanding Korean content slate, which currently includes Made in Korea, Tempest and The Tyrant. The streamer also has several further Korean originals in the pipeline, among them Perfect Crown starring IU and Byeon Wooseok, Portraits of Delusion (working title) with Suzy and Kim Seonho, and The Remarried Empress starring Shin Mina, Ju Jihoon, Lee Jongsuk and Lee Seyoung.

The second seasons of A Shop for Killers and Made in Korea are also in the works.