Lee Min-ho wondered if there would be rumours if he failed Pachinko audition, teases his role

Lee Min-ho is preparing to return to the small screen with Pachinko. The South Korean actor, who was last seen in The King: Eternal Monarch with Kim Go-eun, plays Koh Han-su in the drama. The Apple TV+ series is based on a novel of the same name, penned by Korean-American author Min Jin Lee.

The actor essays the role of an antagonist for the first time in his career. He stars alongside Jin Ha, Anna Sawai, Minha Kim, Soji Arai and Kaho Minami. Lee Min-ho was shooting for the series in Canada earlier this year.

Speaking about the role, the Boys Over Flowers actor told Esquire Korea, "Once I'm in my mid-30s, I think I'm pursuing the 'real thing' now. Otherwise I can't agree, so it's getting harder and harder. The selection criteria for reading the script, the resulting video, and what I am doing in it. Now it's hard if it's not real. So I was offered an audition for 'Pachinko' at the moment when I had a lot of worries, and when I read the script, I was convinced. If it is this work, I can really try it. I want to try it once. I auditioned like that, so I think it went well again."

Although the actor was convinced about the role, he had a brief doubt about the repercussions of failing the audition. "In the car on the way to the audition, the thought suddenly occurred to me. 'No, wait a minute. If I go to an audition and fail, will there be rumors?'" he said. "Rather than just that, when I read the script, something happened inside of me. It was a complex feeling. I thought it would be new to take a view of Korea through the eyes of foreign people. In terms of filming the history of our country with foreign capital at such a high cost, the question 'Should I do this?' I felt that way," he added.

Earlier this year, speaking with GQ Korea, Lee Min-ho had said that he was auditioning for a role after a decade and could sense the pressure.

Lee Min-ho had shot for the series in South Korea last year before he travelled to Canada to complete the shoot. Several fans spotted the actor at the filming location. The actor had also shared pictures from his last day on the sets on his Instagram account. Besides his show, Lee Min-ho has also been busy with his YouTube channel.