Here's your first look at the 'Train to Busan' follow-up 'Peninsula'

MANILA — It remains unclear whether its summer release in South Korea will push through, due to concerns over the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

But the promo train for the “sequel” to the hit zombie film, “Train To Busan,” continues to roll on this past week with the release of first-look stills, as well as an interview with its director, Yeon Sang-ho, in which he admitted that even he himself was taken aback by the global spread of COVID-19.

Sang-ho, who also directed “Train to Busan,” about a mysterious zombie virus, told Screen Daily: “Of course I never dreamt of anything like the new coronavirus.”

“But recently I have been learning news about the collective selfishness that you do see facets of in ‘Train To Busan’ and in ‘Peninsula,’ that brings about tragedy,” he added.

As of Wednesday, the global confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection across the world reached the 423,000, with more than 18,000 deaths.

South Korea was one of the most affected countries in Asia, but there has been signs that things are improving after the country reported its lowest number of new cases since its peak four weeks ago, according to the BBC.

There has been no announcement of the summer release of “Peninsula” being rescheduled as of yet, but the possibility of it being delayed is still very much there.

“Peninsula” is not a “sequel” to “Train to Busan” in the strictest sense, since the events in it takes place four years later from the original and will follow a different set of characters.

It will be about a former soldier (Gang Dong-won) who manages to escape the Korean peninsula, which has turned into a zombie-infested wasteland. He was sent back, however, with a crew for a mission to retrieve something and he finds that there are still non-infected survivors left behind.

According to Sang-ho, he was hesitant to make a follow-up to “Train to Busan” but the idea of “being able to build a post-apocalyptic world – which would be sort of savage but also in a way like ancient times, or like ruined modern times, with rules of its own – was interesting to [him].”

”There could be many stories that could keep coming out of that world. Destroyed, isolated, extreme, but with hope of escape and humanism, and the way world powers would look at this place. There could be a lot of material with a lot of greater significance,” he explained.

In the same interview, Sang-ho and his team teased that “Peninsula” will make “Train to Busan” look like an independent film, having had more than twice the budget to work with.

“Peninsula” has been confirmed to have a Philippine release.