It’s highly likely that the Vigilante cast’s spell is working its magic, now that many audiences have already witnessed the fine examples of their respective acting chops after the Disney+ action thriller K-drama series wrapped up the course of the first season. The leading cast consisted of the genius talents of Nam Joo-hyuk, Yoo Ji-tae, Kim So-jin and Lee Joon-hyuk, four such actors who have brilliant command over their onscreen prowess as performers. However, this isn’t the first time, nor will it be the last, that they’ve owned the viewers’ hearts with their distinguished abilities to command the camera lens and its narrative in their favour.
The quartet has long been in the showbiz business, as all four of these highly praised actors have led many other Korean movies and shows prior to stepping foot on the sets of Vigilante Kdrama series (비질란테). Their unparalleled range and expertise is reflected in the wide spectrum of projects they’ve made major contributions to in the past. Listed below are some of the many titles they’ve been a part of. Watch them after catching up with the Vigilante finale to witness how gloriously adept the cast members are at their job.
Watch the Vigilante Cast in the K-drama Trailer
Watch these Shows Starring the Vigilante Cast
Nam Joo-hyuk Movies and TV Shows
About His Character in Vigilante: As the titular character of the thriller K-drama, Joo-hyuk’s Kim Ji-yong brings on a violent conscience to level the playing field by eliminating nefarious criminals who’ve been let off easy by the system. Acknowledging the “void” in the system early on due to his mother’s murder during his childhood, and seeing the murderer walk away without being sentenced to a harsher punishment just so he can torture more innocent people years later, Ji-yong realises that the legal system doesn’t always work in the favour of the victims. Taking matters in his hands, he puts on the Vigilante hoodie to fight for the weak as he becomes a “dark hero created by society”.
In addition to the obvious picks of Nam Joo-hyuk Kdramas like Twenty Five Twenty One, Start-Up, Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-joo and Bride of Haebak that’ve often been suggested by many such curated sources, his movies often fly under the radar. Therefore, in this list, we will put the focus back on the few movies he’s been a pivotal part of.
1. The Great Battle (2018 Movie)
Streaming on: Amazon Prime Video in select regions
The historical action film brings on an epic cinematic experience with big names like Zo In-sung, Nam Joo-hyuk, Park Sung-woon and others. While some critics question the historical accuracy of the Kim Kwang-sik directorial, there’s no doubt that its cinematography and acting performances were a major hit. With the character Sa-mool, Joo-hyuk made his big screen debut, and was right away nominated in the Best New Actor category at numerous film award shows. Although he didn’t clinch the title at the 55th Baeksang Arts Awards, he still successfully won this trophy at the 38th Korean Association of Film Critics Awards, 2nd The Seoul Awards and the 39th Blue Dragon Film Awards that year.
2. Remember (2022 Movie)
Streaming on: Viki in select regions
In a similar action-filled premise as Vigilante, Joo-hyuk played the role of Park In-gyu in this 2022 film, also led by the veteran talents of Lee Sung-min, who came in as an Alzheimer’s patient in his 80s. Having lost his entire family to the Japanese colonial rule, Sung-min’s character plots the ultimate revenge before losing all his memories, and our very own Vigilante steps in to assist his plan.
Yoo Ji-tae Movies and TV Shows
About His Character in Vigilante: As Jo Heon, the head of the investigation team ready to pin the Vigilante, Yoo Ji-tae comes across as a beastly presence in the series, especially given the idea that his character has been adapted from the webtoon of the same name as the K-drama. Opposing Nam Joo-hyuk’s Kim Ji-yong, a student at the police university, his idea of policing is equally deadly as the former’s Vigilante, but his moral code still adheres to the laws held in place by the system. Even though he recognises that not all police officers are as dedicated as him or Ji-yong to nab criminals, he still draws the line at dealing with them off the books.
1. Money Heist: Korea – Joint Economic Area (2022 TV Series)
Streaming on: Netflix
Donning the Korean Professor’s suit, Ji-tae takes the lead as the ultimate criminal mastermind running all action and pulling off heists worth 4 trillion won while bringing on his layered portrayal of the said character. Despite the Korean version selling the same USPs as that of the original Spanish series, his character was still one of the most praised highlights all thanks to Yoo’s unique ways of immersing himself into the character he’s playing.
2. Healer (2014-15 TV Series)
Streaming on: Netflix, Viki
Although largely known for making reverberations for Ji Chang-wook’s fame, the 2014 action thriller series also starred Yoo Ji-tae as one of three leading actors of the show. While in Vigilante he plays the role of an out-of-the-ordinary and hardened police officer, in Healer, Ji-tae was seen as a star reporter named Kim Moon-ho.
In Vigilante, the actor is seen crossing Ji-yong’s paths, but in his older K-drama series, his guilty conscience acted up for him not having fully gone to the depths of an incident that led to tragedies. Despite being a journalist at a renowned broadcast station, he eventually goes over and beyond to to follow his hunch to solve a case, even if it means straying away from the commonly accepted assumptions around it.
3. Mad Dog (2017 TV Series)
Streaming on: Netflix, Viki (select regions)
Much like how Ji-tae has a moral code he swears by in Vigilante, in this KBS drama series also starring Woo Do-hwan, the seasoned actor also played an ex-cop who later again returns to the policing scene when suspicions around a plane crash case, that also led to his wife and son’s deaths, start flaring up. Forming a new investigation team called Mad Dog, he starts reinvestigating the old mystery, and follows his instincts that ultimately push him to cross paths with a skilled swindler whose brother, aka the plane’s pilot from back then, was held responsible for crashing the plane in a supposed suicide attempt.
4. Oldboy (2004 Movie)
Streaming on: Amazon Prime Video
Park Chan-wook directs this loose adaptation of the same named webtoon in which Yoo Ji-tae plays the antagonist, who pushed for Choi Min-sik’s character, Oh Dae-su’s imprisonment for 15 years. Ji-tae emerges as an enigmatic opposing force who traps the other senior actor in a web of conspiracies. He may not have been Park Chan-wook’s first choice to play the character since he seemed younger at the time, but he surely owned the role as if it came naturally to him.
5. The Swindlers (2017 Movie)
Streaming on: Viki, iQIYI
Coming in as Prosecutor Park Hee-soo, Yoo Ji-tae enters into an unlikely alliance with Hyun Bin’s Hwang Ji-sung to nab a con man who stands in his way and could even shatter his well-established repertoire by dragging his name into a questionable corruption scandal. Together, this innocuously fated duo approach the infamous figure with their respective ulterior motives in mind that spice up the plot further.
Also read: Adored the Twinkling Watermelon Boys? Watch These Ryeoun and Choi Hyun-wook Kdramas Next!
Kim So-jin Movies and TV Shows
About Her Character in Vigilante: Kim So-jin plays Choi Mi-ryeo, a journalist racing after the unfiltered truth. Once the Vigilante character emerges in the Disney+ series, her character is the only journalist who choses to capture his narrative as it is without sprinkling any dramatised fictional bits of her own making to push for an authentic process of reporting to the masses. Invested in his agenda, she even helps him out by digging up years’ old secrets covered up by media so that he can punish the concerned parties as severely as possible.
1. Through the Darkness
Streaming on: Netflix, Viki and MX Player (Hindi dubbed only)
As Yoon Tae-goo in the 2022 crime thriller TV series, So-jin came in as the team leader of the Mobile Investigation Unit. Alongside Kim Nam-gil, a criminal profiler who faces several hurdles in studying the bad guys’ behavioural patterns, So-jin was one of the three main actors of the series after Jin Seon-kyu. Her performance won over the audience and she bagged several nominations under many categories at the SBS Drama Awards that year.
2. The King (movie)
Streaming on: Viki, Amazon Prime Vide in select regions
Although Kim So-jin has long been in the acting game, she finally made her first big lasting impression with the 2017 film The King, wherein she played the role of Prosecutor Ahn Hee-yeon. The crime drama film left people thinking that she was an actual prosecutor all because of how good of a job she did back then. Earning the nickname of “female Song Kang-ho”, she even went on to clinch the title of the Best Supporting Actress at the 2017 Blue Dragon Film Awards, the 53rd Baeksang Arts Awards and the Grand Bell Awards of 2017, in addition to other wins and nominations for the same role.
3. Another Child (Movie)
Coming back in 2019, she immersed herself in yet another interesting character unlike before in this Kim Yoo-seok directorial debut. The family drama film gives birth to many conflicts as two teenage girls suffer the rough end of their parents’ affairs. When a baby is born out of this affair, both families have to deal with the new reality. As Kim-hee, So-jin played Park Se-jin’s onscreen mother and won the Best Supporting Actress nomination at the 56th Grand Bell Awards.
Lee Joon-hyuk Movies and TV Shows
About His Character in Vigilante: Lee Joon-hyuk jumps on the Vigilante bandwagon as a crazed fan with his own set of ulterior motives in mind that aren’t revealed until later.
1. Dark Hole (2021 TV Series)
Streaming on: Viki
In yet another leading role, the Vigilante actor is seen as Yoo Tae-han, a former detective, now a wrecked driver. The OCN fantasy thriller K-drama series figures in Joon-hyuk’s character as a nonchalant, easy-go-lucky presence, but his old days in the force still inspire him with pride despite the misunderstood scenario that cut him out of it. With his sense of justice still kicking, he gets on the fight of a lifetime, not just for himself but for others too as a group of survivors fight to stay alive against mutants who were created as a result of people breathing in a mysterious and toxic smoke from a sinkhole.
2. The Roundup: No Way Out (2023 Movie)
Streaming on: Amazon Prime Video
As the third movie in the Crime City action thriller series after The Outlaws and The Roundup, this 2023 film resumes Ma Seok-do’s action as he and his team are promoted to investigate the death of a woman, Go Sun-hee. The new movie in the series introduces us to Joon-hyuk’s character, Joo Sung-cheol, the leader of the Seoul Guryong Police Station Narcotics Investigation, who also ultimately turns out to be one of the corrupt cops in the lot. Joon-hyuk was nominated for his role at the Golden Dragon Film Awards 2023 in the Best Supporting Actor category.
3. Stranger (2017-20 TV series)
Streaming on: Netflix, HiTV
As Seo Dong-jae in the crime drama series, Joon-hyuk gained immense fame for his role. Working at the Seoul Western District Prosecutors’ Office with Cho Seung-woo’s Hwang Si-mok, he soon develops an inferiority complex as he realises that he can only be promoted to a certain level since he’s not a SKY alumni (graduate from one of the top three Seoul universities).
Taking on the responsibility to portray the complexity of his character, he later shifts gears from his original noble ways and starts accepting bribes and working to please his seniors in his attempts to climb up the social ladder. He also won the Best Acting Award for his contribution to 2020 premiere of Stranger 2 at the Asia Artist Awards.
4. 365: Repeat the Year (2020 TV Series)
Streaming on: Viki (in select regions)
For his leading role as Ji Hyung-joo, Joon-hyuk’s performance was recognised at the Asia Artist Awards that year as he took home the Best Acting Award (shared award for his Stranger 2 role too). The mystery fantasy MBC TV is based on the novel Repeat by Kurumi Inui, and it features Joon-hyuk as a veteran detective who ends up reseting his life by a year after his partner’s death. The Vigilante actor also won the Excellence Award and Actor in a Monday-Tuesday Miniseries at the MBC Drama Awards in 2020.
Which of these titles starring the Vigilante Kdrama cast will you be watching next? Let us know your picks in the comments section below.