Netflix expanded its live-action Solo Leveling cast with five performers in an October 6 announcement. The update also names Han Dong-wook as a co-director. Together, the roles put more of the story’s Hunter organizations on screen.

Who plays the five new characters?

  • Han So-hee plays Cha Hae-in, whom Netflix describes as Korea’s only female S-rank Hunter. The character rides a motorcycle and fights with a longsword.
  • Kang You-seok plays Yoo Jinho, a C-rank Hunter and second son of the Yoojin Group family. Netflix says he grows close to Sung Jin-woo after joining a dungeon quest and comes to look up to him like an older brother.
  • Sung Joon plays Woo Jinchul, an A-rank inspector in the Korean Hunters Association’s Surveillance Team. He monitors Hunters and is the first person to suspect that Jin-woo has awakened new powers.
  • Lee Sung-min makes a special appearance as Go Gunhee, a retired top-tier Hunter and chair of the Korean Hunters Association. Netflix says the association oversees Hunters and guilds and can mobilize Hunters during a crisis.
  • Jung Ji-hoon makes a special appearance as Baek Yoonho, an S-rank Hunter who leads the White Tiger Guild. Netflix says he can transform into a beast.

These details come from Netflix’s cast announcement. They identify the characters and their place in the series’ fictional system; they do not say how much screen time any performer will receive.

What these roles tell viewers about the adaptation

Netflix says Korea has only nine S-rank Hunters; the announcement includes two characters from that tier. The five additions connect individual fighters with association oversight and guilds. Netflix describes the White Tiger Guild as one of Korea’s five major guilds, while the association can mobilize Hunters during a crisis. These details expand the story’s institutions as well as its personal alliances, but Netflix does not say how central any new character will be in the full season.

Netflix introduced Byeon Woo-seok as Sung Jin-woo in its earlier live-action announcement. That notice describes the lead as an E-rank Hunter, the lowest tier, who gains new abilities after a near-death experience and fights monsters emerging through mysterious Gates. Netflix says the story began as a Korean web novel and expanded into webtoons, animation and games before this live-action version. It reported 14.3 billion cumulative KakaoPage views for the source web novel and webtoon in its 2025 announcement; that is a company-reported figure for those formats, not a forecast for the series or a count of unique viewers. Netflix has not said whether the live-action version will follow every plot point from any one earlier format.

Netflix says the Korean live-action series is co-directed by Han Dong-wook, Lee Hae-jun and Kim Byung-seo, with Kakao Entertainment and SANAI PICTURES named in the production notices. It also says Han previously won Best Director, Television at the 60th Baeksang Arts Awards for The Worst of Evil. The October update highlights Han Dong-wook’s return to work with those companies; it gives no filming calendar or episode count.

Minimal concept diagram connecting Hunters, the Association, and guilds in the series' fictional structure.
Concept diagram of how the announced roles connect individual Hunters with association oversight and guilds; not a series interface.

Has Netflix announced a release date?

No calendar date appears in the October 6 cast update or the earlier adaptation notice. Netflix calls the series “coming soon” and says it will stream only on its service, without confirming a month, day or year.