Apple TV+’s Pachinko eight-episode season two is available to stream, and the family drama has become even more interesting, as the stakes were raised with the cliffhanger at the end of the last episode. In an exclusive interview with Deadline, executive producers Michael Ellenberg (Beauty, Tell-Tale) and Theresa Kang have shared their thoughts on the second season, eagerly hoping for a season three renewal announcement from the streamer. If anyone is interested in reading the interview, it’s available below.

DEADLINE: Going back to when season one was rolling out, how far ahead did you plan for season two, and what was the process like getting that renewal and establishing this show?

ELLENBERG: From the beginning, Soo presented this multi-season vision for the show from the outset. And we pitched that when we first went to Apple. At the time, which was exciting, we had many suitors five or six networks having bid on it, so it was a crazy bidding war, and we all felt the greatest connection and understanding at Apple, and they’ve been incredible partners in allowing us to make the show both at the scale and at the quality that we set off to do. You have your best-laid plans, Soo would tell you that, but then you want to respond organically to the material you have — to the actors, Naomi, for example, Anna Sawai (Fast X, F9), who we always thought could be something more, but we didn’t know how much we would invest in her, and this is before Shōgun obviously. She was cast in the show before Shōgun, and the chemistry she had with Jin Ha (Devs, The Same Storm), who plays Solomon, was undeniable to us. So that became a story. Soo wanted to lean into more. This brief romance between the two of them [that] emerged. The overall structure of World War Two landing in this season was always there exactly how it would, the breakout episode.

ELLENBERG: And what Soo promised in season two was taking you past, will they or won’t they survive, and to this different question, will they thrive? And everyone gets moments of joy and moments of elation and moments of freedom this year. It’s Pachinko, so the bitter and the sweet are always circling one another, and the pickup conversation for season two is grounded in, “Okay, this is incredible. Let’s go deeper on character. Let’s go further with these people,” and when Apple saw what Soo was thinking about for season two, and the tremendous critical and audience response to season one, fortunately, they brought us back for another season.

KANG: It was also amping up the scale from season one to season two. season one is a family story and it’s about immigration. season one is a sweeping love story against a massive world war. Season three, even bigger things to come. There’s already season three preparation in terms of a document, Soo’s vision, and so we’re excited about that.

KANG: Soo knows what the show is every season, even more and more. What was exciting about season two that’s even different from season one, is, we have an Oscar winner in Youn Yuh-jung (Sense8, Wonderful Days) and Anna is so good in everything she does. And she won an Emmy. We were the first TV series that she’s been in domestically, we have Lee Minho (The Heirs, Boys Over Flowers), who’s this global actor superstar. And for fun, we had Rose, from Blackpink, one of the biggest bands in the world, do a Coldplay cover song. We’re excited already thinking about, how do we amp that up, even for season three? How do we electrify even further? We’re always thinking of different ways to do that in this unique canvas that we have.

DEADLINE: And Jin Ha (Devs, The Same Storm) is in season four of Only Murders in the Building! Anna did win her Emmy for Shōgun. Shōgun’s taken off. How does that factor into the conversation around Pachinko? Is there a way Pachinko can still hit like Shōgun has?

ELLENBERG: Pachinko goes in dialogue with the culture now. We have relatively unknown actors who’ve now popped into Emmy-winning sensations on this spectacular show like Shōgun. This is not “There should only be one.” The ambition was always to do something innovative and novel, but also demonstrate there’s a different kind of audience out there, and encourage other people to make similarly ambitious shows. So Shōgun hopefully begets more projects, as well as Pachinko has.

ELLENBERG: Theresa spearheaded bringing Rose in. So you also have global superstars entering our show who are just feeling it. Korean pop star moving into a single career pulls Coldplay song. Soo wanted to pull a Coldplay song in. Coldplay was so excited to have the song in the show, and that entered our world. It’s both, we’re reaching out to the culture, but the chink of also, the culture is talking back to us now as well. When you’re introducing new voices, new creators, and new stories. A rising tide lifts all boats.

KANG: One of the exciting things to Michael’s point about rising tides is when we actually did share some [production] notes with the Shōgun team. Parts of the Shogun team. Not only did they work with Anna, but we asked them questions about — because we were looking at shooting in Japan for season two — We’re like, what were your learnings? Why did you shoot Vancouver?

KANG: We looked at some of their directors, they looked at some of our key creatives too. The bottom line is, we congratulate the success of of Shōgun, as well as Beef, Squid Game and these global sensations. It’s exciting for us as producers, but we feel we’re also part of that global creative grouping. We’re excited for all of them.

DEADLINE: Theresa, could you tell me more about the Coldplay song?

KANG: A year ago when Michael and I and Soo were all in Korea for production, we were talking about, would it be so great if we had, like, a Korean K-pop band or member be a part of our show, and we talked about BLACKPINK then and it was a pipe dream. And then as we got closer to finishing editing the show, and Soo said, “Hey, Coldplay, this song. Let’s figure it out,” then it kind of came back around that idea. So we reached out to Rose and her managers at the Black Label, and they were really supportive. Rose’s such an artist, and when you’re negotiating these things, we thought she was going to go into the studio, once or twice. She went in multiple times of her own choice because she wanted it to be perfect. She’s such a perfectionist and an artist herself, really similar to Soo and our team, and it felt even more like stars aligning. And when we first heard her version of the cover song, we were floored. It was so emotionally powerful, vulnerable and strong and memorable. We’re excited for everyone to hear the full version of her song in the finale.

ELLENBERG: We love the title sequence. There’s a slight way in which the song is in dialog with it, which is mostly about, these are characters who feel so much, but circumstances, for the most part, don’t allow them to fully express what they’re feeling. So the title sequence is this bit of relief where you get to see, “Oh my God, that’s the inner life.” Like, that’s what they wish they were doing all the time. The title sequence isn’t fiction. It’s like their inner desires. It’s not an alternative, it’s a part of them they can’t express.

ELLENBERG: So the kind of sweep of a great pop song like this, it’s a real, obviously Coldplay, their genius, it’s an anthem. And to interlace Korean pop music sensibility and Rose committed to it. She didn’t turn into a pop song. She actually brought it more down to earth and more soulful. She did this incredibly soulful interpretation of it, and so it both breaks your heart, but also, that song makes you connect to what’s possible as well. This show should always do both, like, yes, you see people go through all kinds of wild historical events, but for the most part, they make their way through it. It’s a fairly fearless group of people. They go through tough stuff, God knows, they endure. Sometimes they thrive, but we don’t like to be as tough and strong as they are.

DEADLINE: Another project too, that comes to my mind is Expats which came out earlier this year, but the reason those are similar to me is we have Noa at the end of season two disappearing and wanting to reinvent himself. I’m curious how that stages season three, and leaves that cliffhanger where viewers will want to know how it all evolves from there?

ELLENBERG: There are spoilers involved so Theresa and I’ll be cautious around it. Noa’s journey is incredibly powerful. It echoes his mother’s, echoes Solomon’s, but it’s its own distinct thing. He’s an intellect, he’s passionate. It turns out his biological father, is a much less noble figure than he thought. He also realizes he’s been lied to and so he’s in a fundamental and profound identity crisis. Next season, we’ll see him try to see if he can define himself without his past. That’s the journey he’s on, and every character in the show is trying to make peace with what their past is, what their present is, who the world wants them to be and who they want to be, and can they reconcile those things? And so Noa’s gonna take the radical path to say, maybe I can escape my past altogether.