Wi Ha-joon on 'Siren': 'I Really Want to Do a Deep Romance or Rom-Com Next'

Wi Ha-joon has a clear wish for his next chapter: fewer thrillers, more heart. In a sit-down interview at a café in Seoul's Gangnam district on April 8, the actor opened up about his experience on tvN's Siren and what he's hoping to tackle now that the curtain has fallen on the romance thriller.

"What I love most about this project is the ending," he said. "It's a mystery thriller at its core, chasing down a real culprit, but it ultimately resolves as a story about people, about redemption. That human warmth is what drew me in."

Siren, which aired its final episode on April 7, followed insurance investigator Cha Woo-seok (Wi Ha-joon) as he closes in on the mysterious Han Seol-ah (Park Min-young), initially suspecting her of insurance fraud, only to find himself falling for her as he uncovers the wounds beneath her surface. The show blended action and slow-burn romance in a way that pushed Wi Ha-joon to stretch his range considerably.

"At first he's investigating her like a suspect," the actor explained, "but once he realizes she carries the same kind of hurt he does, compassion gradually grows into something more. Because the emotional escalation runs parallel to the plot, I had to be very deliberate about pacing the feelings so nothing felt like it came out of nowhere."

The dual demands of action sequences and emotional scenes, including a sobbing breakdown in the later episodes, took a real physical and mental toll. Wi Ha-joon admitted that crying on cue has always been one of his personal challenges. "Tears don't come easily to me," he said. "Emotional scenes have always been homework for me as an actor, so I put in a lot of research for this one."

His co-star Park Min-young, widely regarded as a veteran of Korean romance dramas, proved to be an unexpected teacher on set. "During the melodrama scenes, she'd cry at exactly the same moment every single take," Wi Ha-joon recalled. "That's when I thought, a true master of the genre really is something else." He added that she often suggested small, telling details during filming: "She'd say things like, 'If you stroke her hair here, it'll feel more tender', little ideas that made a real difference."

Siren also marked a personal reset for Wi Ha-joon. After completing Squid Game Season 3, he took roughly a year off, his first real break in about five years. The time away, he said, changed how he shows up on set. "Before, I was so focused on my own performance that I didn't pay much attention to what was happening around me. This time, I made a point of learning every crew member's name, joking around, trying to keep the atmosphere light. It was the project where I really understood what teamwork means."

Now in his 11th year as an actor, Wi Ha-joon is feeling the pull toward new territory. Thrillers have dominated his recent filmography, Squid Game, Bad and Crazy, Rookie Cops, and he's ready for a change of pace. "The more genre work comes my way, the more I want to show people a different side of myself," he said. "I really want to do a deep, emotional melodrama, or a bright romantic comedy, something that lets me bring out feelings I haven't had the chance to use yet."

Off-screen, he's also been pushing his own boundaries during the downtime, taking up mixed martial arts and vocal lessons, two pursuits that surprised even himself. "I wasn't someone who naturally sought out new challenges," he said, "but trying those things during my break was genuinely energizing." If his singing improves enough, he added, he'd consider stepping onto a fan meeting stage or even a musical, "even just in a small way."