Popular South Korean stars Lee Byung-hun and Han Ji-min will headline the Korean-language remake of the hit series ‘The Americans’.’The Americans’ was one of the most critically-acclaimed series of the last decade and starred Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys as two KGB agents living in a Washington suburb during the Cold War like a normal family while raising their America born children.Created by former CIA officer Joe Weisberg who also served as a showrunner alongside Joel Fields, ‘The Americans’ ran for six seasons on FX from 2013 to 2018.Eric Schrier, Disney’s head of international local originals, told the Hollywood Reporter that he was initially sceptic about the idea of adapting the critically acclaimed series but he was eventually won over by the idea of Lee and Han masquerading as a happily married North Korean couple living in the South Korea of 1990s.”I was the guy who developed ‘The Americans’,” Schrier, who earlier served as president of FX Entertainment.”I’m still very close with Joe Weisberg and Joel Fields, the originals’ creators, so I wasn’t so sure about this idea, because it’s all very near and dear to my heart.”‘The Koreans’ will be the company’s first local-language adaptation of one of its hit scripted series, and it will boast one of the largest budgets for Disney+’s Asian originals to date.”The similarities of the two premises – North Koreans embedded in the South, instead of Russians spying in 1980s America – started to make sense to me. But it was really the passion of our Korean team that got me excited – and I could see that, because Korea is still divided, this could be a very culturally relevant story for the local audience, which is always the primary priority for our local original content,” Schrier said.According to the synopsis, the Korean adaptation will follow a middle-class family hiding a parallel treasonous secret. While seemingly ordinary citizens in the eyes of their friends, neighbours and even their children, both parents – played by Lee Byung-hun and Han Ji-min – are actually elite North Korean spies working to bring down the South from within.Lee and Han are among the most popular South Korean stars with a global appeal thanks to the popularity of K-dramas.Lee is known internationally for his role as the Frontman in ‘Squid Game’ as well as Hollywood movies ‘G.I Joe’, ‘Terminator Genisys’ and ‘The Magnificent Seven’. He was most recently seen in Park Chan-wook’s internationally acclaimed drama ‘No Other Choice’.Han has featured in many romantic K-dramas like ‘One Spring Night’ and ‘Love Scout’. She currently stars in the romantic comedy ‘The Practical Guide to Love’.Behind the scenes, the show will see some of the top-tier talent steering the series. It will be written and adapted by Park Eun-kyo, who co-wrote Bong Joon-ho’s ‘Mother’ and popular Disney+ series ‘Made in Korea’, starring Hyun Bin and Jung Woo-Sung.It will be directed by Ahn Gil-ho, who was behind the hit Netflix psychological thriller series ‘The Glory’, starring Song Hye-kyo as a woman who returns to avenge her school bullies.Korean star Lee Hee-joon, known for ‘Mouse’ and ‘A Killer Paradox’, will also star in the show but the details about his character details are yet to disclose