‘All of Us Are Dead’ cast weigh in with simple yet effective solution to dubbing vs subtitles debate

February 9, 2022

Warning: Contains minor spoilers.

Teenage zombie series “All of Us Are Dead” is the second Korean show to top the streaming charts in Netflix U.S. Its predecessor “Squid Game” first broke that record in September last year, sparking an online debate as to whether viewers should watch the show with the voices dubbed over.

This time around, the main cast members — much younger and much ~~fleshier~~ fresher to Korea’s entertainment industry — weighed in with NextShark and offered a solution so simple yet so effective.

Just watch it twice.

Once with the show dubbed over and once again in the original language, as per the recommendation of Lomon — the show’s lovestruck teenager Lee Su-Hyeok who takes the promise of “in sickness and in health” to a whole new level.

“No matter how many times you watch it, I think the series will be fun,” he says. “Even if you watch it once with dubbing, I think watching it in Korean has particular language and cultural aspects you will enjoy, so it would also be great to turn on the subtitles and watch our performance in Korean. I hope you watch it many times!”

Seated beside him, Cho Yi-hyun, who portrayed his character’s on-screen love interest Choi Nam-ra, chimes in: “I’ve also watched the series dubbed before, and I was surprised at how impressive it was,” she acknowledges.

“That being said, I can confidently say that watching our raw performance will be a much better experience. In my opinion, I would watch the series in its original language, because we were there and feeling the emotions like it was really happening.”

With zombies crawling around every corner turning more and more characters into bloodthirsty monsters before viewers are even ready to say goodbye, the actors’ visceral emotions on screen make it all the more difficult to grieve the losses.

The feeling is reminiscent of watching other Korean zombie-themed films and shows — “K-zombies,” as the genre has come to be known in South Korea — that have succeeded over the past several years, including “Train to Busan” (2016) and “Kingdom” (2019).

But Park Ji-hu, who plays Nam On-jo in the show, explains how it’s not just another K-zombie.

“Students fighting in a setting thought to be a safe haven and using everyday objects as weapons is very new to not only our country but countries all over the world,” she says.

Catch the full interview here:

Featured Images via Netflix, Yang Hae-sung (center)

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