Who are the Korean stars heading to Cannes?

The existential crisis back home was real last year when not a single Korean feature made it into Cannes’ official selection for the first time in over a decade.

Whispers abounded that the best days of Korean cinema might have run their course after “Parasite,” and that a pandemic-battered domestic film industry might never get back on its feet.

Which is why this year’s double selection brings a welcome sigh of relief.

Na Hong-jin’s sci-fi thriller “Hope” landed in the main competition to contend for the Palme d’Or, while Yeon Sang-ho’s high-concept zombie thriller “Colony” was picked for Midnight Screenings, the festival’s late-night showcase for genre fare.

The stakes are just as high for the stars. Many of the actors involved will be walking their first-ever red carpet at the iconic Palais des Festivals, and a Cannes premiere is the kind of career milestone that rarely comes around twice. Here’s who’ll be turning heads on the Croisette this May.

“Hope”

Genre auteur Na Hong-jin hasn’t released a film since “The Wailing” in 2016, a stomach-churning occult thriller that premiered out of competition at Cannes and became something of a cult sensation worldwide. His long-awaited follow-up “Hope” has been gestating ever since, reportedly carrying the largest budget ever committed to a Korean production at somewhere above $35 million.

Filming ran through 2023 and into 2024, but a drawn-out post-production kept the film under wraps until recently. Details are still scarce, but what little is known does suggest something wild: a police chief in a remote village near the Demilitarized Zone learns that a tiger has been spotted in the hills, and that’s before the aliens show up.

Star power is not in short supply, either. Alongside Hollywood power couple Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander, “Hope” boasts a stacked Korean lineup.

Iconic leading man Zo In-sung plays a headstrong local tracking a dangerous creature. The 44-year-old has spent close to three decades in the business, shifting from romantic lead in TV hits (“Love In Bali,” “That Winter, the Wind Blows”) to high-stakes genre fare on the big screen ( “The King,” “Escape from Mogadishu,” “Humint”).

With three films out this year alone, including an upcoming collaboration with arthouse master Lee Chang-dong (“Possible Love”), the actor is having the busiest stretch of his career — and a first-ever walk up the Palais steps might as well be the cherry on top.

Jung Ho-yeon, that ice-cold player 67 Sae-byeok in “Squid Game,” caps an explosive few years by gracing this year’s red carpet with her feature film debut. Since the Netflix juggernaut turned her into an overnight global star in 2021, the supermodel-turned-actress has kept busy with high-profile Hollywood pickups like Alfonso Cuaron’s “Disclaimer” and Joe Talbot’s upcoming A24 film “The Governesses.” In “Hope,” she makes her big-screen debut as a rookie cop caught up in the mayhem.

Rounding out the Korean side is the decorated character actor Hwang Jung-min. The man must feel fairly at home at the Palais by now; this marks his fifth Cannes invitation, following “A Bittersweet Life” (2005), “The Wailing,” “The Spy Gone North” (2018) and “I, The Executioner” (2024), though he has only attended in person twice before.

“Colony”

Leave it to Yeon Sang-ho to find new ways to lock people in with zombies. “Colony,” which hits Korean theaters in May, confines its survivors to a sealed building as a fast-mutating virus rips through the corridors.

The “Train to Busan” director’s breakthrough came through Cannes a decade ago, when that film premiered in the very same Midnight Screenings section and drew rave reviews from artistic director Thierry Fremaux. A decade on, he’s back with another riff on the undead.

The red carpet for “Colony” is sure to generate some buzz of its own largely thanks to its lead, Jun Ji-hyun, who goes by Gianna Jun outside Korea. Despite generally keeping a low profile in recent years, the 45-year-old is arguably still one of the biggest draws in Korean entertainment. “Colony” marks her return to the big screen since the 2015 period blockbuster “Assassination;” to say her comeback has been hotly anticipated would be putting it mildly.

In fact, Jun has a history with Cannes, though not the kind she’d frame and hang on the wall. In 2011, the actor turned up at the festival to promote “Snow Flower and the Secret Fan,” her first Hollywood outing via Fox Searchlight which had nothing to do with the official program.

The team arranged a walk on another premiere’s red carpet, and by most accounts, the photo op drew more attention from floor staff waving her through than from the press corps. (The film itself was such a flop that few remember it existed). This time, the reigning screen queen arrives as the proper lead of a properly invited production.

Koo Kyo-hwan, who plays the villain orchestrating the outbreak, has been building toward a moment like this for years. After cutting his teeth on the indie circuit, both in front of and behind the camera, the actor crossed over to the mainstream through the Netflix military drama “D.P.” and Yeon’s own “Peninsula.” That “Train to Busan” sequel was selected for the Cannes 2020 Official Selection label, but with the pandemic canceling in-person events, Koo never made it to the event in person.

Also making their Cannes debuts with “Colony” are Ji Chang-wook, the ever-charming K-drama heartthrob behind hits like “Empress Ki” and “The K2,” and Go Soo, an improbably ageless veteran who has been a steady presence on Korean screens since the mid 90s.

The 79th Cannes Film Festival runs May 12-23, with director Park Chan-wook presiding over the competition jury.