If you’ve ever scrolled through your streaming options and felt that specific itch for a dark, rainy, cross-border crime drama, you’ve probably landed on The Tunnel. But here is the thing: there isn't just one. People get tangled up between the gritty British-French co-production and the high-concept South Korean time-travel thriller.
Both are fantastic. Honestly, they’re top-tier TV. But the magic of each version lives or dies by its actors. When we talk about the tunnel tv cast, we are usually looking at two very different sets of faces that defined the "Nordic Noir" vibe for a whole new generation of viewers.
The British-French Connection: Dillane and Poésy
Back in 2013, when Sky Atlantic and Canal+ decided to remake the Danish-Swedish hit The Bridge, people were skeptical. Could you really transplant that cold, Scandi energy into the literal Chunnel?
The answer was a resounding yes, mostly because of the weird, friction-filled chemistry between Stephen Dillane and Clémence Poésy.
Stephen Dillane plays DCI Karl Roebuck. You might know him as the stiff, duty-bound Stannis Baratheon from Game of Thrones, but in The Tunnel, he’s different. He’s more "dad-joke British detective" who is just trying to navigate a messy personal life while solving gruesome murders. He’s charming, a bit of a philanderer, and deeply human.
Then you have Clémence Poésy as Elise Wassermann.
If you remember her as the ethereal Fleur Delacour in Harry Potter, forget that. As Elise, she is blunt, socially awkward, and seemingly devoid of traditional emotion. She probably has undiagnosed Asperger's, though the show never puts a formal label on it. She just... is. The way Poésy plays her—stiff, literal, but fiercely loyal—is what makes the show more than just another police procedural.
📖 Related: Gwendoline Butler Dead in a Row: Why This 1957 Mystery Still Packs a Punch
The Supporting Players Who Stuck Around
It wasn't just the leads, though. The show felt lived-in because of the people surrounding them.
- Angel Coulby (Laura Roebuck): She had the thankless task of playing the "wife at home," but she gave Laura a spine and a personality that made the marital strain feel real, not just a plot device.
- Thibault de Montalembert (Olivier Pujol): He played Elise’s boss. He brought that classic French administrative exhaustion to the role.
- Jack Lowden (Adam Roebuck): Before he was a massive movie star in Dunkirk or Slow Horses, he was Karl’s son here. His arc in the first season is basically the emotional anchor of the finale.
The Korean Twist: A Different Kind of Tunnel
Now, if you were looking for the 2017 K-Drama Tunnel, the cast list looks very different. This isn't a remake of The Bridge; it's a time-traveling hunt for a serial killer.
Choi Jin-hyuk stars as Park Gwang-ho. He’s a detective from 1986 who chases a killer through a tunnel and pops out in 2017. Choi is great at playing that "fish out of water" energy—someone who is used to smoking in the office and shouting at suspects, now trying to understand smartphones and DNA evidence.
He’s joined by Yoon Hyun-min as Kim Seon-jae. He’s the modern-day, "by the book" elite detective. The bromance between these two is legendary in the K-drama world. It starts with total hatred and evolves into a deep, mutual respect that honestly carries the show through its slower middle episodes.
Then there’s Lee Yoo-young as Shin Jae-yi. She plays a criminal psychologist who is about as cold and detached as Elise Wassermann was in the European version. Seeing her peel back her own layers as she realizes her connection to the 1986 murders is some of the best acting in the series.
Why This Specific Cast Worked So Well
You can have the best script in the world, but if the detectives don't click, the show fails.
👉 See also: Why ASAP Rocky F kin Problems Still Runs the Club Over a Decade Later
The European the tunnel tv cast worked because it leaned into the cultural clash. Karl is British; he's all about subtext, politeness, and "muddling through." Elise is French; she is direct, logical, and doesn't care about your feelings. That "Odd Couple" dynamic is a trope for a reason—it works.
In the Korean version, the clash is generational. It’s the 80s versus the 2010s. The cast had to sell the idea that even though the technology changed, the human drive for justice (and the pain of loss) stayed exactly the same.
Misconceptions About the Cast Members
People often think Stephen Dillane hated being on the show because he has a reputation for being a bit "serious" about his craft. In reality, he’s spoken about how much he enjoyed the bilingual nature of the set. It was a 50/50 split between British and French crews.
Also, a lot of fans don't realize how many "before they were famous" actors popped up in the British version. Look closely and you'll see:
- Mia Goth: Long before she became the "Pearl" and "X" horror icon, she had a small, haunting role in season one.
- Hannah John-Kamen: Before Ant-Man and the Wasp, she was in the second season, Sabotage.
- James Frain: Always a great villain, he brings a terrifying level of calculation to the first season's antagonist.
What to Watch Next Based on Your Favorite Version
If you loved the chemistry of the Anglo-French cast, you should probably check out the original The Bridge (the Swedish/Danish version) just to see how different actors handled the same roles. Sofia Helin’s Saga Norén is even more intense than Poésy’s Elise.
If the Korean Tunnel was more your speed because of the mystery and the time-jump, Signal is the obvious next step. It’s often cited as the "gold standard" of Korean crime thrillers.
✨ Don't miss: Ashley My 600 Pound Life Now: What Really Happened to the Show’s Most Memorable Ashleys
The European series ran for three seasons: the original, Sabotage, and Vengeance. Each season changed the supporting the tunnel tv cast significantly, bringing in people like Emilia Fox and Clarke Peters (The Wire). It kept the show fresh. It wasn't just a "case of the week" thing; it felt like a three-part epic about two people whose lives were irrevocably changed by a hole in the ground between their countries.
To get the most out of your rewatch, pay attention to the background characters in the police station. The writers were really good at giving the French lieutenants and the British DCs their own little subplots that made the world feel bigger than just the two leads.
Check out the first season of the UK version if you haven't seen it recently; the way the "Truth Terrorist" interacts with the journalist Danny Hillier (played by Tom Bateman) is still some of the most tense television from that era. For the K-drama version, keep an eye on the forensics doctor—that's all I'll say without spoiling the big mid-season twist.
The legacy of these shows is really about the actors' ability to make us care about people who are, frankly, quite difficult to like at first. Whether it's a 1980s cop in a modern world or a French woman who doesn't understand why you're crying, they make the impossible feel very real.
Go back and watch the pilot episodes for both. It is wild to see how two shows with the same name can use their cast to tell such vastly different stories.