Netflix took a massive gamble back in 2020. They spent roughly $2.7 million per episode on a show about people turning into monsters based on their deepest desires. It sounded niche. It sounded like it could be a massive CGI disaster. But it wasn't. The reason it worked—and the reason we are still talking about it years later—has very little to do with the monster designs and everything to do with the cast of Sweet Home. These actors didn't just play characters; they lived through a psychological meat grinder.
Honestly, the chemistry was weird at first. You had a shut-in teenager, a cynical bassist, a firefighter, and a guy with a sword. It shouldn't have worked. Yet, the ensemble transformed a "creature feature" into a masterclass on human grief.
Song Kang: From "Son of Netflix" to the Heart of Green Home
Song Kang was basically everywhere for a while. You couldn't open the app without seeing his face. But before he was the "Son of Netflix," he had to prove he could carry a show as dark as this. Playing Cha Hyun-su wasn't just about looking depressed in a baggy hoodie. He had to convey a kid who had literally given up on life, only to find a reason to live when the world ended.
It's a bizarre irony.
He spends the first season fighting his own inner demon—literally. His performance relied heavily on his eyes. Since he spent so much time alone in a room or being treated as a weapon by the other residents, his physical acting had to be precise. Song Kang actually lost weight to look more like the webtoon version of Hyun-su, emphasizing that gaunt, hollowed-out look of a survivor who hasn't eaten a real meal in weeks.
Most people don't realize how much of his performance was reacting to nothing. The monsters were often added later via high-end VFX, or played by performers in green suits. Keeping that level of intensity while staring at a tennis ball on a stick is a skill that many critics overlooked.
The Supporting Powerhouses You Forgot Were There
Lee Do-hyun is a genius. I’ll just say it. His portrayal of Lee Eun-hyeok was the cold, calculating brain the group needed to survive. While Song Kang was the emotional center, Do-hyun was the anchor. He played the role with this terrifyingly calm detachment. You wanted to hate him for being so pragmatic—like when he basically used Hyun-su as a scout because he was "expendable"—but you couldn't because he was always right.
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Then you have Go Min-si.
She played Eun-yu, the rebellious sister. Her chemistry with Lee Do-hyun was so good that fans actually begged to see them in a different show together (which we eventually got in Youth of May). Her character arc is arguably one of the most realistic. She starts as a frustrated ballerina with a broken dream and ends up as one of the toughest survivors in the building. She didn't need a superpower; she just needed a sharp tongue and a refusal to die.
The Veterans Who Grounded the Chaos
You can't talk about the cast of Sweet Home without mentioning the heavy hitters. Lee Jin-uk as Pyeon Sang-wook. The guy with the scars. Initially, everyone thought he was a gangster. He looked like a villain. But the nuance Lee Jin-uk brought to the role revealed a man who was hunting a monster far worse than the ones outside.
And then there’s Lee Si-young.
She played Seo Yi-kyung, a character that didn't even exist in the original webtoon. That’s a risky move. Fans of source material usually hate original characters. But Lee Si-young shut everyone up the moment she appeared. Her physical transformation was legendary. That scene in the vents? That wasn't CGI. Her body fat percentage was reportedly around 8% or 9% during filming. She did her own stunts, bringing a level of visceral, tactile reality to a show that could have felt too digital.
Why This Specific Ensemble Mattered
K-dramas often rely on a "main couple" dynamic. Sweet Home threw that out the window. It was a true ensemble.
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Think about the smaller roles.
- Park Gyu-young as Yoon Ji-su: The bassist with the baseball bat. She gave the show its "cool" factor.
- Kim Nam-hee as Jung Jae-heon: The devout Christian swordsman. His sacrifice is still one of the most heartbreaking moments in modern television.
- Kim Kap-soo and Kim Sang-ho: The older residents who proved that age doesn't mean uselessness in an apocalypse.
The casting director, Kim Min-young, deserved an award for this. They didn't just pick famous faces. They picked actors who could handle the "monsterization" metaphor. In this universe, you turn into a monster based on your desires. The actors had to play two roles: the human they were and the monster they were becoming.
The Evolution in Later Seasons
When the show expanded into Seasons 2 and 3, the cast had to change. This is where things got polarizing for some fans. The original Green Home setting was gone. We moved to a stadium. We got new faces like Jinyoung and Oh Jung-se.
Some felt the "soul" of the show shifted.
But looking at it objectively, the expansion allowed for a deeper exploration of the "Neo-human" concept. Song Kang had to evolve from a scared kid to a messianic figure. Go Min-si had to carry the emotional weight of searching for her brother. The veteran cast members who remained had to show the wear and tear of living in a wasteland. It wasn't "pretty" acting. It was gritty, dirty, and often exhausting to watch—in a good way.
Common Misconceptions About the Production
A lot of people think the actors were just "acting" scared. In reality, the set of Sweet Home was massive and incredibly detailed. The production team built a literal apartment complex. Walking onto that set, with the flickering lights and the grime, helped the cast stay in character.
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There's also a rumor that the cast didn't get along because of the dark subject matter. Actually, the opposite is true. Because the shoot was so physically demanding, the cast of Sweet Home became incredibly close. Song Kang and Lee Do-hyun are famously good friends in real life, which makes their on-screen tension even more impressive.
How to Follow the Cast Now
If you've finished the series and you're feeling that post-binge emptiness, you're in luck. Most of these actors have exploded in popularity.
- Song Kang: If you want something lighter, My Demon or Nevertheless shows off his "romantic lead" side, which is a total 180 from Hyun-su.
- Go Min-si: She’s becoming a powerhouse in film. Check out Smugglers. She’s also brilliant in the thriller The Frog.
- Lee Do-hyun: He's arguably one of the best actors of his generation. The Glory and Exhuma are mandatory viewing.
- Park Gyu-young: She led the Netflix hit Celebrity, showing she can definitely carry a show on her own.
The legacy of this cast isn't just that they survived a monster apocalypse. It's that they paved the way for "K-Horror" to be taken seriously on a global scale. Before Squid Game, there was Sweet Home. It proved that Korean creators could do big-budget genre fiction just as well, if not better, than Hollywood.
Practical Next Steps for Fans
If you're looking to dive deeper into the world the cast created, stop just re-watching the show. Start by reading the original webtoon by Carnby Kim and Young-chan Hwang. It gives you a different perspective on the characters' internal monologues that the actors had to translate into physical performances.
Next, look for the "behind-the-scenes" specials on Netflix. Watching Lee Si-young train or seeing the prosthetic makeup process for the monsters gives you a massive appreciation for the technical hurdles the actors faced. Finally, track the filmographies of the "Green Home" survivors. The brilliance of this show was its ability to pick rising stars right before they became superstars. Watching their earlier work, like Lee Do-hyun in Hotel Del Luna, helps you see the range they brought to this gritty, monster-filled world.
The story of the residents of Green Home is over, but the careers of the people who played them are just hitting their stride. Pay attention to the "minor" characters too—many of them are now leading their own series across various streaming platforms.