‘Vincenzo’: 5 things to watch out for in Song Joong-ki’s newest Netflix series

If you’ve seen “Space Sweepers” and you want more of Song Joong-ki, Netflix is giving you exactly that as he stars in a new series titled “Vincenzo.”

The drama follows the story of Vincenzo Cassano (Song Joong-ki) who works as a lawyer for an Italian mafia. He ends up traveling to Korea to do some villainous tactics to take down the bad guys.

Hong Cha-young (Jeon Yeo-been) will join forces with Vincenzo to fight the nefarious Babel group, and the two will face plenty of trouble as Vincenzo points his gun at someone.

In a virtual roundtable interview with Song Joong-ki, Jeon Yeo-been, and Ok Taecyeon (who plays Jang Joon-woo), the cast members shared some teasers about the series and tidbits about their own characters.

From the interview, we listed down the five things you need to watch out for in “Vincenzo.”

1. It tackles the evil in societies.

Lead actor Joong-ki said Vincenzo’s story did “not [pertain] to a particular or single country. It’s actually applicable to all societies and countries.”

“There’s always evil people everywhere unfortunately,” he said. “In Korea recently when I watch the news, some pieces make us so angry that it brings us almost to tears.”

He said he thought the way the story was dealt with and how it “[punished] the evil was very refreshing,” and these were what attracted him to the role.

“There are a lot of villains in the story and in fact unfortunately there are also a lot of these villains in real life as well and I think that the way that the characters approach these villains and I think the concept and the method of punishing the evil was very satisfying for me which drew me to the piece,” he said.

2. Song Joong-ki as a charismatic anti-hero

Expect some oozing anti-hero charisma from Joong-ki as he shows his cold side as a lawyer and mafia consigliere in “Vincenzo.”

The actor said he was easily able to portray his role since he thought “there was a lot of anger” inside him and he was “so satisfied with the aspect of the story as well.”

He said what made him quite similar with his character Vincenzo was that “when something is not right he acknowledges that something is not right and he will put it into action right away.”

“I think that aspect is quite similar with my actual personality that when something happens in my life whether it’s a situation or an event and if I feel like it’s not in line with my common sense I tend to not be very tolerant about that,” he said.

Even Ok Taecyeon thinks that his co-actor embodies Vincenzo well.

“He was neat, perfect, and when I met him I could not help myself but be jealous of him. Alongside the perfection that his character has, there’s also a comedic aspect to it and I was amazed to see as I was reading the script just a single performance from him would make everyone break into laughter in the room,” Taecyeon said.

“And so I just continue to be in awe of him thinking that he is so perfect and I continue to be so jealous of him,” he added.

3. Jeon Yeo-been as a never-before-seen female lead

Jeon Yeo-been’s character Hong Cha-young is another anti-hero who will be working alongside Vincenzo to fight the villains.

The actress said she thought her character was “someone worthy of everybody’s crush.”

“You know she has this desire that really drives her and the fact that she is not focused on the good or bad but on her own desires it could be seen as something not as well-received by some,” she said.

Yeo-been said she was drawn to Cha-young because of the character’s honesty and straightforwardness.

She said she also felt that she was “able to create a female character that was never before seen so I hope you can also feel the same way when I watch her on the show.”

4. Hilarious scenes from Ok Taecyeon

To balance it all out, Taecyeon’s character Joon-woo, a lawyer intern at Cha-young’s firm, will bring lightheartedness to the series.

“So I’ve been living as the character Joon-woo for the past six months now and all I can say is I am having a lot of fun and I’m really enjoying the process,” he said.

“Joon-woo’s a character that can be seen as very naive and he’s also all over the place at that time and that’s because his eyes were always set on Cha-young and Cha-young only,” he added.

By playing this character, Taecyeon said he was also “able to also feel very lighthearted and just have a lot of fun with the character.”

He said unlike other characters, Joon-woo was the type that “is not pressured by the expectations of society but only goes for what he wants and I think that drives him.”

“I think that playing such a character I also was able to have a lot of fun and I think if Joon-woo had a motto that would be ‘let’s just have fun with everything’ and I was able to do exactly that,” he added.

5. Get ready to hear Song Joong-ki’s sexy Italian.

Charismatic anti-hero who speaks Italian? We’re definitely here for that.

Song Joong-ki revealed that he studied Italian to highlight the “otherness” his character feels once he lands in Korea.

For them to express the “otherness and that difference between the two there are many scenes and elements where we try to incorporate something that’s uniquely Italian.”

Additionally, Joong-ki said the big picture their director Kim Hee-won wanted to portray was “the difference that arises as he comes to Korea and meets, as we say, the typical Korean people.”

The Korean actor said one and “obviously the easiest way to do that is through language so I have worked very hard along with an Italian tutor and yes I have studied Italian.”

At a separate press conference, Joong-ki admitted Italian “is a very difficult language.”

“I thought it would be easy since I learned Spanish for the film ‘Bogotá’ and I thought they would be somewhat similar. However, they’re very different languages,” he said.

“Vincenzo” premieres on Netflix Feb. 20 at 10 p.m. with new episodes every Saturday and Sunday. – RC, GMA News