A scene from the second episode of SBS drama "Agent Kim Reactivated" shows protagonist Manager Kim, portrayed by actor So Ji-sub, created entirely through artificial intelligence. Courtesy of Morpheus Studio

On a snowy night, a motorcycle pursues a black sedan into a mountain tunnel. A wire trap overturns the lead escort vehicle and a mysterious man wearing a mask and a North Korean military uniform approaches the sedan. A gunfight and hand-to-hand combat follow.

Overpowering the bodyguard, the man forces the terrified North Korean official into the passenger seat and speeds out of the tunnel. "You’re going to die here with me," the man says, before the sedan crashes through a bridge railing and plunges into the river below.

This is the opening scene of the second episode of SBS weekend drama "Agent Kim Reactivated." Presented as a flashback to 2008, the sequence shows the protagonist, Manager Kim (So Ji-sub) — a recruited agent — being sent to a solo covert mission into North Korea to eliminate a hardliner hostile to the South. The sequence packs in nearly every action movie staple, including car chases, a gunfight, hand-to-hand combat and an underwater escape. But So did not film a single frame. The entire three-minute sequence was generated by artificial intelligence (AI), marking a first in Korean drama history.

Ryu Jae-hwan, vice president and artificial intelligence supervising director of Morpheus Studio, poses during an interview at his office in Mapo District, western Seoul, July 16. Korea Times photo by Yun Gi-hun

Morpheus Studio, a company founded by visual effects (VFX) experts, created the sequence using "AICRON," an AI content creation platform it launched in February 2026.

Ryu Jae-hwan, the studio's vice president and AI supervising director, used AICRON throughout production, from planning and image generation to video production and editing. Ryu previously won Grand Bell and Blue Dragon awards as a VFX supervisor for films such as "1947 Boston," "Flu" and "The Restless."

"Unlike conventional VFX, which adds computer-generated imagery to filmed footage, AI goes directly from text to video," Ryu said during a July 16 interview with the Hankook Ilbo at his office in Mapo District, western Seoul. "Even So Ji-sub’s face was created through prompts, without a single reference photo."

Unwilling to cut Manager Kim's past scenes under limited shooting conditions, the drama's producers approached several AI video companies. Morpheus was one of them. Ryu initially created test videos to see what AICRON could do. But winning the job brought a new concern.

"There is still too little experience with AI to know what is possible without trying it," Ryu said. "I hesitated because I worried that the uncertainty could jeopardize a commercial production. The director readily gave us the autonomy and authority we needed, and that gave us the confidence to proceed."

An artificial intelligence (AI)-generated action sequence from the drama "Agent Kim Reactivated" was produced by Morpheus Studio using its AI video creation platform AICRON. Courtesy of Morpheus Studio

The primary goal was to ensure the sequence didn't look AI-generated. Aside from So, all other figures are synthetic characters created by AI. The sequence even includes close-ups while keeping their appearances visually consistent.

"The characters may not be perfectly consistent at the data level, but visually we appear to have reached a point where viewers do not readily notice the differences," Ryu said.

The main challenge was action scenes involving physical interaction. "The biggest hurdle was that the AI tools initially refused to generate cruel or violent scenes," Ryu said.

The tools only recently became capable of depicting gunfire convincingly. When the AI rejected requests to generate blood, the team had to use workarounds, instructing the system by asking for "tomato ketchup bursts."

People often assume AI content is created at the click of a button, but it took two full months to complete the rough cut of the three-minute video.

"We spent an entire month generating concept images for the motorcycle and car models, the tunnel and bridge, the surrounding mountains and even the ice floating on the river," Ryu said.

While the team delivered fewer than 300 final shots, they generated more than 2,000 during the production process. Ryu stressed that human expertise remains crucial.

"No matter how realistic the images look, viewers notice when the flow feels wrong," he said. "We approached it as if we were shooting live action, with particular attention to constructing and directing each shot using the visual grammar of cinema."

While the industry remains cautious, Ryu said an increasing number of creators are exploring AI video following the high-profile experiment with "Agent Kim Reactivated."

"I think AI will soon become impossible for the industry to ignore," he said. "I hope others working in film and television embrace the change, learn to use the technology on their own terms and take advantage of the opportunities it creates."

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.