Hope (2026) Explained: Plot, Ending and Jung Ho-yeon’s Role (Spoilers)

Spoiler warning: This article covers the full plot and ending of Hope. If you have not seen the film yet, read only the “About the film” section below and come back afterward.

About the film

Hope is a sci-fi action thriller by Na Hong-jin, the director of The Chaser, The Yellow Sea and The Wailing. It is his first film in ten years, since The Wailing in 2016. It premiered in the main competition of the 79th Cannes Film Festival in May 2026, opened in South Korea on July 15 and reached US theaters on September 9 through Neon.

The story is set in Hope Harbor (호포항), a small fishing village near the Demilitarized Zone. Something unidentifiable appears, and the village police chief and his rookie deputy try to stop it, while up in the mountains a group of hunters finds itself hunted. Hwang Jung-min, Zo In-sung and Jung Ho-yeon star, with Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander as the leaders of an alien species.

The final cut runs 156 minutes (the Cannes version was 160). It is rated 15+ in Korea and R in the US for strong bloody violence and language.

How critics received it: According to Wikipedia, the film holds 77% on Rotten Tomatoes (44 reviews) and 68 on Metacritic. Critics praised the action direction and were more critical of the visual effects.

Hope at a glance

Full plot and ending

1. A “tiger” in the village

Ko Bum-seok, the police chief of Hope Harbor, gets a call from his relative Ko Sung-ki, a hunter, about a mutilated bull lying in the road. Sung-ki and his hunting friends tell Bum-seok that a tiger that must have been smuggled in is behind it. Bum-seok goes back to warn the village, while Sung-ki’s group follows the trail of carnage to a farm, where they find more dead bulls and the farm owner’s body.

For roughly the first 50 minutes, the film builds tension around Bum-seok in a mix of comedy and chaos. The creature itself barely appears.

2. The attack on the village

When Bum-seok gets back, a huge creature has already attacked and killed several villagers. Most officers have been sent to fight wildfires elsewhere, so no backup is coming, and communications are down.

Bum-seok joins Ahn Nak-yeon, a retired colonel, and they chase the creature until they accidentally shoot and badly wound a local chef. Bum-seok leaves Nak-yeon to help the chef and presses on alone. He teams up with a makeshift militia of villagers, only to learn that the creature is a huge, intelligent, humanoid being that bullets barely hurt. It slaughters the militia and goes after him.

Then rookie officer Im Sung-ae arrives in a police car, having cleaned out the armory. She fires a grenade launcher, and on the third shot, she blows off one of the creature’s legs. The two give chase in the police car, but Bum-seok sees the creature crying and cannot pull the trigger. At the edge of town, the creature is run over and killed by a tanker.

3. The creature’s “child”

Bum-seok joins a surgeon who examines the body and finds many similarities to a human. Then Yang-bae, a hunter who dreams of being a carpenter, claims he killed a monster days earlier and says he has the body in his freezer.

Bum-seok and Nak-yeon check and discover that what Yang-bae killed was a baby of the species. The creature that attacked the village had been searching for its child. Bum-seok lashes out at Yang-bae for unintentionally causing the disaster.

Meanwhile, Sung-ae is treating the wounded at a makeshift hospital when an elderly man, Mr. Hae-sul, tells her he saw several monsters while hunting. Alarmed that there may be more, she runs to tell Bum-seok. Realizing Sung-ki is in danger, Bum-seok, Nak-yeon, Sung-ae and Yang-bae set out to warn him.

4. The spaceship in the forest

In the forest, Sung-ki’s group has found a spaceship, which tells them the monsters are aliens. When they discover the section where the young are kept, they are ambushed by the alien Ai’dovor and her leaders, the married couple Ma’veyyo and J’aur.

The two sides are in a standoff until the hunters open fire. The aliens attack and kill everyone except Sung-ki. Ma’veyyo chases him until armed local fishermen come to help, but they are killed too. Bum-seok’s group arrives and Sung-ki escapes on horseback.

5. The highway chase

A long highway chase follows, with Ma’veyyo pursuing Sung-ki. Bum-seok and Sung-ae lean out of their car’s windows and fire on Ai’dovor, hitting her. Sung-ki climbs onto the car and badly injures Ma’veyyo, ending his pursuit, but Yang-bae takes a sharp turn and Sung-ki is thrown off.

Ma’veyyo rejoins J’aur just as a wrecked ship from their allies comes through a portal in the sky and crashes into a mountain. The shockwave causes the police car to crash. Bum-seok, Nak-yeon, Sung-ae and Yang-bae continue on foot to warn the village. Ma’veyyo and J’aur set out to find their missing son and revive him with Ma’veyyo’s heart.

6. The ending and the post-credits scene

In the last ten minutes or so, the film finally shows the aliens’ conversations in subtitles and reveals their side of the story. The beings who looked like pure invaders turn out to be parents looking for their child.

In the post-credits scene, Sung-ki is alive and limping along the highway. Na Hong-jin has said that the creature left alone in the spaceship’s basement is Krsini, a pet belonging to an alien child named Kali. The open ending has led some viewers to see it as a setup for a sequel. However, I have not seen an official announcement of one.

What the film is about

• A tragedy born from misunderstanding. Na Hong-jin has said the film is about the idea that all of the world’s tragedies begin in misunderstanding. A hunter kills a baby, its parents attack the village looking for it, and humans pick up their guns again, and that chain of events is the theme in action.
• “Different beings,” not good and evil. Some critics read the film as treating humans and aliens not as good versus evil but as different kinds of beings. Revealing the aliens’ side so late also underlines how a failure to communicate drives the disaster.
• A divine point of view. Na has said that The Wailing looked at the world through folk belief, and that with Hope he wanted to take the perspective of God as in the Bible. He says that is also why the film is called Hope.
• A shift in genre. Some reviews describe the first hour as a profanity-filled comedy action romp that turns into an ensemble drama once the aliens appear.

Cast and characters

Fassbender and Vikander are a married couple in real life, and they do not speak Korean in the film.

Jung Ho-yeon as Im Sung-ae

A first film from a global name

Jung Ho-yeon, who also goes by Hoyeon, started out as a model. She made her acting debut in Netflix’s Squid Game, which made her internationally famous. She then appeared in Disclaimer, an Apple TV series by Alfonso Cuarón. Hope is her first feature film. She has said that simply being part of this film is a glorious moment in her career.

How she got the role

Jung says it felt like “flying through the sky” when Na Hong-jin reached out first to arrange a meeting. At the first meeting, she was handed the script on the spot, which she considered a major achievement in itself. In one interview, she said she later heard that Hwang Jung-min had suggested her while discussing the Sung-ae role with the director. Na has said he saw “good will” in her, which he considers the core of Sung-ae.

Who Sung-ae is

• Job and position: A rookie officer at the Hope Harbor police office, working under the police chief, Bum-seok.
• Skills: She is a gifted driver, handles firearms well and knows how to treat the wounded.
• Personality: She combines kindness toward the injured with real anger at the creature that wrecked her village. Even in a crisis, she speaks bluntly to her boss, which gets laughs. One outlet called her the film’s only optimist.
• How Jung sees her: Na wanted Sung-ae to start from human good will, and Jung says that good will turns into anger as the story goes on. She has said that what she shares with the character is a heart that does not give out.

Sung-ae’s key scenes

1. Her entrance: She arrives in a police car to save a cornered Bum-seok and fires a grenade launcher. A report says the audience applauded the moment Sung-ae first appeared at the Cannes premiere. Jung says the scene was shot more than 20 times.
2. The third shot: On her third launch, she takes off one of the creature’s legs.
3. The police car chase: She drives Bum-seok after the creature. The police car in the film is a classic Hyundai model called the Stellar.
4. The makeshift hospital: She treats the wounded and hears from Mr. Hae-sul that there are more monsters, then races to warn Bum-seok.
5. The highway chase: She leans out the window next to Bum-seok and fires on Ai’dovor, scoring a hit.
6. After the crash: With Bum-seok, Nak-yeon and Yang-bae, she continues on foot to warn the village.

How she prepared for the action

• About six months of training: Strength training, cardio for stamina and firearms training.
• Driving: For the role, she got her Class 1 (manual) driver’s license and trained to perform drifts and J-turns herself. She reportedly did the car action herself.
• Na Hong-jin’s set: Jung says there are no “NG” (failed) takes on Na’s set. She felt that every moment is treated as a possibility and the best material is chosen in the edit. She says his relentless perfectionism felt like a blessing.
• “A wild horse”: Interviews say that directors Hwang Dong-hyuk, Na Hong-jin and Kim Jee-woon have all described her as being like a wild horse.

How her performance was received

• Praise: Many viewers praised her action work and presence. A US review described Sung-ae as a level-headed deputy who adds fun to the film, and a Korean review said she carries the film with a steady performance alongside Hwang Jung-min and Zo In-sung.
• Mixed reactions: Some viewers found her line delivery unusual or stilted, while others see it as a deliberate choice by the director. Jung explained that she was so excited on set that her tone came out higher than she had prepared.
• Awards: Korean Wikipedia lists her as winning Best New Actress at the 35th Buil Film Awards.

Reception and box office

• On Wikipedia, the film holds 77% on Rotten Tomatoes (44 reviews) and 68 on Metacritic, and the BBC gave it four stars out of five. One Korean review praised the film’s style and world while saying that 156 minutes felt long and that explaining the story through the aliens’ conversation late in the film felt abrupt.
• It was reported to have drawn about 1.5 million admissions in its opening weekend in Korea. In France, it reportedly had the highest opening-day take of any Korean film released there this year (reported November 4, 2026).
• It competed for the Palme d’Or at Cannes, and Na Hong-jin received the Daniel A. Craft Award for Excellence in Action Cinema at the New York Asian Film Festival.

Who should watch it

• Anyone curious about Na Hong-jin’s first film since The Wailing and The Chaser
• Fans of genre films about villagers facing something they cannot explain
• Viewers who want to see actors do their own gun, car and horseback action
• Fans of Squid Game who want to see Jung Ho-yeon on the big screen

Opinions are divided on the long running time, the shift in genre and the way the aliens’ story is revealed late. The film is rated R in the US for violence and language, so keep that in mind if you plan to watch with family.

More to read

• Meet the actress: Jung Ho-yeon profile
• Na Hong-jin’s earlier work: The Wailing guide

Want to know where to watch Squid Game in your country? Search for it on WatchKorean.