What happened to Noa in Pachinko? Explained

The anticipation for Pachinko Season 2 is palpable, with fans having to wait for the second season of the epic period Korean-Japanese drama series for two years since its season-ending cliffhanger in 2022.

Apple TV+'s multigenerational saga is about the Kim-Baek family and the abject poverty and racism they endured when they moved to Japan. The story is set at a time during the Japanese occupation of Korea and continues for the next couple of decades of struggle for independence.

In the Pachinko Season 1 finale, one key character from the novel made an appearance for the first time — Noa (played by Jae Jun Park), Sunja's (played by Youn Yuh-jung as an adult, Minha Kim as a teen, Yu-na Jeon as a child) son with Koh Hansu (played by Lee Min-ho).

The debut season's penultimate episode left viewers with questions about Noa's fate in the series, but much about his character is present in the novel the show is based on, including his tragic fate.

Noa grows into a promising college student, but discovering his real parentage causes him to leave his family and change his identity before he takes his own life after realizing that his past would always catch up to him.

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What is Noa's fate in Pachinko?

Pachinko Season 1 Episode 8 opens in Osaka, Japan in 1938, with the episode featuring heavy themes of fate, fortune and future.

Noa, who is Sunja's firstborn, appears in the series for the first time as a smart and capable kid who can speak two languages. They are having a doljabi — a traditional ritual where a one-year-old chooses an item that would decide their future — for Noa's younger brother Mozasu.

Also in the Season 1 finale, an older Mozasu brings up Noa during a conversation with Sunja as they talk about his son Solomon's future. In a cryptic comment, Sunja tells Mozasu that she won't let history repeat itself, telling him that Solomon isn't Noa.

Another intercutting scene in the episode also shows Noa seeing Isak, the man he grew up knowing as his father, being taken away by the police. The young Noa tries to chase the car, but he can't keep up, and the car takes away his father for good.

Later in the episode, Hansu walks with Noa on his way to school, and the two have a conversation about the privilege of getting an education, losing their fathers and looking forward to the future instead of focusing on the past.

These intercutting scenes tease much about Noa's fate in Pachinko. In the novel, he grows up to be a promising student who, after Hansu sponsors his education, gets accepted into a prestigious university in Tokyo. But when Noa discovers that the older Korean man is his paternal father, he drops out of school and disowns his family.

After leaving his family behind, Noa settles somewhere in Japan with a new name and identity as Japanese, not Korean. He would later work as a bookkeeper for a racist Japanese pachinko owner, marry and have children of his own. He would be estranged from his family for 16 years until one day Sunja found his whereabouts, through Hansu.

Even with Hansu warning her to not visit their son, she decided to meet him. Noa promises to keep in touch with his mother during their conversation, but he takes his own life after she departs.

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Is Noa going to be in Pachinko Season 2?

Noa is most likely going to appear in the second season of the show, given that its main storyline is set to focus on Sunja's sons. Talking about the upcoming second season, showrunner Soo Hugh touched on the "brotherhood story" during an interview with Deadline in 2022.

She said:

"The brotherhood between Mozasu and Noa, I think because they're so young in season one, we don't get to capture, but in season two, that brotherhood is just magical."

The continuation of the Apple TV+ period drama based on Min Jin Lee's book of the same name is set to premiere on August 23, with new episodes coming every Friday until the eighth and final episode on October 11.

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Catch all episodes of Pachinko Season 1 on Apple TV+ ahead of the Season 2 release on the streaming platform.