Actor Roh Yoon-seo shared reactions from those around her after experiencing her first historical drama.
On the 23rd, an interview with lead actor Roh Yoon-seo was held at a cafe in Samcheong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul for the Netflix series East Palace (written by Kwon Sora and Seo Jaewon, directed by Choi Jeong-gyu, planned and produced by Shownerus and Imaginus).
East Palace tells the story of Gucheon, who can travel between the world of ghosts (⻤) and the living, and court lady Saenggang, who keeps secrets, answering the king's summons and uncovering the curse that inhabits the East Palace. After its release on the 17th, it recorded 4.9 million views in three days, rose to No. 2 on the global non-English shows top 10, and immediately after release ranked No. 1 on "today's top 10 series in Korea." It also entered the top 10 lists in 27 countries, including Hong Kong, Thailand, the Philippines and India, as well as Korea.
In this work, which captures the charm of a Korean-style fantasy historical drama, Roh Yoon-seo achieved a variety of transformations within a single project, showing a new face the public had not seen before. Within a unique worldview of encountering ghosts and the fresh concept of shamanism, Roh Yoon-seo finely expressed the mysterious and secretive psychology of Saenggang, and in the process of investigating the strange incidents tied to the palace she displayed firm charisma, revealing the opposite side of her character. She accomplished a distinctive acting transformation with a spectrum that simultaneously handles a character's deep inner self and autonomous growth within one work.
First, Roh Yoon-seo said of the attention on East Palace, "It's the first work released in a long time since 'Hear Me: Our Summer,' so I was very excited and nervous," and added, "On the day it was released, I watched at home fussing about it; maybe because it had been so long I was excited. I'm grateful many people liked it."
Next, Roh Yoon-seo said about the ending of East Palace, "If season 2 comes out I would be very grateful and honored, I think. It would be so exciting, but if season 2 were to be imagined it might tell the story of ghosts outside the palace. I guess that, but I don't know what the writer will do, so I think they will make it fun. I'm thankful for the process of viewers imagining it themselves. People imagine what Saenggang and Gucheon would do if they went outside, and seeing those reactions was fun," and added, "I think Saenggang still has unresolved stories with her father. We talked a lot about what kind of contract Gucheon might have made with the primordial ghost spirit while unconscious, and if season 2 comes out that might become the starting point."
Being her first historical drama with deep emotions and action scenes, there must have been many difficulties. Roh Yoon-seo said, "During this shoot, heat and cold were basic, but water, dust, sandstorms, blood, sweat and dirt were used effectively and a lot. There were also setting effects for the ghost world, so when I came home from filming and blew my nose black came out. Those aspects were impressive."
In particular, Roh Yoon-seo laughed, "Physically I can't compare to Nam Joo-hyuk. While filming I said I was worried seeing that Nam Joo-hyuk had lost a lot of weight, but friends asked me, 'Did you have candy in your cheek?' Maybe because my baby fat hasn't gone, my cheeks stuck out. They disappeared toward the latter part, so I wondered if I lost weight while filming East Palace. I'm not comparable to Nam Joo-hyuk, but I think I might have lost some weight."
[OSEN]