The laughter-filled military service begins again.

On the afternoon of the 7th, the production conference for the Genie TV original drama ‘Rookie 3’ (directed by Min Jin-ki and Jo Je-wook, written by Yoon Ki-young and Kang Go-eun) was held at the Saint in Sindorim D-Cube City, Guro-gu, Seoul. Kim Min-ho, Kim Dong-jun, Oh Dae-hwan, Nam Tae-woo, Kim Hyun-kyu, and director Min Jin-ki were in attendance.

‘Rookie’, which originated from the hit animation of the same name, is a hyper-realistic comedy that depicts the story that unfolds when a ‘military spoon’ rookie enlists in a place where all kinds of guys, from good guys to bad guys and weird guys, have gathered. The strong characters, the actors‘ passionate acting that maximized reality, and the exquisite harmony of cheerful comedy have led to this third season.

‘Rookie 3’ is about a Shinwha Unit that is on high alert due to the transfer of two unpredictable rookies and the return of an all-time villain, and Park Min-seok (played by Kim Min-ho) whose military life becomes increasingly difficult as he is about to be promoted to corporal. The difficulty of military life increases dramatically as rookie Je-gyeok (played by Kim Dong-jun), the ‘nation’s spoon’, and rookie Moon Bit-na-ri (played by Kim Yo-han), who reminds him of his time when he was demoted, appear in front of Park Min-seok, who has become a corporal.

And in the process, the ‘rookies’ Kim Min-ho, Nam Tae-woo, Lee Sang-jin, Jo Jin-se, Lee Chung-goo, Kim Hyun-gyu, Lee Jung-hyun, Jeon Seung-hoon, and Lee Soo-ji once again show off their ‘military life cheat keys’ that have evolved as much as their ‘jam-ba’ (vibes that come from being skilled). Also, Kim Dong-jun, Oh Dae-hwan, and Kim Yo-han will join as new faces to bring new laughter.

Director Min Jin-ki, who was in charge of directing, said, “This is already the third season. As always, we filmed intensely. We did our best to make you laugh intensely. I hope you enjoy this season as well.”

Season 3 came out 1 year and 7 months after season 2. It was a period when some people may have started or finished their military service.

Director Min Jin-ki said, “I think the most important point in a seasonal drama is to create a reason to watch each season. New characters need to be added so that viewers who watched the previous season will think they absolutely have to watch it. That’s why we focused on that part. And while we put a lot of effort into guerrilla training in season 2, we put a lot of effort into cold weather training in season 3. The actors and staff worked hard. We filmed in temperatures of -10 degrees Celsius, even though actual soldiers don’t train in the cold. The scale has expanded. I think it‘s more fun than the previous season. I hope active-duty soldiers will watch it and think about their military life,“ he said.


Kim Min-ho, who has been the main character since Season 1, said, ”I approached it combatively, thinking that even if I did well, I would get criticized because the original was popular. I let go of the burden of being the main character early because people liked it so much in Season 1.“ He added, ”I didn’t feel any burden about being the main character because I relied on the other actors a lot. We really had the mindset that we were all the main characters, so we didn‘t have any burden or greed to do better.“

However, Kim Min-ho was worried about aging. Kim Min-ho said, ”I said that I was taking good care of my face because I thought it looked older than Season 1, but the director bought me a lot of alcohol, so I’m aging faster. I borrowed a lot from the makeup team,“ and added, ”I turn 21 in the drama. I always thought of and acted like an elementary school student to the extreme in order to give off the feeling of being in my early 20s. I thought of an introverted and shy elementary school student and did it,” he said.

Nam Tae-woo, who plays Choi Il-goo, said, “When I started filming Season 3, I wasn’t sure whether I would appear or not. I thought I would just lie down and be discharged even if I did. But the situation in the drama didn’t allow me to just lie down,” and added, “(He’s a sergeant in his final year of military service) I had a hard time. But I had fun filming. In fact, when Choi Il-goo goes out into society, people think he’s a new recruit. To prepare for that, I lost some weight.”

He added, “Choi Il-goo has a ‘gold digger’ personality in the drama, so he has a lot of blind dates. I gained weight for Season 2 to show that I had adapted to military life. He mentioned the differences from seasons 1 and 2, saying, “I lost a lot of weight this time.”

Kim Dong-jun, who recently joined the cast, said, “I watched season 1 while I was in the military, and it was so fun that I thought, ‘When I’m discharged, I want to participate in a piece that deals with a military story.‘ Then, when I was filming ’The Goryeo-Khitan War,‘ I met Kim Min-ho for the first time and told him, ’I‘m such a fan.’ That was 6 months before filming ‘The New Soldiers 3.’ After that, thankfully, the director asked me to join him. It‘s amazing.”

Kim Dong-jun, who worked out for ’The New Soldiers 3,‘ said, “When I read the script, I felt that there were more scenes where I had to take my clothes off than I thought. I thought, ’Here, I‘m taking my clothes off too.’ I lost 7kg to film ‘The Goryeo-Khitan War,’ and I was in that exact condition when I received the script for ‘The New Soldiers 3.’ He said, ”I had to prepare a lot because I had to rebuild my body to fit the character.“

The ‘New Soldiers’ series comically depicts stories experienced in a society called the military where various types of people come together. Will season 3 be successful following the success of seasons 1 and 2? The production team and actors are confident that it will be a drama that viewers can watch comfortably. Although it is a work that deals with the military where you have to keep your wits about you, the third story of ‘New Soldiers’ is charming with its messiness that makes you laugh even if you don‘t keep your wits about you. We are looking forward to seeing how viewers will evaluate it.

’New Soldiers 3‘ will be first aired on Channel ENA at 10 p.m. on the 7th.

Reporter Hong Se-young, Donga.com projecthong@donga.com
Photos｜Reporter Joo Hyun-hee teth1147@donga.com

This article is automatically translated using Google AI. If you notice any inaccuracies, please let us know at allkstar@donga.com.