“Queen Wongyeong herself”

Cha Joo-young stands out as the sole lead actress. She expanded her position by challenging her first historical drama through the tvN drama ‘Won-gyeong’. This drama is Cha Joo-young‘s next work after the Netflix drama ‘The Glory’, which made her name and face known. She landed the lead role thanks to the strong impression she left as Choi Hye-jung, a flight attendant and school bully.

‘Won-gyeong’ is a historical drama that sheds light on the life of Queen Wongyeong, the ‘kingmaker’, who made her husband Yi Bang-won the third king in the early Joseon Dynasty. Queen Wongyeong was born into the Min clan, a powerful family during the Goryeo Dynasty, married Yi Bang-won, and served as his political companion. She has also appeared in several historical dramas in the past.

Director Kim Sang-ho, who was in charge of directing the drama, was looking for a suitable character for the role of Queen Wongyeong when he fell in love with Cha Joo-young’s gaze in ‘The Glory’ and exclaimed, “She‘s perfect!”.

At a production conference held ahead of the first broadcast on the 6th, Director Kim said, “I felt Cha Joo-young’s charisma. I thought that‘s what Queen Wongyeong really felt when I saw her gaze,“ and “As we filmed, I couldn’t imagine Queen Wongyeong if not Cha Joo-young.”

This is Cha Joo-young‘s first time starring in a historical drama, and as the sole lead.

He said, “I’m so nervous and feel so burdened,”but also, “Won-gyeong is a character who lived a fiery life. I liked the fact that I could play this character, and I couldn‘t find a reason not to. I’ve always wanted to try a historical drama, and the story was well written like a novel. If someone had to draw this woman‘s life story, I wanted to do it,“ he said with confidence.

For Cha Joo-young, playing Queen Wongyeong, who was also the mother of King Sejong, was not an easy challenge. Although she was a real person, there weren’t many historical records left, and all there was was a short description written in the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty.

He said, ”It was actually difficult. Unlike other works, I had to study harder and check a lot of historical parts,“ and ”There were many parts where the character had gaps, so I dared to think of myself as the real Queen Wongyeong and filled them in with my acting.“


Reporter Lee Jeong-yeon annjoy@donga.com