Kim Soo-hyun returns after 'unintentional' 3-year hiatus, plays husband for first time in new drama

He last starred as a college student in the 2021 web series One Ordinary Day, and now he's back playing the role of a husband in an upcoming Netflix K-drama.

AsiaOne attended the regional press conference for Queen of Tears yesterday where South Korean actor Kim Soo-hyun revealed that his long break wasn't planned.

"I unintentionally went on a hiatus as if I was in the military. I didn't mean to do that," said the 36-year-old.

"During my break, I was looking for a project and I came across Queen of Tears and the character of Baek Hyun-woo stood out to me. It's my first time playing the role of a husband and I thought it was interesting."

In the drama, Hyun-woo is the legal director of Queens Group and married to Hong Hae-in (played by Kim Ji-won).

Hae-in is the CEO of Queens Department Store, a third-generation chaebol and daughter of the Queens Group family.

The drama follows them as they weather a marital crisis in their three-year marriage and stay together.

Ji-won, 31, shared in the press conference that while Hae-in is a career woman with a cold heart, her charm makes her hard to hate: "This time, my character has more charisma."

"It's been a while since I've played a wealthy character. I took classes related to conglomerates and tried to pay attention to styling," she added.

Previously, she played a rich and bratty heiress in The Heirs (2013), a first lieutenant and the daughter of a military commander in Descendants of the Sun (2016) and an introverted and timid office worker in My Liberation Notes (2022).

When asked about the charm of Hyun-woo and Hae-in as a couple, Soo-hyun and Ji-won agreed that there's a lot of love-hate tension.

"But they have healthy anger and they express themselves in a healthy way," remarked Soo-hyun.

Adding that Ji-won is deeply considerate on and offscreen, he said: "Honestly, there were times when I lost my focus, but I received a lot of help from her because of her concentration and energy on set."

Queen of Tears, which also stars Park Sung-hoon, Kwak Dong-yeon and Lee Joo-bin, premieres March 9 on Netflix.

syarifahsn@asiaone.com

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