Spoilers ahead. Having shifted from just a music-related career to more acting in recent years, most critics and audiences would agree that Jo Yu-ri’s most impressive on-screen performance to date would be in the Squid Game franchise. After making her debut in the widely-popular Netflix drama in Season 2 last year, the South Korean singer and actor returns in Season 3 in 2025. Her portrayal of Kim Jun-hee (Player 222) this time around is arguably her most challenging, yet powerful, performance so far. While viewers were introduced to Jun-hee’s pregnancy storyline in Season 2, we actually see her enter a monumental new phase in her life in Season 3 – she gives birth.
Speaking to Missing Perspectives, Jo Yu-ri says she approached this storyline with utmost care, and was also thrilled that “immersing myself into the role was not that tough” after some research and prep.
Filming it straight off the back of the Season 2 shoot, she felt a continuity in terms of being in her character’s mind. Then, she sought inspiration from strong women around her who’ve given birth in real life – notably her own mother.
“It was very easy for me to immerse myself into the role, because the sequence was filmed in order,” she tells us over Zoom. “And all the questions regarding giving birth, I talked to my mum a lot and asked her about her experience of having me pregnant, and how painful it was to deliver myself, and how she walked when she was pregnant.”
Given it was “a very long time ago”, the actor says that her mum “couldn’t give me a detailed answer” for some parts, but that’s when she turned to another woman for advice.
“Luckily, I had an acquaintance who gave birth very recently, so I asked all those questions to her, so I did a lot of research,” she explains, “and the process of immersing myself into the role was not that tough”.
Loyalty, sacrifice and human connection are overarching themes in all seasons of Squid Game. Without giving too much away, viewers will see Jun-hee make a particular sacrifice for her child in Season 3, reflecting the unwavering, powerful love that a mother can have for her offspring.
“As I prepared for the show, what I realised the most is that a mother’s love is just great, and it’s incomparable to anything,” the TV star shares. “Because, in fact, truly loving someone else is a very difficult thing, but if it’s my baby, I can really, truly love the baby. So throughout the process, I just realised a mother’s love is just great.”
A character who’s by her side during the emotional birth scene is Cho Hyun-ju (Player 120), portrayed by Park Sung-hoon. Even playing a bystander, who then helps Jun-hee through the process, involves a significant emotional investment.
“So, before I got into the shoot for that scene, I felt pretty light-hearted about it. I thought, ‘You know, it’s going to be a birth scene. I’m going to help her, I’m going to protect her and the baby’,” Park Sung-hoon tells Missing Perspectives.
“But as I got into character and we started filming, I felt like a swirl of different emotions just inside me. It was so raw. And as a transgender woman character, I think Hyun-ju probably found it very sacred watching the birth of a soul. It meant so much to her.”
Speaking of Hyun-ju, she’s a trans woman played by a cisgender man. Park Sung-hoon tells us that because Seasons 2 and 3 were filmed one after the other, he didn’t face as much public critique of his casting until shooting wrapped up – when Season 2 premiered. He says he strived to be as respectful as possible when playing Hyun-ju.
“Seasons 2 and 3 were filmed back to back, so I didn’t actually have a renewed mindset going into Season 3 [in response to criticism], but I knew that there were worries about a cisgender actor, myself, playing an MTF transgender woman. There were concerns,” he says.
“What I tried my best to do is avoid caricature. I did not want to reduce her to visual stereotypes or behavioural stereotypes, and I think her being a transgender woman is just one of her qualities, and she has many other redeeming qualities. She’s selfless, she cares about others, she’s brave. So I wanted to focus on those qualities of hers and what situation she’s put in and how she treats others.”
Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk recently addressed public criticism about the casting of Hyun-ju’s character.
“I do understand that there has been some concerns from the Western world, from the U.S., but in the case of Korea, we didn’t have as many concerns because of the Eastern or Asian culture,” Hwang told Entertainment Weekly in an interview published in June.
“In Korea, there are really not many transgender [people] who have come out and are actors, and there’s just a couple of gay [actors] who have come out publicly,” he continued. “So it was physically difficult to find a transgender actor who could really play the role. It was, realistically speaking, nearly impossible.”
Acknowledging the feedback and reactions, he said “Going forward, I will try my best to do authentic casting for not just transgender [people], but other sexual minorities as well.”
Meanwhile, consistent with the aforementioned universal themes of the show around connection, sacrifice and love, Jo Yu-ri says this season of Squid Game is intended to truly hone in on these concepts and leave viewers with a lasting impression that keeps them thinking after the finale.
“I think the core question of Season 3 cast to society is, ‘What is being human and where does it lead us?’ And I hope our audiences can get a hint of answers from the series.”
Squid Game Season 3 premieres on Friday, June 27 on Netflix.
Top photo – Pictured: Jo Yu-ri, Source: Netflix
