Behind the Scenes of 'The Remarried Empress': Shin Min-ah, Ju Ji-hoon, Lee Jong-suk and Lee Se-young Share Their K-Romance Fantasy Filming Stories With Audiences

Korean romance fantasy has struck a chord with viewers worldwide. The Disney+ series 〈The Remarried Empress〉 is an epic romantic fantasy about Navier (Shin Min-ah), the perfect empress of the Eastern Empire. When Emperor Sovieshu (Ju Ji-hoon), who has fallen for runaway slave Rashta (Lee Se-young), tells her he is divorcing her, Navier accepts but demands permission to remarry Prince Heinrey (Lee Jong-suk) of the Western Kingdom. With six episodes now released and 〈The Remarried Empress〉 past its midpoint, interest in its four leads is heating up.

What mindset did the series' stars bring to the project? At the 31st Busan International Film Festival (BIFF), held this past October, a month before the series premiered, the director and cast of 〈The Remarried Empress〉 had an opportunity to meet audiences. Director Jo Soo-won and actors Shin Min-ah, Ju Ji-hoon, Lee Jong-suk and Lee Se-young discussed their experiences and shared behind-the-scenes stories at a Q&A immediately after the first screening on October 9, another Q&A the following morning and an outdoor stage appearance. With 〈The Remarried Empress〉 enjoying such fervent popularity, we revisit what they had to say in Busan.

Director Jo Soo-won: “I wanted to keep the names Navier, Sovieshu, Heinrey and Rashta”

Director Jo Soo-won, who has demonstrated a delicate touch with emotions and a firm command of storytelling in 〈I Can Hear Your Voice〉, 〈Pinocchio〉 and 〈Still 17〉, admitted, “I'm actually a little afraid of fans of the original. My biggest concern was how to win them over.” Still, explaining why he retained the original's Western-style setting and premise, Jo said, “The original is so solid, and so many people have read it, that I wanted to keep the names Navier, Sovieshu, Heinrey and Rashta. That was the biggest reason.” He added, “My ambition was to portray, as well as possible, a setting and a world where someone could be called Navier.”

“Making this choice took courage. We anticipated and thought through reactions such as comparisons with other shows,” Jo said, giving credit to the cast and production team. “CEO Kwon (Mi-kyung), who developed the project, and the actors all overcame those concerns and found the courage.”

Shin Min-ah as Navier: “Navier had to be a grounded character”

Shin Min-ah, who plays Navier, the empress who has protected the Eastern Empire with her sharp intellect and innate dignity, said she read the script before the original novel. “When I first read the script, I thought, ‘What is this?’ At the same time, my biggest challenge was figuring out how to build Navier within the world we were creating,” she recalled. Shin said that, as the sprawling original was condensed into a 10-episode series, she felt the first priority was getting viewers to empathize with Navier. “All four leads act with clear objectives, and I thought Navier had to be realistic and grounded within that for viewers to follow her emotions to the end,” she explained. “The behavior and expressions expected of an empress were a given, but I emphasized her human side—her love for her people and how hard she works. I also wanted viewers to follow her journey of choosing a new love as a woman, feeling what Navier feels.”

As for the elaborate dresses, she laughed and said, “I wore so many of them, and it was really tough. It must have been tough for Se-young, too.” Still, she added, “We worked hard on the shoot, telling each other, ‘When will we ever get to film in clothes like these again?’”

Ju Ji-hoon as Sovieshu: “Sovieshu and I are a 100% match? Just how much of a ‘total piece of shit’ do you think I am?”

Ju Ji-hoon, who plays the all-powerful Emperor Sovieshu, the target of original fans' ire, had the audience laughing with his trademark wit. Asked about his casting, he said, “When I was first offered the project, people around me said, ‘No one but you could play Sovieshu.’” He sent the audience into fits of laughter as he joked, “Just what kind of ‘total piece of shit’ do they think I am in everyday life? Hearing that I was a 100% match, I couldn't decide whether I should be happy about it.”

When it came to the performance itself, he put considerable effort into making this near-villain believable. “I have to be able to personally accept that ‘this could happen’ to play a role. From my character's perspective, he made a promise to the queen, but he still has to protect this vast empire, and the circumstances require him to continue the imperial line. I tried to find his own justification,” Ju explained. “I didn't want viewers to find him so repulsive or hate him so much that they thought, ‘I don't want to watch anymore,’ so I put a lot of effort into walking that line.”

Ju also discussed the preconceptions that come into play in a live-action adaptation. “It's an imaginary fantasy world, but when you see it onscreen with real people acting, the preconceptions we've had since childhood about the Middle Ages and class systems kick in,” he said. “The traditional period-drama vocal delivery and speech patterns you're familiar with are actually things no one really knows.” He continued, “No one knows how people actually spoke during the Joseon era. We've grown accustomed to the way people spoke in the first TV period dramas, and we keep using it.” He added that he had spent considerable time weighing whether to satisfy audiences' preconceptions or subvert them. Ju also said he found a way forward at the first script reading. “I thought of it as doing a play or a musical. Nobody objects when ‘Hamlet’ is put onstage as it is, do they?” he said.

Lee Jong-suk as Heinrey: “I never thought I'd get the chance to play a prince”

Lee Jong-suk, who had already worked with director Jo Soo-won on two projects, was familiar with the original. Explaining how he joined the series, he said, “I thought that if someone filmed this, I'd happily enjoy watching it as someone who loves dramas. Then the director said, ‘That someone is you.’” He added, “I never thought I'd get the chance to play a prince in my acting career. Above all, when I heard that Ju Ji-hoon would be playing Sovieshu, I was more than happy to join him.”

Preparations were not entirely smooth sailing. “The director initially said there was nothing in particular I needed to prepare, but once we got into it, I had to learn horseback riding and dance the waltz. There was more to learn than I expected,” Lee said with a laugh. “The story generally has a heavy tone, so I put a lot of thought into making things feel a little lighter whenever Heinrey and his secretary McKenna (Choi Dae-hoon) appeared, even if it wasn't outright comedy,” he explained. “I tried to deliver lines that could easily seem over the top as naturally and simply as possible.”

In the series, Heinrey exchanges letters with Navier in the form of a mysterious bird named Queen. “I was worried because I didn't know how Queen would be brought to life,” Lee said. “But rather than making me conform to Queen, they incorporated my movements and characteristics into Queen.” He was also pleased with the finished Queen, saying, “I think it turned out cute.”

The 〈The Remarried Empress〉 team at an audience Q&A at BIFF (Photo courtesy of BIFF)

“I want to be on the receiving end of both your hatred and your love,” Lee Se-young said of her ambitions. “I hope I can be responsible for your dopamine rush.” After a run of kind, good-hearted roles, she was strongly drawn to Rashta, who says whatever she wants and blurts things out without thinking. “I was drawn to her as I thought about how Rashta could be both loved and hated,” she said. “Every moment of filming was a hurdle. I'd tell myself not to overthink it, but there were so many moments when I felt terribly embarrassed and self-conscious.”

“Rashta has no choice but to fight fiercely to survive in the imperial palace. I tried to understand that one motivation, and since everything else about her is so different from me, I told myself, ‘People like this exist,’ and freely tried all sorts of things,” Lee explained. She said the single hardest thing on set was “enduring the embarrassment.” Discussing their chemistry, Ju Ji-hoon said, “If you let your embarrassment show, it becomes even harder to do it, but Se-young brought so much energy that she really loosened up the atmosphere on set.” When an audience member asked about the scene in which Sovieshu and Rashta first meet at the hunting grounds, Ju replied, “They have to fall in love in this filthy situation, rolling around in the mud, but making it so beautiful that they fall in love at first sight would be too much. The director, Se-young and I spent a lot of time thinking about that balance.”