How Kim Go Eun prepared for her role in 'The King: Eternal Monarch'

Best known for her role as Ji Eun Tak in the massive K-Drama hit "Goblin," Kim Go Eun is back in Netflix’s "The King: Eternal Monarch," another fantasy romance that reunites her with "Goblin" writer Kim Eun Sook.

Here, she is paired with global Hallyu superstar Lee Min Ho for the first time.

“It’s an honor to work with writer Kim Eun-suk again.” Kim Go Eun says. She adds, “It’s my first time working with Lee Min-ho, Woo Do-hwan, Kim Kyung-nam, and Jung Eun-chae, but we are having a lot of fun working together on set. We are all working very hard to do our best in 'The King: Eternal Monarch' to meet everyone’s high expectations of us.”

In the series, one of the five K-Dramas that Netflix is dishing out this season, she plays Jung Tae Eul, a violent crimes detective who has an unexpected run-in with Emperor Lee Gon (Lee Min Ho), who comes from a parallel world where Korea is a constitutional monarchy.

Asked how she prepared for the role, Kim Go Eun reveals that she had to learn martial arts and get into the mindset of female detectives.

“First of all, I took some taekwondo lessons. And because I was given the role of a female detective, I didn’t want my role to seem like a [stereotypical female] character. So I [watched] a lot of interviews done by actual female detectives, and I tried to look into what kind of mentality they brought to their jobs and what their work environment was like,” she says.

“I want viewers to be convinced that I am someone who has actually worked in that environment, with that kind of mentality,” she adds.

Asked what she admired most about her character, Go Eun says, “In the face of danger, she really brings that mindset and mentality, and really intervenes on the scene. And I think that takes a lot of courage.”

Another thing that stood out for her about the role was that it was the first time she’s ever had to put handcuffs on someone. “It felt really new and interesting!” she says.

She also credits the script for providing a fully-formed character for her to play, “Everything was in the script—her personality, tone of speech, or the sort of vibe the character had, it all boiled down to the script.” — LA, GMA News

The King: Eternal Monarch starts streaming on Netflix, April 17 at 10:30pm. Subsequent episodes will be streamed weekly, every Friday and Saturday.