Director Byun Young-joo made it clear her new series "Queen Mantis" is not a story centered on the perpetrator.
At a press conference held Sept. 4 at SBS headquarters in Mok-dong, Seoul, for the network’s new Friday?Saturday drama "Queen Mantis", the director joined stars Ko Hyun-jung, Jang Dong-yoon, Jo Sung-ha, and Lee El to tease what viewers can expect.
Set roughly two decades after a notorious serial killer dubbed “Mantis” was caught, the high-tension thriller kicks off when copycat murders surface. To crack the case, a detective is forced into an unlikely partnership with the very person he’s despised his entire life―his mother, the original “Mantis.” Ko Hyun-jung plays Jung Yi-shin, the serial killer nicknamed "Mantis", while Jang Dong-yoon portrays her detective son, Cha Soo-yeol.
Byun warmed up the room with a few quips―saying she hopes to become “SBS’s most beloved director” and joking that the on-set chemistry was strong because “maybe everyone felt protective of the older director.” But when it came to the work itself, her tone turned resolute.
“'Queen Mantis' is about people fighting to make sure there are no more victims. It’s not about the offender,” she emphasized.
In the series, Jung Yi-shin is a convicted serial killer who murdered five adult men 23 years ago―men who had abused women or children. She refuses to see her actions as wrong, a setup that could tempt viewers to sympathize with or even root for her. As a director, Byun said she was vigilant about that line.
“The moment a director tips their hand and tries to make a criminal protagonist look good, audiences will feel repulsed,” she said, drawing a comparison to her film "Helpless." “Back then, too, I believed if the director sympathized with or endorsed the lead, the audience would recoil.”
“We’re not here to support her; we’re showing her as she is so viewers can make their own judgment,” she continued. “The character you should be rooting for is the son, Cha Soo-yeol. Jung Yi-shin is someone whose past brutality collides with the present.”
"Queen Mantis" follows "The Winning Try" and premieres Friday, Sept. 5 at 9:50 p.m. KST on SBS.
[Photo by Baik Seung-Chul]
(SBS Entertainment News | Kang Sun-ae)