Jo Yuri recently opened up about her challenging role as Park Jun Hee, a heavily pregnant character in Squid Game Season 3, and the intense reactions it stirred among viewers. Her performance, especially the childbirth scene, sparked a wave of discussion online, with opinions split between praise and criticism. In an interview held at a café in Seoul on July 8, she addressed the mixed feedback head-on and shared the behind-the-scenes thought process that went into portraying such a complex role.
She acknowledged that some viewers felt the childbirth scene—set during a high-stakes Hide-and-Seek game—was unrealistic because of how quickly it unfolded. Jo Yuri said she fully understood those concerns and explained that the scene was a delicate balance between creating drama and staying grounded in reality. She worked closely with director Hwang Dong Hyuk to figure out which moments needed to feel raw and believable, and which could be heightened to fit the suspenseful tone of the show.
Taking on the part of a pregnant woman in extreme circumstances was no easy task, and Jo Yuri was very aware of how easily it could go wrong. Since she has no personal experience with pregnancy or childbirth, she was especially worried that her performance might come across as awkward or inauthentic. To prepare, she turned to people around her who did have that experience. She sought guidance from her mother, a friend who had recently given birth, senior actress Kang Ae Shim, and even consulted an obstetrician to better understand what a woman goes through during labor.
One piece of advice really stuck with her. Someone told her not to overthink the birth scene because, in reality, labor is so overwhelming that people often don’t remember anything clearly—it’s a blur. That advice helped her shift away from over-acting and instead go with a more instinctive, in-the-moment performance. She aimed to portray someone who wasn’t mentally or emotionally prepared for childbirth, especially under such dangerous and bizarre conditions. This sense of emotional confusion and physical exhaustion was something she tried to show, particularly in how her character interacted with the newborn after the delivery.
Jo Yuri’s honest reflection on the process reveals the care and effort she put into the role, despite the controversy. While not all viewers were convinced by the scene’s realism, her commitment to handling it with sensitivity and thoughtfulness shows just how seriously she took the challenge.
