Prepare some dakgangjeong (Korean glazed fried chicken) this weekend and get ready to laugh your socks off at the upcoming Netflix original series “Chicken Nugget,” whose cast and crew met with the press on Wednesday in Gwangjin District, eastern Seoul.

“Chicken Nugget” is an offbeat mystery-comedy about a girl named Choi Min-ah who walks into a strange contraption while visiting her father's machine shop that, by a fluke, turns her into a piece of dakgangjeong (Kim You-jung). The plot unfolds as her father, Choi Seon-man (Ryu Seung-ryong), and admirer, Go Baek-joong (Ahn Jae-hong), go to preposterous lengths to turn her back into a human.

“Just like the experience of eating dakgangjeong, this show is quite addicting. And once you start watching it, you won't be able to stop,” said Ahn. He recommended watching the show with a bucket of dakgangjeong for a full experience.

The series is based on a webtoon of the same title that ran from 2019 to 2020. Its eccentric storyline was hard to take seriously at first — but it had its charms, director Lee Byeong-heon said.

“I chuckled as I read the webtoon and soon found myself wondering what would happen next in the story. And after I finished reading it, it didn’t leave my head,” he said. “It did require some courage to take it on, though.”

By the time Lee had finished writing the script, he already had actors Ryu and Ahn in mind to play its leads.

“When I first received the script from Lee Byeong-heon, I was taken by its tagline: two men trying to save a girl who has turned into a dakgangjeong,” said Ryu. “I was incredibly curious about what it would be about, and once I started reading, I couldn’t stop. I was confident that others would enjoy it too.”

Ryu has a sort of affinity for roles involving chicken. He saw commercial success playing an undercover detective at a fried chicken diner in the action-comedy film “Extreme Job” (2019) and, more recently, also played a retired superhero who opened a fried chicken joint in the hit Disney+ series “Moving” last year.

And as a nod to his continuing ties with chickens, he showed up to Wednesday’s news conference with a toy chicken perched on his suit.

“In this series, I truly began to think and feel that the piece of dakgangjeong was my daughter,” he said, and half-jokingly added, “I was as serious as Liam Neeson in ‘Taken.’”

Ahn, upon being offered the role, read the webtoon and “knew” that he had to accept it when he recognized his own physical similarities to Go Baek-joong.

“All I had to do was just part my hair differently,” he said, laughing.

Kim as Min-ah was cast by chance, but director Lee said that he can’t imagine anyone else playing the role now.

“How could anyone think to turn beautiful You-jung into a dakgangjeong?” Lee exclaimed. “I'm so blessed to have her on the show. She has been a great addition and appears in several scenes, even after she is turned into a dakgangjeong.”

Kim said that she thoroughly enjoyed the script.

“I remember laughing out loud as I was reviewing it and afterward told my people that I really wanted to do this. I am also a big fan of ‘Be Melodramatic,’ which was also directed by Lee Byeong-heon, so I thought this was a great opportunity to work with him.”

She also teased that while she doesn't have much screen time, she has some interesting scenes involving wires and dakgangjeong masks.

“It didn't really concern me that I had to turn into a dakgangjeong,” Kim added. “I just genuinely enjoyed the script, and it made me discover that I like these kinds of stories.”

“Chicken Nugget” will be released Friday on Netflix.


BY LEE JIAN [lee.jian@joongang.co.kr]