Why the 'Kingdom: Ashin of the North' special episode was made

Writer Kim Eun-Hee explained why they decided to create a special episode of "Kingdom: Ashin of the North" instead of including her story in the third season of "Kingdom."

In a virtual press conference where GMA News Online was one of the participants, Kim Eun-Hee explained, "when you look at the story behind Ashin, it is a very long and complex story because it is such an overarching story with a long timeline."

"When you actually look at the chronological aspect of it, I felt that rather than to incorporate her story into the third season, it would be more audience-friendly and also something that would be conducive to higher quality content if we were to provide it in a special episode," she added.

Eun-Hee also said that at the early stages of working on the second season of Kingdom, she was already looking into what type of story to bring to life in the latter part of the season.

She explained how she came up with the character Ashin rooting from the cold properties of the resurrection plant.

"You know as I said before the resurrection plant has cold properties so I naturally looked into the northern areas of Joseon and that’s where I came across the people who are called the Seongjeoyains which are the marginalized people and through that aspect this character Ashin was crystalized," she said.

Based on the writer’s research, the resurrection plant could have grown in that vast land with prohibited access and the story could revolve within the four outposts that were abandoned in 1459 by the Seongjeoyains who lived there.

The four abolished outposts and six garrison forts were established between the Amnok and the Duman rivers for military administration purposes during the reign of King Sejong.

The writer’s imagination was brought to life in the story, which took place at the northern border prior to the events that happened in the first season of “Kingdom.”

Among the stars who will be on the show include Jun Ji-hyun (Ashin), Park Byung-eun (Min Chi-rok), Kim Si-a (Young Ashin), Kim Roi-ha (Tahab), and Koo Kyo-hwan (Aidagan).

"Kingdom: Ashin of the North" is written by Kim Eun-hee and directed by Kim Seong-hun. — LA, GMA News