Ju Ji‑hoon and Ha Ji‑won set the stage for a fierce clash of desire.
On the afternoon of the 10th, ENA held a production press conference for its Monday–Tuesday drama Climax (directed by Lee Ji‑won) at The Saint in D‑Cube City, Guro‑gu, Seoul. Actors Ju Ji‑hoon, Ha Ji‑won, Nana, Oh Jung‑se and director Lee Ji‑won attended the event.
Climax unfolds on a vast power board where politics, conglomerates and show business collide, weaving a taut drama of competing desires and interests. Lee Ji‑won—who has drawn praise for her subtle yet forceful direction—directs from a sturdy script she developed with newcomer Shin Ye‑seul.
Lee Ji‑won reflected on her return to viewers: \"After Miss Baek premiered in 2018, I shot a film called Bigwang that never got released. It feels poignant to come back with this project. To be honest, it made me feel physically sick at times. This isn't a nervous excitement—it's the feeling you get after pouring blood, sweat and tears into a work. I'm eager and a little anxious to see how audiences will respond.\"
Lee earned acclaim for Miss Baek, which sensitively explored individual choice and solidarity within social structures. With Climax, she broadens that focus to the vast systems of politics, business and entertainment.
She said she deliberately reunited many of her previous film collaborators: \"I wanted to work with the same crew I trusted from before. With a team that knows my rhythm, we aimed to deliver film-quality results. I spent a lot of time on the script so each episode could live up to the title Climax, crafting details as carefully as I would for a movie.\"
Lee added candidly, \"Writing was the toughest part. Once I locked onto the title Climax and started writing, the name weighed on me and I hit my limits. I experienced burnout for the first time. The series required writing roughly eight times the length of a film, and that was grueling.\" Still, she voiced confidence: \"Climax delivers powerful endings.\"
The series charts characters pursuing different goals whose choices and relationships destabilize the balance of power and lead to unpredictable turns. Ju Ji‑hoon, Ha Ji‑won, Nana, Oh Jung‑se and Cha Joo‑young join the cast to portray, with intensity and nuance, figures whose desires and convictions clash when power and love are at stake. Lee said she assembled actors capable of bringing those desires to life with visceral, instinctive performances.
Returning to television four years after Curtain Call, Ha Ji‑won said she was drawn to the project and the director: \"It's been a while. I worked with Director Lee on Bigwang; even though it wasn't released, I loved the experience and wanted to collaborate again. When she offered Climax, I was immediately compelled by the script and by a character I hadn't played before. Over the last six or seven years I've grown increasingly curious about people and relationships, and this story—about desire and power—felt universally resonant. I decided to come on board because I wanted to work with her.\"
Ju Ji‑hoon said the script's clarity appealed to him: \"The script felt very streamlined. The politics and situations were presented in a way that landed quickly and clearly. It exposes desires we all recognize but seldom voice, and it scratches that itch by bringing them out boldly. That drew me in.\"
Nana described the script as \"honest and bold.\" \"I read it with real pleasure and felt it tapped into a genre audiences might be craving,\" she said. \"I also sensed an opportunity to show sides of myself I haven't before. The director's belief in me made me want to sign on.\"
Oh Jung‑se echoed that sentiment: \"The director said writing was the hardest part, and I can see why. The script presents many characters and events in an accessible way, and it was simply compelling—hard to put down.\"
Expect intense portrayals of ambition and desire at the top echelons of power. Ju Ji‑hoon plays Bang Tae‑seop, who charges toward the pinnacle of authority, while Ha Ji‑won portrays Chu Sang‑ah, a top actress forced to make decisive moves to hold her position. Their tense dynamic heightens anticipation for the series.
On their chemistry, Ju Ji‑hoon said, \"We clicked. We're adults now, and while there are moments of rom‑com or melodrama, this is more grounded. Playing scenes of disappointment, trust and the sense that someone won't betray you required precise emotional work. Ha Ji‑won was a huge help, and I'm grateful—we shot well.\"
Ha Ji‑won added, \"I've done rom‑com melodrama before, but not a romance this intense. Ju Ji‑hoon suited the role—he's cool and candid, and our acting rhythms matched. We accepted each other's choices so naturally that rehearsals and takes were efficient, and the emotional timing felt right.\"
Climax is set at the intersection of politics, conglomerates and the entertainment industry, and many of its storylines draw on real‑world episodes where those spheres intersect. Lee also mined more than two decades of industry experience to render the characters' deals, betrayals and ambitions with added realism and precision.
The cast pointed to relationships, distinctive characters and each figure's anxieties and desires as the show's key draws. Ha Ji‑won explained, \"Chu Sang‑ah appears as a glamorous star, but beneath that sheen she hides anxiety, desire and inner turmoil. Many characters in Climax share that inward unrest. Their choices, the relationships they form and the reversals that follow will be compelling.\"
Ju Ji‑hoon teased, \"I can't say the finale resolves every thread across all ten episodes, but when viewers watch, hidden impulses surface. We often laugh to cover discomfort; the series strips that away and exposes those dualities. You'll see endings that lay those contradictions bare.\"
Lee Ji‑won said she shifted from film to series partly to escape the pressure of a single box‑office score, only to find weekly ratings now a new pressure. Still, she expressed confidence in her cast: \"I expect this will rank among ENA's highest ratings. If Extraordinary Attorney Woo set the benchmark, what's stopping us from reaching it?\"
[Sindorim (Seoul)=Son Jin‑ah, MK Sports Reporter]
