Tving series ‘Pyramid Game’ delves into dark hierarchy of school life
Tving’s upcoming original series “Pyramid Game” tells a tale of the psychological turmoil of students stuck in systemic school bullying, according to its director Park So-yeon.
“It is a story about victims, perpetrators and bystanders becoming entangled and entwined. It follows students battling and growing as a new student transfers into the class,” the director said, introducing the series during a press conference at CGV in Yongsan District, Seoul, Monday.
Based on the popular webtoon of the same name, the new thriller series, set to release on Feb. 29, revolves around a newly transferred student, Sung Su-ji (Kim Ji-yeon). She has moved around frequently because of her father, who is a single dad working in the military, leading her to develop survival skills to fit in with her new classmates.
At her new school, she realizes school life will not be as easy as she expected when she learns of a brutal ranking game that determines the hierarchy of her entire class. Every month, the class takes a vote to decide who is the most popular student. Depending on the number of votes, the students are labeled into five grades, allowing students with higher grades to lord over those with the lowest grade, F, for the month.
The director, who previously led the 2023 rom-com series “The Heavenly Idol,” shared that she was strongly drawn to the original webtoon’s compelling story that followed the psychological changes of the students through the unusual game.
“Reading the script that captured the same power that the original work had, I felt the strength of the story. There are 25 students and each of them shows different characteristics and developments, which was really enthralling,” she said.
“I wanted to portray diverse characters. I focused on the psychological changes of the students as the transferred student, Su-ji, stirs up a rebellion.”
Actors Shin Seul-ki from Netflix’s hit reality show “Single’s Inferno” and Jang Da-ah, who garnered the spotlight with her K-pop star sister Jang Won-young, are making their acting debut in the series, playing the roles of students.
Kim, also known as Bona from WJSN, and Shin shared efforts to match the image of their characters from the original work. Jang couldn’t attend the event due to a COVID-19 infection.
“I tried to look similar (to the character) with styling and as acting, I tried to focus on the character from the original work and the one that I created,” Kim said.
“At first, Su-ji seems cold and sly but as she meets friends, her heart changes, gradually becoming more righteous. I think Su-ji in the earlier part of the story is the side that most people also have, so I tried to maintain the balance.”
Shin added she worked closely with the director to create the class president character.
“I paid a lot of attention to synchronizing with the character and communicating with the director. I wanted to keep the look from the original work so I cut my hair … And did the bare minimum with makeup to make it more realistic,” she said.