Park Bo-gum Swops Love for Punches

In the action-comedy Good Boy, the South Korean actor plays a former boxer who is recruited as a crime fighter

- Joanne Soh

South Korean actor Park Bo-gum has exchanged the heart-rending romance of When Life Gives You Tangerines (2025) for boxing gloves in the high-octane action-comedy Good Boy.

Available on Prime Video, the 16-episode show follows a group of former elite athletes who are recruited as crime fighters after their stellar sporting careers are unfairly cut short.

The popular K-drama heartthrob plays former national boxer Yoon Dong-ju, while Lee Sang-yi is fencer Kim Jong-hyeon and Kim So-hyun, shooting prodigy Ji Hanna. Heo Sung-tae of Squid Game (2021) fame portrays the group's leader and former wrestler Ko Man-sik, while Tae Won-seok plays gentle giant Shin Jae-hong, a former discus thrower.

Playing an action hero is a departure for Park, who has built a career playing charming romantic leads in hit series like Love In The Moonlight (2016), Encounter (2018) and Record Of Youth (2020).

Park's recent performance in When Life Gives You Tangerines, in which he portrayed devoted husband Yang Gwan-sik to actress-singer IU's Oh Ae-sun, saw him receive a best television actor nomination at the Baeksang Arts Awards in May.

The melodrama, which won best drama at the ceremony and is available on Netflix, was a global success and frequently on the platform's Global Top 10 Non-English Shows list.

Park, 31, was drawn to Good Boy because of the "interesting plot" and the opportunity to try his hand at a new genre.