Love in the Moonlight

Main

• Park Bo-gum as Lee Yeong^[1][2]
  • Jung Yoon-seok as young Yeong

He is the only son of the King and heir to the throne. Smart, bright, and mischievous, he is disliked by his servants for being unpredictable. He has an affinity for arts and music. He initially dislikes his father, blaming him for his mother's death. He is close to consort Park and dislikes Kim Heon and Queen Kim. He falls for Ra-on.

• Kim You-jung as Hong Ra-on/Hong Sam-nom^[3][4]
  • Kim Ji-young as young Ra-on

Popular and street-smart, she was raised as a boy by her mother and makes a living by disguising herself as a male relationship counselor and romance novel author under the name Sam-nom. She eventually becomes a eunuch of Yeong. Looking for her mother, she hides immense pain behind her cheerful attitude. She falls in love with Lee Yeong.

• Jung Jin-young as Kim Yoon-sung
  • Lee Hyo-je as young Yoon-sung

Charismatic and poised, he is a scholar born to a powerful family. He grew up alongside Yeong and used to be best friends with him. He has known Ra-on's secret since their first meeting, but pretends to not know it.

• Chae Soo-bin as Jo Ha-yeon

A lady ahead of her generation, she is proud, worldly and straightforward. As the daughter of the influential Minister of Rites, she is chosen as the crown princess of Yeong.

• Kwak Dong-yeon as Kim Byung-yeon [ko]
  • Noh Kang-min as young Byung-yeon

A skilled swordsman and scholar, he is also the Head of the Royal Guard of the Crown Prince's palace. Not only is he Yeong's childhood friend, he is also his trusted confidant. However, he hides a secret that he cannot tell Lee-yeong, for fear of losing his trust.

Supporting

Royals

Eunuchs and maids

Kim clan

Hong clan

Jo clan and advisors

Special appearances

Development and casting

In December 2015, KBS Media announced that they will be adapting and producing the popular novel Moonlight Drawn by Clouds (Korean: 구르미 그린 달빛, Gureumi geurin dalbit) written by Yoon Yi-soo.^[5][6][7][8] Park Bo-gum joined the project in February 2016 and Kim You-jung boarded in April. The first script reading was held in Yeoido, Seoul on May 26, 2016, and filming began in early June.^[9] Love in the Moonlight is the second collaboration between director Kim Seong-yoon and writers Kim Min-jung and Im Ye-jin after working on Who Are You: School 2015 and director Baek Sang-hoon, cinematographer Kim Si-hyeong and music director Gaemi after working on Descendants of the Sun (2016).^[10]

Marketing

The drama's first teaser, with lead actor Park dressed in dragon robe dancing to Jessy Matador's French pop song "Bomba" in front of Gwanghwamun, was released in July 2016 and became a viral hit.^[11][12]

In a press conference held on August 18, 2016, director Kim Seong-yoon indicated that despite the series being set in the 19th century, the production aimed to show a more contemporary message adding: "Our focus was on creating a romance that's pretty and charming but also sad. We'd like viewers to be able to identify with the emotions displayed. There's no grand metaphor. Rather than unveiling a political message, we focused on telling a story that's easy to identify with."^[13][14]

Original soundtrack

In August 2016, OU Entertainment's Gaemi, real name Kang Dong-yoon, joined the project as music director.^[19] Jinyoung, who plays Yoon-sung, composed and produced "Misty Road" sung by Ben.^[20] "My Person", which lead actor Park finished recording in October 2016 was co-written by composer Kim Se-jin.^[21] It topped Melon, Mnet, Bugs, olleh, Soribada, Genie, Naver and Monkey3 charts upon its release.^[22][23]

The two-disc soundtrack album was released on October 27, 2016, and consists of 13 tracks including a humming version of "Because I Miss You", 13 instrumentals and three special background music created by folk-fusion band Second Moon.^[24][25] The drama marked the comeback of acclaimed balladeers Sung Si-kyung and Baek Ji-young after two years.^[26][27][28]

Press

Critical response

The series was met with praise by critics and audiences for its production, performances and music.^{[44][45][46][47]} Rolling Stone India described the series as "a timeless classic K-drama that looks into the intersection of culture and society" and a love story that "is an odyssey of significance cutting beyond class, stigma, and prejudices", concluding that it is "one of the best historical K-dramas."^[48] The publication added that Kim You-jung has "exquisite expressiveness" while "Park Bo-gum is remarkably adept at expressing the subtleties" of his character's emotions.^[48]

Impact

Love in the Moonlight dominated topicality, content and brand reputation charts in and beyond its run which led the media to call its popularity "Moonlight Syndrome".^[49][50] The big data analytics firm Good Data Corporation reported that Park ranked first in overall topicality making him the "Most Buzzworthy Performer" (TV; Drama and Entertainment) for nine consecutive weeks.^[51] Media outlets subsequently referred to Park as "Nation's Crown Prince" and "Prince of Asia".^[52][53][54]

Sales of the novel experienced a 56% increase upon the drama's airing,^[55] earning in ₩500 million ($418,000) in profits through a pay-per-read deal.^[56] The overseas demand consequently led to its translation in Mandarin and plans on Japanese and Thai translations, among others.^[45]

Kim You-jung (L) and Park Bo-gum, in costume, at a fan-signing event at Gyeongbokgung Palace in October 2016

Costume designer Lee Jin-hee was also commended for her work on the production's Joseon-era clothes. Lead actor Park's hanbok were put on exhibit at Tokyo International Forum during his Japan fan meeting the following year.^[57][58] Both KakaoTalk and LINE released Moonlight digital stickers and three of Raon's outfits were made available for purchase in mobile game "I Love Nicky".^[59][60] The eternal bracelets of Yeong and Raon went on sale as official merchandise and the drama's 336-page official photo essay book became a best-seller.^[61][62]

Moonlight has also been parodied in shows like Saturday Night Live Korea and The Return of Superman, among others.^[63][64] In September 2016, KBS Media acquired the rights to adapt Moonlight into a musical production.^[65]

On October 19, 2016, Park, Kim, Jinyoung and Kwak held a fan-signing event, wearing their drama costumes, at the historic Gyeongbokgung Palace where scenes of the drama were filmed.^[66][67] More than 5,000 fans gathered to see the cast and the event was also live-streamed on Facebook.^[68] A gesture of gratitude for the drama's success, it was a collaborative effort between KBS and the Korea Creative Content Agency.^[69]

Viewership

Love in the Moonlight doubled its premiere ratings on its third episode and remained the undisputed #1 against 3 public broadcasting dramas in the same timeslot.^[70][71] In addition, it became KBS's highest-rated Monday/Tuesday drama since 2010.^[44][72]

Due to high audience ratings, KBS negotiated for the production to extend its original 18 episodes to 20. Chief producer Kang Byung-taek declined saying that the framework of the story had already been laid out and it would only yield complications with the cast and crew's respective schedules.^[73]

In this table, the blue numbers represent the lowest ratings and the red numbers represent the highest ratings.

• A 57-minute special broadcast was aired on August 29, prior to episode three, and contained condensed versions of episodes one and two.^[76]
• A 150-minute Chuseok holiday broadcast was aired on September 16 and consisted of condensed versions of episodes 1 to 8 and behind-the-scenes clips.^[77]
• An 85-minute special episode aired after the finale on October 18. It was hosted by comedians Kim Jun-hyun and Jung Yi-rang [ko] with narration by the casts. It included behind-the-scenes clips, unreleased footage and interviews.^[78]
• A 70-minute, spoiler-filled making-of entitled 150 Days of Traveling in the Moonlight was aired exclusively on KBS World in November 11, 2016.^[79]