Netflix prepares premiere of The Scandal series in South Korea
In South Korea, Netflix plans to release the eight-episode series The Scandal on September 18. It stars Son Ye-jin, Ji Chang-wook and Lim Jin-a, better known as Nana.
As The Korea Herald reports, the series is a new adaptation of Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’ novel Dangerous Liaisons. In 2003, the work was already adapted in South Korea as the film Untold Scandal, with its plot moved to the Joseon era.
A new adaptation of the novel
The Scandal was directed by Jeong Ji-woo. He emphasized that the team drew not from the 2003 film, but from the original French novel. According to him, the characters and their relationships were completely reimagined, so the series will have significant differences from the previous adaptation.
The plot centers on the aristocrat Lady Cho, played by Son Ye-jin. Her character offers a wager to the womanizer Cho Won, played by Ji Chang-wook: he must seduce Hee-young, a widow who has devoted herself to chastity. Hee-young is played by Nana.
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Jeong Ji-woo noted that the series format provides more opportunities to explore the relationships between the characters. In particular, he called the relationship storyline between Lady Cho and Hee-young new to this story. Son Ye-jin said she was interested in the theme of human desire against the backdrop of the Joseon era, when such aspirations were strictly limited.
Pansori and hanbok
According to the director, pansori, a traditional Korean form of musical storytelling, will be an important component of the sound design. As he envisioned it, the structure of the series will begin and end with pansori.
To create the costumes, the team collaborated with hanbok designer Chai Kim. Color palettes for the characters were developed with inspiration from minhwa, Korean folk paintings. The director expressed hope that the series would help introduce hanbok to a global audience.
