Director Lee Sang Yeob has shared why TVING’s “Yumi’s Cells 3” was made as an 8 episode series.
In a recent interview after the drama’s finale, the director explained that the shorter episode count was a natural choice because the story of Yumi and Soon Rok did not need too much added conflict.
He said, “I thought that number of episodes would be just compact enough”. He explained that a longer drama usually needs more conflict and reconciliation, but Yumi’s relationship with Soon Rok had less of that in the original story.
Since Yumi had already grown through her past relationships, her romance with Soon Rok was more stable, sweet, and gentle.
The director added that while each moment between the two characters was “fun and cute”, the story volume naturally became smaller when adapted into a drama.
Lee Sang Yeob also talked about casting Kim Jae Won as Soon Rok, Yumi’s final partner. He said Kim Jae Won matched the image of the original webtoon character, explaining, “He is tall, and his eyes are dark. He gave off a strong feeling of Soon Rok from the original webtoon”.
He also said the age difference between Kim Go Eun and Kim Jae Won was not a major concern because the story itself was about an older woman and younger man couple.
“Yumi’s Cells 3” returned after 4 years and showed strong results. The series ranked No. 1 in weekly paid subscriber contribution on TVING for 3 straight weeks.
Its 7th episode on tvN also ranked No. 1 in its time slot among cable and general programming channels, based on Nielsen Korea’s paid platform ratings.
Source: [1]
