KBS Drama Head Discusses Desire and Possibility for Season 2 of Descendants of the Sun in 2017
Of all the excessive milking of the cash cow that is Descendants of the Sun, no extension but adding pointless special episodes, it was inevitable that talk would emerge of a second season and/or a sequel. Both writers have previously expressed their finality with this drama, Kim Eun Sook said it was too difficult to plan a part 2 and Kim Won Suk said he’s told all he wanted with this story, so the discussion of a possible second season is coming solely from the Head of Drama Programming at KBS.
In discussing with the media about 2017 dramas in the works for KBS, the department head expressed a desire for more DotS as a way to thank the fans who loved it so much. Of course it’s that, and not because it was such a moneymaker for the network. He explained that the project could move forward with or without the original production team and cast, but he’s proceeding with discussions with the original participants first to see if it’s doable. This seems so much like giving a great toy to a kid who proceeds to destroy it by playing with it outside the parameters of it’s intended use.
DotS is a bit of a lightning in a bottle, using all the classic ingredients of Hallyu drama hitmaking but also having it’s own momentum that can’t be cloned even by itself. So don’t be a wanker, Mr. Head of KBS Drama Programming! Don’t do this imbecilic second season of DotS otherwise Captain Yoo Shi Jin will shoot you.
Considering the story itself was a bit shallow I say no to a sequel season. It was a charming drama but the plot was not strong enough to need a second season. How about just do a different drama with the same writers but a different cast that is just as good looking and popular? Like a Hyun Bin and Moon Chae Won or a Ji Chang Wook and Kim Tae Her or Lee Byun Hun and Gong Hyo Jin or Jo In Sung and Han Ga In.
Actually I like the the sound of Jo In Sung and Moon Chae Won. That sounds like a great combo.
Idk if it’s possible to replicate the buzz and hype over DotS again in a short period. Although I like most of these actors/actresses you mentioned, I don’t think they can create the same level of obsession over Song-Song OTP. According to some news reports, a lot of audience that boost up DotS ratings are from 40+ age group including many new male fans. It’s just the characters created for DotS OTP and the love line between them were rare among K dramas and fresh to these ahjummas and ahjussis.
Who said no one can imitate Song Song couple buzz, Cheep shallow story and love line easy to replicate, just give enough media play and brainwashed the audiences, everything can be done.
Old timer Korean fans have seen better chemistry than Song Song couple in case you don’t know.
The success not purely due the OTP but also due to the bombastic budget, location shoots, cinematography and tons of media play. Without all those things, don’t think the OTP alone can make it this successful. It would be just like any other drama.
While I do think Song Song couple is the main (if not the only) reason for DotS to have such a huge hit, I wasn’t talking about their acting. What I tried to say earlier was that the storyline of romance between a soldier and a doctor is novice and refreshing to regular K drama viewers. You like the point or not, it’s based on many reports and sample interviews with K drama viewers around Asia. You can keep thinking all the buzz is manipulated by media but you can’t deny the ratings of DotS are record high since MLfAS and profits related to this drama are huge. Unless writers can come up with another non generic storyline, otherwise, it would be difficult for a K drama to relive the hype again even the cast are great.
typo: novice –> novel
Oh I didnt mean to sound like I was taking credit away from the song-song couple. I mean like a comment below said they are 90% of the show. I just dont see them dong another drama together anytime soon little along a sequel. Idk about SHK but I magine DOS was pretty tiring for SJK. He deserves a break and honestly I see them focusing on the Chinese market and enjoying their well deserved popularity or maybe enjoying CF money. It just seems highly unlikely they would go for another season. Especially since second seasons are never as popular as the first ones.
Also the writer seems to have ability to write dramas that elevate her lead couples like LMH and PSH so i think as long as the chemistry and visuals are good the drama will do well. maybe not as great as DOS but i think the drama can hit hallyu level.
I want season 2,the continuation of the drama descendants of the sun same character…the two couples had thier own great love story..its amazing and so touching…pls. make a season 2.
hahahaha…Ms. Koala, how much I love your phrasing and wording! Wanker and Imbecile. LOL…This news cracks me up. It’s so entertaining to read all the hype and obsession over DotS. But now it’s getting annoying. It reminds me of NBA Linsanity..I hope my bias Song Joong Ki won’t lose himself and still knows where he stands and where to go next step as he has always been for the past few years.
At least absolutely impossible for SJK to reprise Captain Yoo again. That’s not his style since he has always planned to try versatile roles and scripts for his acting career. Also he’s offered at least 10 huge CFs from China with told income around $53 Million into his pocket. And he also said that he would work hard so that his managers and staff have to make a living. I think he will most likely focus on endorsement and other commercial oriented activities that are more lucrative.
Bandwagon fans just have to get over DotS/SJK and move on. His next acting projects are very likely not up the alley of those who like to surf Hallyu wave according to his agenda.
If those two are really great writers, i do believe they somehow still can come out with interesting ideas for season 2, with all same casts and production team, maybe just a little change in the cameos, to make it more interesting. We do not need such dramatic over the head kind of changes, we do not need any heavy dramas with so many actions, we just need a happy romantic comedy drama between big boss and beauty, to make our already stressfull real life a bit better after watching it. Please.
Even if they are great writers the story will always be repetitive. Captain Shin always leaving doctor Kang for a mission and putting his life at risk, She always worrying about him. That is basically what the rest of their lives are going to be. It was interesting for the first season but after second season everyone will get tired of it.
That’s why the writer said he just wanted SJ to go live happily without any more emergencies. By the end of DoTS people just wanted him to be happy and not being shot at constantly.
Yes, danger is part of his life but he’s also moving up the ranks and will probably not be on Alpha team doing dangerous missions forever. He’s served his country with honor, and it just can’t always be him saving everyone.
Actually i forgot he got promoted to major. But if he is still part of the Alpha team then my original statement remains.
I think it would be better continued as the movie than tv drama. if the movie succeed, I don’t mind to watch season 2.
military and romance story is always has something interesting.
Wishful thinking. Won’t happen. There’s no story left to tell. It was always a love story between Dr. Kang and Captain Yoo and they love each other, she accepted him and they promised to be together forever in this life an the next…so really there is nothing to tell. Plus one of the writer’s already said no second season and wants SJ to go live happily.
And SHK and SJK wouldn’t sign on for another season anyway. And you can’t make DoTS without them.
While I second you, I don’t think other blog readers would concur with you regarding the OTP. Just by reading some comments, some people don’t even give credits to Song-Song OTP and consider any other pairs would make another round of buzz again.
Yeah, people are ridiculous if they don’t think Song Song was a good 90% of the reason people watched. Just freaking look at the DoTS specials and the media just completely going insane with love over Song Song too lol, even asking them to date for her… Everyone knows what sells and what people wanted to see.
Other big names might make a popular drama, but it wouldn’t be DoTS.
*date for real.
It’s not only in the specials, also in the comments of all the DotS blogs and forums I visited. I’ve been a hardcore fan of SJK for a while since his drama Deep Rooted Tree. I’ve never seen such obsession and over hype about him even he’s acting in several dramas before were critically acclaimed. Everyone loves Captain Yoo and Dr. MY and of course their love story.
@drama2016
Yep. Fan forums are insane with love for them. Plus their Chinese shipper fans (and SJK and SHK fans) are no freaking joke. I meant the specials because they could edit things better there and they still did 95% song song. If something else where getting people’s attention they would have added it. Same thing with all the promo, press and most of the praise and attention goes to them. That people ignore that… well, they ignore reality.
The DotS specials, specifically the 3rd ep, shed new light on the reasons behind the huge success of the drama. I’ve always been rooting for my bias for whatever he does with his projects since I have confidence in him as a smart person to choose his projects wisely. So there’s no surprise for me to see him nail the role of Captain Yoo. But the specials, particularly BTS and the interviews with DotS filming crew and other actors gave a lot of credits to the female lead SHK as Dr. MY. This is my first drama of SHK that I’ve ever watched from the beginning to the end. I knew she’s already been famous for a long while with her dramas such as All In, Autumn Tale, Full House, and The Winter that Wind Blows. But I never thought she could be that believable as Dr. MY. I particularly love how she conveyed her sad emotions very effectively without being all over the top and how she supported her co-stars including SJK on set. I like to pay my respect to this actress whom I just got to know a bit more through this drama given that I read so many negative comments mocking or degrading her unfairly.
I hope you’re not among the viewers who have been so critical of the female lead to the extent that I just feel that they already had a lot of prejudice against this actress beforehand before they even got to watch DotS. In case you happen to not like her a lot, please take my comment as my personal opinions that are not speaking for others. And don’t diss me up for my opinions that’s different from you since I’ve got enough crap insult from some immature commenters b/c I have different opinions and don’t like their bias. Thank you.
@drama2016
lol wait are you talking to me? I love MY (more than SJ tbh) and was not dissing you, but agreeing with you? And yes, SHK gets a lot of hate for her role for some reason, especially here.
Oops! hahahaha. I read so many comments ranting about SHK and there’re a lot of fans of other K actresses constantly visiting this playground. Therefore I took precaution to get an immunization shot from being bashed. LOL.
They could explore other professions in a second season. Change the genre. Make it about different descendants of the sun.
I really hope they will give up this idea. For IRIS, it was really a bad idea. They did a movie with a really bad end, they tried a sequel with Athena that wasn’t so good and they did a IRIS 2 that I forgot…
They should just find a new good story, great casting, great PD, great OST 😛
Omo…there is IRIS 2! And the funny thing is.. I googled it and realized I already watched it!
What I like about DOTS is not just the unique love story between a doctor and a soldier. While some of you can comment that the storyline is somewhat shallow, what I really like about DOTS is that the show has a very very realistic and convincing and well-written relationship. Guy shows interest and asks girl out – all in episode 1! He doesn’t mope about and ask her out only in the last few episodes. Girl likes him enough to go on a date – nothing wishy washy about that as well. No playing hard to get and overthinking things. Things didn’t go so well and they part ways. Guy was respectful about her rejection and kept his distance. He wasn’t pushy, he didn’t stalk her and he took the ‘no’ as a ‘no’. They meet 8 months later in Uruk. Okay, here you get to complain about the ‘shallow’ storyline – how likely is it that 2 people can meet in such circumstances? But what is convincing is that he is still interested in her and her in him. He is in the army and he didn’t have time to meet girls in the 8 months in Uruk. She was busy as a doctor. This is not one of those implausible dramas where the leads share a moment and then chooses to remain single for 8 years as they wait for their other half (who may not even be alive). Plus he was like any other guy who went on dates (date with Shin Ji Young/SDY’s cousin) but then confesses that he wasn’t able to forget her/the main girl. They met and reconnected – but the girl doesn’t forget her rationality and gives up her life/goals to get together with the guy. She is a rational, professional lady who is also very cautious about getting in a relationship with a dangerous man. She rejects him. Not because of some insipid reason/noble idiocy, but because she had valid, strong reasons to do so. The guy accepts it. He took it well, kept his distance, was respectful towards her and yet at the same time, he was able to convey to her that he likes her. He gave her space when she asks for it, not forcing her. Then she confesses (accidentally). What I found amazing here was that the guy actually manage to help her get her dignity back without embarrassing her when he could have. He could easily have forced her to confess – all those ‘wrist-grabbing’ scenes in kdramas and the male lead giving the female lead an ultimatum – but he did not and allows her to run away and hide in her denial. In fact, he tries to look at it from her point of view, asking YMJ about how it felt to have a soldier as a boyfriend. He became hopeful then. Then the girl took the plunge and they got together. Drama doesn’t throw tiresome love triangles at us and doesn’t come up with ridiculous things to keep the couple apart. These two are professional adults who are supporting each other in their own jobs – her in fighting the disease and him in keeping the peace. They are doing well in their jobs as well!! Nothing about these two are unequal, and they matched well (unlike dramas which showed the female lead doing terribly at her job, needing people’s help, or when the female and male lead are from different social standing). Then she gets kidnapped and he saved her (again, implausible situations and many plotholes) but how these characters dealt with the situations were convincing. I believed in their emotional trajectory and it doesnt matter what the plot threw at them. So when she was considering to break up with him, I didn’t feel like throwing things at the screen telling her to not do it. Because her reasons were understandable however regretful. And when she finally accepts that she is in – yes!! And she doesn’t do it blindly also. She lays out her fears and conditions, communicating to the guy what he can do it assuage her fears. Communication between the couple in a kdrama! How refreshing is that! No misunderstandings and jealousy keeping them apart. A stable, mature relationship! I am sold!! Then we have her saving him when he was in danger and here, she helps him out in her professional capacity and you get to see that they are truly comrades. Love doesn’t have to be a liability – liking someone doesn’t make you weaker and make you need to protect them all the time. Of course when he disappears, the plot was questionable. But their relationship never was. When KMY was devastated by his ‘death’, I believed in her emotions and the rawness of that loss. And when he came back, she didn’t immediately jump into his arms. She was angry at him, she cried, she told him she can live alone, she resented him for breaking his promise and leaving her. But at the end of it, she had missed him. They did address the angst she felt and it was not brushed aside (in favour of the happy ending). She did talk about how she had lived without him in the aftermath. And it realistically portrayed how one mourns for another. She is sad, but life goes on, she still works and she got promoted. She did not mope about and let herself go. Yet there was sentimentality in that she went to volunteer at a refugee camp to remember YSJ. The storyline was fantastical – so many implausible things. But the relationship was convincing to me and at no point in time did I think that what had happened between them was a stretch. Perhaps a tiny gripe that KMY was too forgiving in ep 14. Hahaha. But if we established that YSJ wasn’t THAT injured then I guess she didn’t have much to worry about. But these were well-written characters. KMY was a refreshing straight-talking lead and she was blunt and doesn’t mince her word. Not Candy-like at all. And we have YSJ who recognizes that in her and he was also a very respectful lead. It was an amazing ride. You can say that it wasn’t well-written or shallow. But I don’t think so, not with these wonderfully drawn out characters.
That was amazing, you summarised exactly why I loved this drama so much. It was a refreshing love story, the plot could definitely have had more depth, but in the end what made it a success was really that, the couple’s relationship against a visually fresh and breathtaking backdrop. I highly doubt it’d have been as successful w/t the Song-Song couple, they did incredibly well in delivering the love story, they are also incredibly well-suited both visually and chemistry-wise. So to recreate that with a new couple, new characters…I can’t really see that happening…really, the only way a 2nd season could be successful is firstly getting the Song-Song couple on board, then continuing the story with love line continuing to be the central theme. But then they’d also need some interesting plot line, to give an actual reason for revisiting what was a happy ending.
I suddenly remember the mess that was Meteor Garden 2. Gosh, yea, perhaps it best for some things to left as they are….
It would be tough for the main leads to reprise the OTP again in the sequel. They both are extremely busy and supposedly already have activity schedules all filled up for next 1-2 years bcus of endorsements.
This is why I love this forum. Usually there are different opinions about one particular drama or cast or sceenplay. But for DotS, the comments are more polarized than other dramas. Either ppl like me like DotS a lot or just diss up, specifically writer KES and the female lead SHK. Thank you for elaborating what I have in mind but either too lazy or unable to spell out. I love the fact that how the fans of DotS seem to be more mature than average tween fans of regular K dramas, according to a survey. And I definitely see that from your detailed analysis since a teen fangirl most likely won’t have the insight on real life experiences.
So wonderfully said! A mature and stable relationship with open communication is so rare, and it’s why people are seriously so much in love with Song Song and the two main characters. DoTS always had implausible things in the background, but the core story was about the main couple’s journey to love and acceptance. That part of the story was always great and believable. And yes, I love that KMY was an equal partner in every respect to YSJ. When he used the word comrades, he hit in the nail on the head.
@Jen on – that was an amazing review. Even though I am young I totally understood that the main characters were strong and not wishy-washy. I wish more dramas had such well rounded characters. I liked how realistic parts of the story were allowing the audience to feel as the story progressed. The feeling I had after the last episode ended was one of awe and the wish for a relationship that is true and straight forward when I get old enough for such a relationship.
I hope they don’t ruin Dots by attempting a Dots 2.
doubt the s2 will be successful.it going to flop like iris.
This is either going to be IRIS2 or DaeJangGeum2. Either way it’s a terrible idea.
With exception for the High Kicking series, has there been a series with multi-season series that’s done well? (General inquiry not meant to be snarky)
Replies series!
So what’s up with K ent now? Is it a trend to have a sequel for each hit drama. Now it’s confirmed My Love from the Star will have season 2. WTH…
http://en.yibada.com/articles/117525/20160420/love-star-season-2-kim-soo-hyun-jun-ji-returning.htm