Netflix’s upcoming series “When Life Gives You Tangerines,” starring IU and Park Bo-gum, is more than just a simple love story. It is a heartfelt tale of life and love resonating across generations, from today’s youth to adults and the elderly, according to director Kim Won-suk.

“From the very beginning, I envisioned this drama as a tribute to our grandparents' and parents' generations, as well as a message of encouragement for our children's generation,” Kim said during the series’ press conference held at Conrad Seoul in Yeouido, western Seoul, on Wednesday.


The original Korean title differs from the one in English, standing as “ Pokssak Sogatsuda.” It means “Thank you for your hard work” in the Jeju dialect, which captures the director’s intention.

“There is this invisible wall between generations and between genders that seems to be growing higher, and I created this work with the hope that, even in some small way, those walls could be broken down.”

The new series follows the life journeys of Ae-sun and Gwan-sik, portrayed through four seasons — spring, summer, autumn and winter — spanning from 1960 on Jeju to 2025 in Seoul.

Directed by Kim, who was behind numerous hit TV series, such as “My Mister” (2018) and “Signal” (2016), the show has captured the public eye with its star-studded lineup, including IU and Park Bo-gum alongside actors Moon So-ri and Park Hae-joon.

Singer and actor IU portrays the young Ae-sun, while Moon plays the middle-aged version of the same character. And the same goes for the character Gwan-sik — Park Bo-gum takes on the role of the younger version, while Park Hae-joon plays him in his middle age.

It was penned by Lim Sang-choon, who wrote the KBS hit romance series “When the Camellia Blooms” (2019).

The 16-episode series will premiere on March 7 with its first four episodes. Every Friday, four episodes will be released over the course of four weeks — an unusual approach for Netflix, which typically drops an entire season all at once.

The change to four-episode drops each week was so that the viewers could fully take in the emotions and storytelling of the drama as it moves through each of the four seasons, according to the director.

“These days, viewers tend to fast-forward [what they are watching],” director Kim said. “For this drama, however, the viewers cannot truly feel the essence of it when doing so. Also, our series is more fun as the story progresses if viewers pay close attention from the beginning.”

The way the script progresses through the seasons and follows the characters' journeys from youth to middle age deeply resonated with the actors. IU, in particular, was so moved that she accepted the role in less than a day after reading the entire script. And for Moon, it led her to shed tears.

“I cried every time I flipped through the script. It made me think a lot about my parents,” Moon said. “I think this is the first time I've cried this much just by reading a script since my debut.”

One of the challenges for the actors was naturally bridging the younger and older versions of their characters, as each role is portrayed by two different performers.

An approach Moon chose was to add a beauty spot to her character’s face, a detail that IU actually has on her own face.

“It's small and not very noticeable, and as we age, spots and blemishes tend to appear, so the spot wouldn’t particularly stand out,” Moon said. “But to me, it felt like a signal [of becoming Ae-sun].”

IU and Park Bo-gum, both born in 1993, debuted at a young age. The two actors have been working since their teenage years. However, they've never had the chance to collaborate fully until now, despite a brief encounter in the drama “The Producers” (2015), where Park made a special guest appearance. For both of them, working together was a "precious" and "comfortable" experience.

“It felt quite emotional,” Park said. “As time passes and we grow older, the fact that we’re now acting together officially is, in a way, precious. It's not easy to meet a friend of the same age.”

Set on Jeju, known for its beautiful scenery, rough volcanic rocks, strong wind and haenyeo (female sea divers), the island's distinctive elements made it the perfect choice for the series out of all the other islands in Korea.

“The island was an important setting for our series,” director Kim said. “The idea that Ae-sun wants to leave the island but can’t easily do so, and the feeling of being trapped with little hope, made the island setting essential.”

“I believe [Lim thought] the unique beauty of Jeju could highlight that painful emotion even more strongly.”

The series is "funny yet heartwarming in some ways, but also teary in others,” with the cast and director strongly recommending its future audience to take its time when watching the drama.

“One thing I want to say is, please make sure to watch the show slowly, all the way through to its ending scroll,” director Kim said. “There's always a gift after the credits roll. So, I hope viewers watch the show carefully from its opening titles to its final credits.”

“As said in our work’s English title, no matter how much life throws bitter tangerines at you, this drama will offer warm tangerine tea made from syrup of those tangerines,” IU said.


BY KIM JI-YE [kim.jiye@joongang.co.kr]