tvN ready to excite fans with mountains of ‘Jirisan’

In celebration of its 15th anniversary, cable channel tvN is scheduled to kick off the new Saturday-Sunday drama series “Jirisan” on Oct. 23, the company announced in a press release Wednesday.

The mystery thriller centers around visitors and forest rangers working in Jirisan National Park, the largest national park in Korea.

Top actor Jun Ji-hyun, or Gianna Jun, plays ranger Seo Yi-gang. Her last TV project was SBS’ “Legend of the Blue Sea” in 2016. Actor Ju Ji-hoon, who rose to global stardom as a Joseon prince in the hit zombie series “Kingdom,” co-stars as rookie ranger Kang Hyun-jo, who experiences mysterious incidents during his training in the mountains.

The project is considered tvN’s most anticipated drama of the year. It is directed by Lee Eung-bok and the screenplay is by Kim Eun-hee -- the hit-maker couple behind numerous megahit TV series.

Director Lee is widely recognized as a star drama director, having produced “Descendants of the Sun,” “Guardian: The Lonely and Great God,” “Mr. Sunshine” and his latest work in Netflix “Sweet Home.” Kim is the screenwriter behind the “Kingdom” series.

“Jirisan” kicks off tvN‘s anniversary celebration with more dramas to follow -- “Melancholia” and “Inspector Joy” -- in early November.

“Jirisan” will premiere after tvN’s current Saturday-Sunday hit drama, “Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha,” comes to an end in mid-October.

The first episode of the 16-part series will air at 9:00 p.m. on Oct. 23.

By Lee Si-jin (sj_lee@heraldcorp.com)