'Heavenly Ever After,' reuniting award-winning 'The Light In Your Eyes' creators and actors, explores human connections and love
What if you reunite with your husband in the afterlife -- only to realize you’re in your 80s, and he in his 30s?
JTBC’s upcoming 12-part drama "Heavenly Ever After" will explore this emotionally rich premise.
The narrative centers on Hae-sook (Kim Hye-ja), who ascends to heaven retaining her age of 80. There, she encounters her late husband, Nak-joon (Son Suk-ku), who appears in the prime of his life -- his 30s. What unfolds is a thought-provoking romance that questions and transcends earthly obstacles of love.
Director Kim Seok-yoon and the writers of the acclaimed drama "The Light in Your Eyes" -- which took home the Grand Prize at the 55th Baeksang Arts Awards and was lauded for its poignant portrayal of love and memory -- reunited to create "Heavenly Ever After."
"'Heavenly Ever After' is a work that was planned and created from the very beginning with Kim Hye-ja in the (main) role," director Kim said during an online press conference held Friday.
"This is a type of a custom-made project. The other actors also agreed to join from the planning stage, even before there was a script. So, it was more like we designed the characters knowing who would play them. The series wasn’t off-the-rack, it was more like a tailormade suit. I believe the characters came out very vivid and full of life."
Kim Hye-ja, a living legend with credits spanning "Country Diaries," "Mother" and "Our Blues," shared her personal connection to the project. “There’s a lot in the story about fate and meaningful connections. I was drawn to it because the beautiful, unbroken bond between Nak-jun and the main character felt almost too beautiful to exist in real life,” she said.
“It portrayed ... the beauty between human beings. After seeing the finished work, I felt that this might possibly be the last project of my career. It feels like it has come to a satisfying conclusion,” she added.
The casting of Son Suk-ku as Nak-joon was no accident. “While watching the drama 'My Liberation Notes,' I kept thinking, ‘He’s such a great actor,’” Kim recalled.
“When director Kim brought up the husband character, I told him, ‘I hope that person (Son) can play the husband.’ And once we started working together, he turned out just as I’d expected. Though he’s younger, he led the scenes really well. He stayed by my side like a real husband, and I’m deeply grateful for that.”
For Son, stepping into the role of Nak-joon was stepping into the shoes of a devoted romantic. “I think the word ‘romantic’ or ‘devoted lover’ fits Nak-joon perfectly. He’s someone who only has eyes for Hae-sook.”
In the afterlife, Nak-joon is assigned a meaningful task: serving as a messenger in heaven. “The version of heaven depicted in the series isn’t so different from the real world we live in, that’s what made it even better. In the story, Nak-jun works at the Heaven Community Center and serves as a mail carrier and messenger who delivers the stories of people from the living world to those who have arrived in heaven.”
“Nak-joon only has eyes for Hae-sook and is truly kind,” he said. “Since everything he says and does is for Hae-sook, it actually made portraying him feel very straightforward."
"Heavenly Ever After" premieres on JTBC at 10:40 p.m. Saturday.
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