The promise of the production team of Channel A‘s weekend drama ‘The Witch’ to “be everyone’s ‘life‘s work’ is showing signs of becoming ‘reality’. With only two episodes left, ‘The Witch’ is maintaining perfect craftsmanship until the end and is receiving rave reviews as a ‘well-made drama’, while the lead actors Park Jin-young and Noh Jung-eui, the production team, and Channel A are each achieving meaningful results, drawing attention.

‘The Witch’, which ends on the 16th, depicts the process in which data expert Dong-jin (Park Jin-young) struggles to lift the ‘curse’ of his first love, Mi-jeong (Noh Jung-eui). When men who like Mijung die one after another, Dongjin analyzes big data to find a ‘variable’ that can change the curse. However, he too is not free from the curse and is constantly in danger.

Park Jinyoung, who throws his body into the fight against the curse in the drama, shows his desperate pure love for Noh Jung-eui, and Noh Jung-eui expresses the piercing loneliness she feels as she isolates herself from the world with just her facial expressions and gestures, leading the entire 10-episode series. Despite being a romance drama, the unique content where the two male and female leads do not meet throughout the broadcast was organically connected from their respective perspectives, receiving rave reviews from viewers.

In particular, the scene in episode 8 where they finally have a conversation exploded the romance that had been built up layer by layer, drawing an explosive response from viewers. Having solidified their positions as leading actors in the home theater with ‘The Witch’, Park Jin-young and Noh Jung-eui will soon be releasing their next works. Park Jin-young will present tvN’s ‘Unknown Seoul’, which contains a romance with Park Bo-young, in May, and Noh Jung-eui will present MBC‘s ‘Barney and Oppas’, based on a popular webtoon, in April.

Channel A has demonstrated its presence in the fiercely competitive weekend home theater with ‘The Witch’. ‘The Witch’ has proven the interest of viewers by beating out works starring top stars on Netflix Korea and topping the daily popularity charts, while also maintaining a spot in the top 10 throughout its airing period. The viewership ratings, which started with 2.4% (nationwide, Nielsen Korea), a new record for the first episode of a Channel A drama, have maintained the 3% range until recently.

In addition, the overseas distributor A+E Global Media™ successfully established an overseas infrastructure by introducing ‘The Witch’ to 16 countries through the global OTT Viu and to approximately 190 countries through Rakuten Viki. ‘The Witch’ showed strength in the Asian region, ranking 2nd in Indonesia and Thailand and 3rd in Malaysia in terms of views, and on Rakuten Viki, it maintained a weekly ‘Top 5’ in all regions, including the Americas, Europe, Oceania, the Middle East, and India.

An official from A&E Global Media, which was in charge of the global exclusive distribution of ‘The Witch’, explained on the 13th, “‘The Witch’ is a drama that reinterprets the historical witch hunt in a modern way and contains meaningful experiments in the era of media convergence”, adding, “We see this success as the result of providing a differentiated content experience in the midst of the trend dominated by ‘shorts’ and drama summaries, relieving global viewers’ thirst for in-depth dramas.”

Reporter Yoo Ji-hye yjh0304@donga.com

This article is automatically translated using Google AI. If you notice any inaccuracies, please let us know at allkstar@donga.com.