Dear Hongrang Review: Lee Jae-wook and Jo Bo-ah Navigate Identity and Mystery in Netflix's Gothic Sageuk

Netflix's Dear Hongrang premiered on May 16, drawing immediate attention with its gothic atmosphere and one of 2025's most compelling casting choices.

A Joseon Mystery Built on Identity and Memory

Set in the Joseon era, Dear Hongrang follows Jae-yi, a young woman whose younger half-brother Hongrang vanished at age eight under mysterious circumstances. Twelve years later, a young man appears claiming to be the long-lost Hongrang — but he carries no memories of his past or his family. The series, written by Kim Jin-ah and directed by Kim Hong-sun, adapts Jang Da-hye's acclaimed 2021 novel Tangeum: Swallowing Gold, a work praised for its layered psychological tension and Gothic sensibility.

What makes Dear Hongrang stand apart from typical sageuk fare is its commitment to ambiguity. From its opening episodes, the show refuses to confirm whether the mysterious young man is genuinely who he claims to be — or something far more dangerous. That sustained uncertainty gives the series a thriller-adjacent energy rarely seen in period dramas, where the emotional stakes of remembrance and identity are given equal weight to action and romance.

Lee Jae-wook's Long-Awaited Return to Sageuk

For many viewers, the biggest draw is Lee Jae-wook himself. After his breakthrough as Jang Uk in Alchemy of Souls, a role that established him as one of the most bankable young actors in Korea's premium drama landscape, Lee has been selective about his projects. Dear Hongrang marks his return to the historical genre, and he handles the challenge of playing a man who may or may not remember his own past with considerable restraint and precision.

Lee brings a quality of stillness to the role that makes every gesture register as meaningful. The character exists in a state of permanent suspension — he cannot be fully trusted, but cannot be fully doubted either — and Lee translates that existential limbo into compelling screen presence. His chemistry with co-star Jo Bo-ah, who plays the determined and fiercely protective Jae-yi, gives the series its emotional backbone.

Jo Bo-ah Anchors the Drama's Emotional Core

Jo Bo-ah, known internationally for her roles in Tell Me That You Love Me and Destined with You, delivers what may be her career-best performance as Jae-yi. The character is written with real complexity: not a passive figure waiting for resolution, but a woman who drives the investigation herself, who must decide whether love for a missing brother can extend to a stranger wearing his face. Jo grounds every scene in lived-in emotional honesty, ensuring that the mystery elements never swamp the human drama at the story's center.

The supporting cast, including Jung Ga-ram in a pivotal secondary role, adds additional texture to the show's Joseon court politics and the wider social hierarchies that complicate Jae-yi's search for truth.

Production Quality and Visual Atmosphere

Director Kim Hong-sun, whose previous credits include Voice and Black Knight, approaches the period setting with a deliberately shadowed visual palette. The Joseon interiors are lit to emphasize mystery rather than spectacle — torch light in dark corridors, snow-covered courtyards, rooms full of silences that suggest things unsaid. This atmospheric consistency is one of the series' most impressive technical achievements, and it gives Dear Hongrang a cinematic quality that holds up across its eleven-episode run.

The production design faithfully reconstructs Joseon merchant culture and aristocratic court life, but never lets the historical detail overwhelm the psychological drama. Costumes are period-accurate while also being visually distinctive enough to serve character differentiation — Jae-yi's practical, subdued wardrobe reads immediately against the more ornate dress of the noble household she must navigate.

Early Reception and Global Chart Performance

Dear Hongrang topped Consumer Insight's OTT K-Original Content viewer intent charts for two consecutive weeks following its premiere — the first Netflix historical drama to achieve that distinction since Kingdom in 2019. That immediate audience engagement reflects both the strength of the casting and the show's ability to hook viewers early with its central mystery.

Reviews have been mixed but leaning positive, with critics consistently praising the lead performances and visual design while noting that the pacing demands patience. An 80% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes and an 8.0 rating on IMDb following its premiere weekend signal a dedicated core audience that appreciates the show's willingness to let mystery breathe rather than resolve quickly.

For international audiences encountering the sageuk genre for the first time through Netflix's global platform, Dear Hongrang serves as an approachable entry point — its mystery structure and emotional character dynamics translate cleanly across cultural contexts in ways that more court-politics-heavy period dramas sometimes do not.

What Comes Next

With eleven episodes planned for the season, Dear Hongrang has space to develop its central mystery without rushing to conclusions. The show's creative team has signaled that the question of Hongrang's true identity will not be resolved easily or cheaply — viewers should expect complications, reversals, and emotional reckonings as Jae-yi pursues the truth about the man who has reappeared in her life.

As Netflix continues to expand its investment in Korean historical content, Dear Hongrang represents a deliberate step toward a more psychologically complex strain of sageuk storytelling. Whether it ultimately earns the global breakout status that dramas like Kingdom or Mr. Sunshine achieved before it remains to be seen — but its opening performance suggests audiences are ready to follow the mystery wherever it leads.