Alchemy of Souls (Korean: 환혼; Hanja: 還魂; RR: Hwanhon) is a South Korean television series starring Lee Jae-wook, Jung So-min, Go Yoon-jung, and Hwang Min-hyun. Written by the Hong sisters, it depicts the stories of young mages dealing with heaven and earth. It premiered on tvN on June 18, 2022, and airs every Saturday and Sunday at 21:10 (KST). It is also available for streaming on TVING and Netflix in selected regions.
The series is divided into two parts: Part 1 aired from June 18 to August 28, 2022 for 20 episodes, while Part 2 (Alchemy of Souls: Light and Shadow) premiered on December 10, 2022. The series is available streaming on Netflix and it is airing on the South Korean TV channel tvN.
Synopsis[]
The fate of these people become twisted due to "hwanhonsool" (the soul of the dead return to the living). In the country of Daeho, Jang Wook comes from the noble Jang family. He holds an unpleasant secret about his birth, which people all around the country talk about. He's a troublemaker. Jang Wook happens to meet Mu Deok. She is an elite warrior, but her soul is trapped in a physically weak body. She becomes Jang Wook’s servant, but she also secretly teaches him how to fight. Seo Yool comes from the noble Seo family. He seems perfect with good appearance, intelligence, and strong martial arts skills. Go Won is the crown prince of Daeho. He hopes to become a generous king.[1]
Cast[]
- Lee Jae Wook as Jang Wook
- Jung So Min as Mu Deok / Nak Su
- Hwang Min Hyun as Seo Yool
- Yoo Joon Sang as Park Jin
- Shin Seung Ho as Go Won / Crown Prince of Daeho
- Oh Na Ra as Kim Do Ju / Jang Uk's housekeeper
Seo family[]
- Do Sang-woo as Seo Yun-oh[27]
Songrim[]
- Yoo Jun-sang as Park Jin[28]
- Yoo In-soo as Park Dang-gu[29]
- Lee Ha-yool as Sang-ho[30]
Sejukwon[]
- Lee Do-kyung as Heo Yeom[31]
- Hong Seo-hee as Heo Yun-ok[32]
- Jung Ji-an as Soon-yi[33]
- Kim Yong-jin as Physician Seo
Cheonbugwan[]
- Jo Jae-yoon as Jin Mu[9]
- Choi Ji-ho as Gil-ju[34]
- Cha Yong-hak as Yeom-su
- Lee Ji-hoo as Cha Beom[35]
- Lee Bong-jun as Gu Hyo[36]
- Joo Min-soo as Han Yeol[37]
Jin family (Jinyowon)[]
- Park Eun-hye as Jin Ho-kyung[31]
- Joo Seok-tae as Jin Woo-tak[38]
- Arin as Jin Cho-yeon[29]
- Yoon Hae-bin as young Jin Bu-yeon[39]
Royal family[]
- Shin Seung-ho as Go Won[40]
- Choi Kwang-il as Go Soon[41]
- Kang Kyung-heon / Shim So-young as Seo Ha-sun[42][43]
- Park Byung-eun as Go Seong[25]
- Lee Ki-seop as Eunuch Oh[44]
- Jeong Ji-sun as Eunuch Kim[45]
Chwiseollu[]
- Park So-jin as Joo-wol[46]
Others[]
- Im Chul-soo as Lee Cheol (Master Lee)[31]
- Seo Hye-won as So-yi[47]
- TBA as Yong-pil
- Woo Hyun as Monk Ho-yeon[48]
Extended[]
- Jeon Hye-won as Ae-hyang[49]
- Yoon Seo-hyun as Cho Chung[50]
- Shim Jae-hyun as a thug[51]
- Kim Cheol-yoon as Byeong-gu[52]
Special appearances[]
- Yeom Hye-ran as a mysterious middle-aged woman[25]
- Yegyul Band [ko][53]
- Kim Hyun-sook as Maidservant Park[54][55]
- Jang Sung-beom as Master Kang[56]
- Lee Jun-hyeok as a merchant[57]
- Kim Dae-gon as a merchant[58]
- Lee Chae-min as a merchant[59]
Production[]
Development[]
Preparations for the series, as well as program discussion with tvN, started in 2019 under the working title Can This Person Be Translated (이 사람 통역이 되나요; I Saram Tong-yeog-i Doenayo).
Casting[]
In January 2021, Park Hye-su's agency revealed that the actress auditioned for Alchemy of Souls. In June, it was announced that actor Joo Sang-wook was offered a role in the series.
The female lead role was first confirmed to be played by Park Hye-eun [ko]. However, in July 2021, she decided to leave the series after a mutual agreement with the production team. It was stated that although Park is a rookie actress, she prepared hard for the series, but felt a lot of pressure about playing the main character of a big project.
The role was then offered to actress Jung So-min. Jung and director Park Joon-hwa previously worked together in 2017 TV series Because This Is My First Life.
Line-up for the lead stars consisting of Lee Jae-wook, Jung So-min, Hwang Min-hyun, Shin Seung-ho, Yoo Jun-sang, Oh Na-ra and Jo Jae-yoon was officially announced by tvN on March 3, 2022.
On March 21, Yoo In-soo, Arin, Park Eun-hye, Lee Do-kyung and Im Chul-soo were announced to have joined the cast.
Filming[]
In August 2021, production companies Studio Dragon and High Quality signed an agreement with Mungyeong City to build a filming site in Maseong-myeon worth ₩5 billion for the production of Alchemy of Souls.
On October 6, 2021, it was announced that filming of the series was canceled for that week after a staff member tested positive for COVID-19 on the morning of the 5th. All production crew members subsequently underwent PCR test. Some staff members who were classified as close contacts went into self-quarantine, even though they tested negative for the contagion.
Soundtrack[]
Main Article: Alchemy of Souls OST
Viewership[]
Alchemy of Souls : South Korea viewers per episode (millions)
| Season | Episode number | Average | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | |||
| 1 | 1.294 | 1.516 | 1.275 | 1.760 | 1.321 | 1.632 | 1.347 | 1.804 | 1.416 | 1.817 | 1.305 | 1.769 | 1.564 | 1.926 | 1.680 | 1.926 | 1.815 | 2.359 | 1.984 | 2.410 | 1.696 | |
Source: Audience measurement performed nationwide by Nielsen Korea.[76]
| Ep. | Original broadcast date | Average audience share
(Nielsen Korea)[76] | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nationwide | Seoul | ||
| Part 1 | |||
| 1 | June 18, 2022 | 5.205% (1st) | 4.833% (1st) |
| 2 | June 19, 2022 | 5.872% (1st) | 6.047% (1st) |
| 3 | June 25, 2022 | 5.288% (1st) | 5.315% (1st) |
| 4 | June 26, 2022 | 6.841% (1st) | 6.878% (1st) |
| 5 | July 2, 2022 | 5.352% (1st) | 5.253% (1st) |
| 6 | July 3, 2022 | 6.639% (1st) | 6.880% (1st) |
| 7 | July 9, 2022 | 5.311% (1st) | 5.158% (1st) |
| 8 | July 10, 2022 | 6.826% (1st) | 6.694% (1st) |
| 9 | July 16, 2022 | 5.204% (1st) | 5.329% (1st) |
| 10 | July 17, 2022 | 6.958% (1st) | 6.835% (1st) |
| 11 | July 23, 2022 | 4.989% (1st) | 4.908% (1st) |
| 12 | July 24, 2022 | 7.091% (1st) | 7.032% (1st) |
| 13 | July 30, 2022 | 6.290% (1st) | 6.008% (1st) |
| 14 | July 31, 2022 | 7.600% (1st) | 7.484% (1st) |
| 15 | August 6, 2022 | 6.610% (1st) | 6.710% (1st) |
| 16 | August 7, 2022 | 7.453% (1st) | 7.544% (1st) |
| 17 | August 20, 2022 | 7.566% (1st) | 7.767% (1st) |
| 18 | August 21, 2022 | 9.295% (1st) | 9.793% (1st) |
| 19 | August 27, 2022 | 7.915% (1st) | 8.121% (1st) |
| 20 | August 28, 2022 | 9.218% (1st) | 9.903% (1st) |
| Average | |||
| |||
Gallery[]
Video Gallery[]
