I’m totally excited for the next drama from innovative star writer Song Jae-jung (W–Two Worlds, Nine, Queen In-hyun’s Man)… and I’m also terrified to let myself get invested in another of her inventive fictional universes that raises a million questions and doesn’t answer any of them. But come on, if she’s writing a new drama, I’m going to be watching it. She’s heading back to tvN in the coming year to pen a new sci-fi action thriller called Memories of the Alhambra, and she’s teaming up with PD Ahn Gil-ho of tvN’s critically acclaimed Forest of Secrets for the project. Talk about your dream teams.
Song Jae-jung will again be tackling alternate realities in this new drama, this time through augmented reality (AR) computer games, in which AR technology enhances sensory input from the outside world, distorting and changing what a person sees. The story begins, as the title suggests, at the Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain. The hero is an investment company CEO who travels there on business, and ends up staying at a cheap hotel run by the heroine, a former guitarist. Together they’ll get swept up in a peculiar situation. You mean like getting sucked into a tablet-portal to an alternate world where everyone is a comic book character? No? Okay, just checking.
I remember Nine starting out with this same kind of otherworldly feel, as our characters traveled to a foreign locale steeped in mystery and beautiful ambiance, so I expect Memories of the Alhambra to use the palace to similar effect. I’m most excited about this being a sci-fi action thriller, because if anyone could create a believably intricate, pulse-pounding alternate universe, it’s this writer. Let’s just hope she has some satisfying resolutions up her sleeve this time.
Memories of the Alhambra will be a 16-episode drama on tvN. Some reports say that it’s being planned for a September airdate, but the time slot hasn’t been confirmed. Let the dream-casting begin!