During the 2016 KBS Drama Award on Dec. 31, when Song Joong-ki and Song Hye Kyo lost the Best Actor and Best Actress awards, the Soompi blogger found it weird that the two of the most popular South Korean stars of “Descendants of the Son” did not win acting awards.
However, it turned out the big surprise was at the very end when the SongSong couple was given the Grand Excellence (Daesang) award. Finally, the network that aired the 16-episode blockbuster drama recognized that the acting of the two stars were a cut above the rest.
Second Choices
It seems the drama with a record of second choices was destined to be first after all. For instance, Song Joong-ki was not the production’s choice for the lead part of Army Captain Yoo Si Jin because he was a bit feminine looking. Song Hye Kyo also recently admitted she had second thoughts about accepting the role of a military doctor.
But the biggest loser now is SBS which was initially approached by the producer of “Descendants of the Sun,” but the broadcast company rejected the idea because it found the theme of a love story between a military officer and surgeon not profitable when it comes to attracting advertisers, Inquisitr reported.
Record Breakers
The loss of SBS was KBS’s gain because the drama broke viewership record not only in South Korea when the finale episode logged a 40 percent viewership in Seoul and attracted a lot of advertisers but also broke viewer records in China with more than 1 billion over iQiyi. Awards from different awards-giving bodies was just icing on the cake.
The result is “Descendants of the Sun’ opened a lot of doors for Song Joong-ki in terms of endorsement deals and new projects such as the upcoming movie “Battleship Island.” It gave Song Hye Kyo also more endorsements and helped in her victory in bagging the “Queen of Asia” title.
Now, both stars are being flooded with congratulatory messages from their fans as they posted photos of their Daesang win on their Instagram accounts instead of the “Om telolet om” memes that inundated their accounts before Christmas.