Anna (Korean: 안나) is a 2022 South Korean television series, written and directed by Lee Joo-young, and starring Bae Suzy in the title role, along with Jung Eun-chae, Kim Jun-han, and Park Ye-young. It premiered on Coupang Play, on June 24, 2022.
Contents
Synopsis
The series tells the story of a woman who lives a completely different life starting with a small lie.
Cast
Main
Bae Suzy as Lee Yumi / Lee Anna
Kim Soo-in as 14-year-old Yumi
Choi So-yul as 6-year-old Yumi
A woman who loses her true identity and starts living a new, unpredictable life under a new name because of a minor lie that she made up.
Jung Eun-chae as Lee Hyeon-ju
Yumi's former boss. Born in to wealthy family, she runs a gallery owned by her father where Yumi was a terminal employee.
Kim Jun-han as Choi Ji-hoon
Yumi's husband. An ambitious, goal-oriented man. He is the CEO of a promising venture company, his own business he started at a young age.
Park Ye-young as Ji-won
Yumi's only confidante. A senior in the editorial department of a university school magazine.
Supporting
Kim Jung-young as Hong-joo
Yumi's mute mother.
Choi Yong-jin as Lee Sang-ho
Yumi's father, a tailor.
Heo Hyeong-gyu as Kang Jae-ho
A college student Yumi dated while she was pretending to be a college student.
Woo Ji-hyun as Seon-woo
An employee at a restaurant owned by Hyeon-ju.
Kim Soo-jin as Chief Kim
An employee at Hyeon-ju's company who took care of Yumi.
Oh Man-seok as Mr. Lee
Hyeon-ju's father and owner of the gallery where Yumi worked.
Baek Ji-won as Hyeon-ju's mother
The director of the gallery where Yumi worked.
Yoon Ji-min as Professor Yoon
Hong Hee-won as Secretary Jung
Chu Kwi-jung as Jae-Ho's mother
Jang Ha-eun as Narae, student at Yale University.
Lee Je-yeon as Music teacher
Park Soo-yeon as Secretary Cho Yu-mi
Production
Filming of the series began on October 15, 2021 and concluded on March 23, 2022.
Controversy
On August 2, 2022, director Lee Joo-young accused Coupang Play for making major edits to the series without her consent. Though the final version of the series submitted by Lee was consisted of 8 episodes (45–61 minutes per episode), the series which premiered on July 24 consisted of 6 episodes (45–63 minutes per episode). Lee had requested to remove her name in the credits for director and screenplay, but that was ignored.
In a statement a day later, Coupang Play explained that they found that the director's editing was significantly different from what was initially agreed with them but when they requested multiple times to edit according to what was agreed, director refused it. Hence Coupang Play edited the work to match the original production intent, with the consent of the producer and in accordance with the rights stipulated in the contract. However, director Lee's side stated that she neither received request for corrections nor has she refused to do so. Further more, both Lee and editor Kim Jung-hoon claimed that they never received any opinions regarding editing from Coupang Play.
Previously on July 8, Coupang Play had announced to release an extended version of the series in August. Amidst the controversy, it was revealed to be the director's cut which consists of 8 episodes. It was released on August 12.
Viewership
Anna was announced to be broadcast on MBC, with two episodes airing every Sunday for three weeks at 21:10 (KST) starting August 23, 2026.
