Player (TV series)

Player (Korean: 플레이어) is a South Korean television series starring Song Seung-heon, Krystal Jung, Lee Si-eon, Tae Won-seok, Oh Yeon-seo, and Jang Gyu-ri. The first season aired on OCN from September 29, to November 11, 2018, every Saturday and Sunday at 22:20 (KST).^[7] The second season aired on tvN from June 3, to July 9, 2024, every Monday and Tuesday at 20:50 (KST).^[8][9]

Player
Promotional poster for season two
Also known as	The Player[1] Player 2: War of Gamblers[2] The Player 2: Master of Swindlers[3]
Hangul	플레이어
RR	Peulleieo
MR	P'ŭlleiŏ
Genre	Action Crime
Developed by	Studio Dragon (planning; season 2)[2]
Written by	Shin Jae-hyung (season 1)[4] Park Sang-moon (season 2)[2] Choi Seul-gi (season 2)[2]
Directed by	Go Jae-hyun (season 1)[4] So Jae-hyun (season 2)[2]
Starring	Song Seung-heon Krystal Jung Lee Si-eon Tae Won-seok Oh Yeon-seo Jang Gyu-ri
Music by	Si Seong-won (season 1) Jeong Seung-hyun (season 1) Kim Joon-seok (season 2)[5] Jeong Se-rin (season 2)[5]
Country of origin	South Korea
Original language	Korean
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	26
Production
Executive producer	Kim Gin-hong
Producers	Lee Geun-jang Jang Si-woo
Running time	60 minutes
Production companies	Studio Dragon[6] iWill Media (season 1)[6] People Story Company (season 2)[2]
Original release
Network	OCN (season 1)
Release	September 29 (2018-09-29) – November 11, 2018 (2018-11-11)
Network	tvN (season 2)
Release	June 3 (2024-06-03) – July 9, 2024 (2024-07-09)

Synopsis

Season 1

The story about the four talented individuals in their respective fields who create an elite team to solve crimes in partnership with a righteous prosecutor. Together, they confiscate black money and make sure that those who earn money through crimes will be arrested.^[10]

Season 2

Series overview

Season	Episodes		Originally released			Airtime
			First released	Last released	Network
1	14		September 29, 2018 (2018-09-29)	November 11, 2018 (2018-11-11)	OCN	Saturday and Sunday at 22:20 (KST)
2	12		June 3, 2024 (2024-06-03)	July 9, 2024 (2024-07-09)	tvN	Monday and Tuesday at 20:50 (KST)

Cast and characters

Main

• Song Seung-heon as Kang Ha-ri / Choi Soo-hyuk

A veteran conman from a family of investigators who was born bold and gifted with words.

• Krystal Jung as Cha Ah-ryung (season 1)

A skilled driver who grew up in an orphanage after being abandoned by her parents.^[11]

• Lee Si-eon as Lim Byung-min

A talented hacker who had a past with Chairman Chun.^[4]

• Tae Won-seok as Do Jin-woong

A powerful fighter who had accidentally worked for "that person".^[12]

• Oh Yeon-seo as Jeong Soo-min (season 2)^[13]

An assistant to Ha-ri and the team's watcher.

• Jang Gyu-ri as Cha Jae-yi (season 2)^[14]

Ah-ryung's younger sister who is also a skilled driver. Her real name is Cha Hae-ryung.

Supporting

Public Prosecutors' Office

• Kim Won-hae as Prosecutor Jang In-gyu

The prosecutor who teamed up with Ha-ri and his team.

• Ahn Se-ho as Investigator Maeng Ji-hoon^[15]
• Lee Hwang-ui as Yoo Ki-hoon^[16]

Target

• Kim Jong-tae as "that person" (real name: Yeon Je-seok)

A consultant and power broker for politicians.

• Kwak Ja-hyung as Cheon Dong-seob

People around Ha-ri

• Huh Joon-ho as Choi Hyun-gi

Ha-ri's father and former team leader of Special Corruption Division.

• Yoo Ye-bin as Cho Yeon-hee

A doctor and the only person who knows Ha-ri's past.^[17]

Others

• Min Joon-hyun as Team Leader Shim Dal-soo^[18]
• Kang Min-tae as gangster
• Kim Hyung-mook as Na Won-hak^[19]

the corrupt president director

• Lee Hwa-ryong^[20]
• Min Joon-hyun
• Kim Sung-cheol as Ji Sung-gu^[21]
• Lee Chung-mi as Yang Hae-joo
• Jin Mo as Wang Seob
• Kim Seo-kyung as Mike

Special appearances

• Yoo Seung-ho as a security guard (Ep. 1)^[22]
• Hong Seok-cheon as a driving instructor (Ep. 1)^[23]
• Wang Ji-hye as Ryu Hyun-ja (Ep. 7–8)^[24]
• Kang Hye-won as Mi-woo (season 2, ep. 2)^[25]
• Im Jin-ah as Eun Na (season 2, Ep. 5)
• Lee Soo-hyuk as Mr. Myeong (season 2, Ep. 6–7)
• Yoon Ji-on as Kim Soo-chan (Season 2, Ep. 7)^[26]
• Heo Sung-tae as Lim Sang-sik (season 2, Ep. 8–9)
• Lee Sung-kyung as A mysterious woman (season 2, ep.12)^[27]

Production

Early working titles of the series were Hustle (허슬) and Round (판; Pan).^[28][29]

On July 12, 2022, it was announced that the series would return with second season in the second half of 2023, under the title Player: War of Gamblers (플레이어: 꾼들의 전쟁; Peulleieo: kkundeurui jeonjaeng).^[8] On January 27, 2023, it was reported that filming was scheduled to begin in March 2023, and actresses Oh Yeon-seo and Jang Gyu-ri were in talks for the main roles.^[30][14] In January 2024, it was officially announced that the second season is included on tvN's 2024 drama line-up.^[2]

Original soundtrack

Player OST
Soundtrack album by Various artists
Recorded	2018
Genre	Soundtrack
Language	Korean English
Label	Blending Music Buddy

Part 1

Released on October 6, 2018 (2018-10-06)

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"Player" (플레이어)	Dok2 Jinsil Lee Jung-ha	Lee Jong-soo Yang Sung-woo	Dok2 feat. Jinsil (Mad Soul Child)	03:05
2.	"Player" (Inst.)		Lee Jong-soo Yang Sung-woo		03:05
Total length:					06:10

Part 2

Released on October 14, 2018 (2018-10-14)

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"Changer"	Kim Ho-kyung	1601	The Vane	03:15
2.	"Changer" (Inst.)		1601		03:15
Total length:					06:30

Part 3

Released on October 21, 2018 (2018-10-21)

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"Yesterday"	Min Yeon-jae	1601	JK Kim Dong-wook	04:00
2.	"Yesterday" (Inst.)		1601		04:00
Total length:					08:00

Part 4

Released on October 28, 2018 (2018-10-28)

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"Bluffing"	Min Yeon-jae	1601	Luna (f(x))	03:07
2.	"Bluffing" (Inst.)		1601		03:07
Total length:					06:14

Part 5

Released on November 4, 2018 (2018-11-04)

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"Born to Be a Player"	Jung Min-wook	Lee Jong-soo Yang Sung-woo	Hey Men	03:01
2.	"Born to Be a Player" (Inst.)		Lee Jong-soo Yang Sung-woo		03:01
Total length:					06:02

Part 6

Released on November 4, 2018 (2018-11-04)

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"Anyone"	Lee Jong-soo Arie	Lee Jong-soo Yang Sung-woo	Nam Tae-hyun	03:57
2.	"Anyone" (Inst.)		Lee Jong-soo Yang Sung-woo		03:57
Total length:					07:54

Viewership

Player : South Korea viewers per episode (millions)

Season		Episode number														Average
		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14
	1	1.217	1.381	1.136	1.165	1.003	1.171	1.122	1.221	1.200	1.169	0.928	0.958	1.117	1.515	1.165
	2	0.940	0.911	0.905	0.671	0.805	0.757	0.866	0.913	0.778	0.860	0.920	0.952	–		0.857

Source: Audience measurement performed nationwide by Nielsen Korea.^[31]

Average TV viewership ratings (season 1)
Ep.	Original broadcast date	Average audience share[32]
		Nielsen Korea[33]		TNmS[34]
		Nationwide	Seoul	Nationwide
1	September 29, 2018	4.474%	5.226%	4.3%
2	September 30, 2018	4.876%	5.638%	4.9%
3	October 6, 2018	4.092%	4.433%	4.8%
4	October 7, 2018	4.186%	4.180%	5.5%
5	October 13, 2018	3.720%	4.196%	N/A
6	October 14, 2018	4.573%	5.097%
7	October 20, 2018	4.415%	5.393%
8	October 21, 2018	4.904%	5.302%
9	October 27, 2018	4.723%	5.531%
10	October 28, 2018	4.640%	4.928%
11	November 3, 2018	3.993%	4.425%
12	November 4, 2018	3.879%	4.116%
13	November 10, 2018	4.553%	4.780%
14	November 11, 2018	5.803%	6.249%
Average		4.488%	4.964%	—[a]
In the table above, the blue numbers represent the lowest published ratings and the red numbers represent the highest published ratings. N/A denotes ratings that were not published. This series aired on a cable channel/pay TV which normally has a relatively smaller audience compared to free-to-air TV/public broadcasters (KBS, SBS, MBC and EBS).

Average TV viewership ratings (season 2)
Ep.	Original broadcast date	Average audience share
		Nielsen Korea[35]
		Nationwide	Seoul
1	June 3, 2024	4.185% (2nd)	4.658% (2nd)
2	June 4, 2024	3.966% (2nd)	4.065% (2nd)
3	June 10, 2024	4.188% (2nd)	4.310% (2nd)
4	June 11, 2024	3.537% (2nd)	3.594% (3rd)
5	June 17, 2024	3.531% (2nd)	3.722% (2nd)
6	June 18, 2024	3.570% (2nd)	3.519% (3rd)
7	June 24, 2024	3.810% (1st)	4.178% (1st)
8	June 25, 2024	3.789% (1st)	3.752% (1st)
9	July 1, 2024	3.681% (1st)	3.785% (1st)
10	July 2, 2024	3.929% (1st)	4.302% (1st)
11	July 8, 2024	4.096% (1st)	3.953% (1st)
12	July 9, 2024	4.344% (1st)	4.446% (1st)
Average		3.886%	4.024%
In the table above, the blue numbers represent the lowest published ratings and the red numbers represent the highest published ratings. This series airs on a cable channel/pay TV which normally has a relatively smaller audience compared to free-to-air TV/public broadcasters (KBS, SBS, MBC and EBS).

Notes

1. Due to some unpublished ratings, the exact average rating is unknown.