‘Snowdrop’: What to Know About Late Disney Actress Park Soo-ryun’s Show

Fans are mourning the loss of actress Park Soo Ryun. Ryun, 29, died Sunday, June 11 after falling down a flight of stairs on Jeju Island, where she was set to perform later that day. The actress, who rose to fame in 2018 with the musical Il Tenore and starred in a number of musicals and plays, was best known for her starring role in the controversial Disney+ K-drama Snowdrop, which marked her small-screen debut.

Debuting on JTBC in December 2021, Snowdrop is a romantic melodrama set during 1987, a tumultuous year in South Korean history when pro-democracy demonstrators pushed the dictatorship to hold democratic elections. In November 1987, college freshman Eun Young-ro discovers Lim Soo-Ho, a graduate student covered in blood. Eun decides to hide Lim from the government in her dorm room and soon learns he is not all he seems. The two fall in love as the story unfolds. Along with Ryun, the series also starred Jung Hae-in, Jisoo, Yoo In-na, Jang Seung-jo, Yoon Se-ah, Jung Yoo-jin, Kim Hye-yoon, and Kim Mi-soo, who tragically passed away at the age of 29 in January 2022. Her cause of death was not released.

The show airs on JTBC network in South Korea for a total of 16 episodes from December 18, 2021 to January 30, 2022 and is available on Disney+ in other parts of the world. It is also currently on the U.S. Disney+ platform.

While the series has a 98% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, Snowdrop was mired in controversy due to its historical inaccuracy, choice of songs, and depiction of North Koreans. Per WDW News Today, scholars were particularly critical of the show’s depiction of historical events, and critics were concerned that the series drew a correlation between pro-democracy protestors and North Korean spies.

The controversy grew so large that a petition to South Korea’s president was even created in an attempt to stop the show from airing. The petition garnered over 300,000 signatures. Amid the controversy, some sponsors dropped their support for the show, according to Variety. JTBC eventually released a statement addressing the upheaval.

“The drama is not distorting the pro-democracy movement nor is it glorifying the Agency for National Security Planning,” the television network said. “It is a black comedy drama satirizing the political situation between the two Koreas under the authoritarian government in the 1980s. Also, it is a romance drama showing young people who sacrifice their love.”

Despite the controversy, Snowdrop continued to air as normal, the series airing 16 episodes in total. The series proved to be popular and was among the five most-watched shows in the streaming service’s Asia-Pacific market during its first five weeks of streaming. The series, however, has not picked up for a second season at this time.