Lee Dong-wook, Lee Joo-bin, Lee Da-hee and Lee Kwang-soo star in ‘The Divorce Insurance.’
Prime Video
Divorce has become a serious topic in k-dramas, demonstrated by how many 2024 dramas featured characters contemplating or recovering from a divorce. An upcoming 2025 Korean drama, The Divorce Insurance, puts a comic spin on the odds that love may need some detours before achieving happily ever after. The Divorce Insurance stars Lee Dong-wook as No Ki-jun, an insurance specialist, who creates a plan to protect his clients after they fall out of love.
Ki-jun knows the dangers of love gone wrong. The character has been married and divorced tree times, paying dearly for each divorce. He figures a divorce could happen to anyone and it’s perhaps something everyone should prepare for. According to Lee Dong-wook, it may be time to approach the concept of divorce from a completely different perspective.
“We should not associate it with concepts like unhappiness or sadness anymore,” he said. “I think we need a change of perception, because divorce can be another beginning, a new start for an even happier life. So it has nothing to do with unhappiness, and it can actually be a great opportunity to find another, new love. It can be an opportunity for you to reflect on yourself and learn to love yourself more. So we wanted to pose these questions and also put people in different situations and events that unfold in the show to really deliver this message.”
After coming up with his divorce insurance plan Ki-jun assembles a team with Kang Han-deul (Lee Joo-bin), An Jeon-Man (Lee Kwang-soo) and Jeon Na-rae (Lee Da-hee). Members of this fictional team all have some experience with divorce. In the case of Han-deul, divorce might be seen as a positive move.
“People usually think that divorces are something that you should stay away from, something that is bad,” said Lee Joo-bin (Queen of Tears, Love To Hate You). “But we wanted to talk about how there are so many people who are so scared of divorce that they’re hesitant to even take an attempt at marriage. So, for these people we wanted to tell a story about how you can also be very happy after a divorce and there are so many ways to prepare for it and to brace for the impact. So rather than being scared or afraid, we just want those people to put their happiness and their hopes and their dreams before those concerns that they have over marriage.”
Lee Joo-bin and Lee Dong-wook are members of a divorce insurance team.
Prime Video
An Jeon-man works as a risk surveyor. His job is to suggest prevention measures and effective insurance programs. In the case of divorce insurance, he might need to calculate the odds of what makes a romance work
“I love pretty much every part of the show,” said Lee Kwang-soo. “But my favorite line in the entire show is Ki-jun’s line where he says both marriage and divorce are choices that we make to become happy.”
Lee Dong-wook’s character and Lee Kwang-soo’s character are longtime friends
“I think it’s a very typical friendship that you can see in real life,” said Lee Kwang-soo. “It could be a bromance and there’s also a rivalry between the two of us. We’re old friends and I think pretty much everybody has an old friend like this.”
“The characters that Kwang-soo and I played have been friends since elementary school and they have completely different personalities,” said Lee Dong-wook. “Their personalities are polar opposites, so they hate each other and at the same time, they love each other and they complement each other and they have what the other person doesn’t have. And whether or not our relationship or character dynamics are a romance or a rivalry, you’ll be able to find out more if you tune in to our show once it drops.”
Jeon Na-Rae is a financial mathematician on the team. As a mathematician, she decides whether relationships add up. She’s also a divorcee, having divorced as soon as she returned from her honeymoon. Her character’s practical nature means she’s less susceptible to the iconic romantic scenes found in many k-dramas. She may be less susceptible, but is she completely immune?
Lee Da-hee and Lee Kwang-soo shared many laughs on the set of ‘The Divorce Inruance.’
Prime Video
“These scenes are, so to speak, clichéd scenes, because they’re classic, iconic scenes that have appeared multiple times before,” said Lee Dong-wook. “Which means we have to put a lot of thought into that to make sure that it doesn’t come off as too boring or obvious or typical. So you have to put a new twist on it, a fresh touch on it, to make sure that it would become an iconic scene that’s one of a kind. So we tried to be mindful of that as we were filming.”
Lee Da-hee adds that there’s a reason k-dramas contain these heart-fluttering scenes.
“Just like Dong-wook said, when it comes to these clichéd scenes, people kind of think that it’s been seen too much or is like too obvious, but at the same time, they love it so much and they have butterflies in their stomach every time they see these iconic scenes,” said Lee Da-hee (Mr. Plankton, Island). “So just like Dong-wook said, I think our show really tackles these common themes or classic, iconic themes in a new and refreshing way. That’s why we are super excited about our show, and we will do our best until the very end of the filming process.”
Lee Kwang-soo has a few favorite scenes in the drama and one features Lee Da-hee.
“My top favorite is definitely the first appearance of Jeon Na-rae, the character that Da-hee played, he said. “I’m so excited for that scene and I think a lot of the fans would love it. So I’m really looking forward to seeing it on the screen.”
Ki-jun is a very different character from characters Lee Dong-wook has played lately in dramas such as Tale of the Nine Tailed, Shop for Killers and Bad and Crazy. One big difference between The Divorce Insurance and his recent dramas is how many action scenes are involved.
“There are no action scenes in this show for starters and that made the whole experience so much easier and comfortable,” said Lee Dong-wook. “It’s not that I prefer action roles, but I did them in the past because it was necessary for the character arc. But this time around, there were no such action scenes. So it was really easy and smooth. And I think the charm that Ki-jun has is that he has this magical ability to stop people from feeling sad. So I really wanted to focus on highlighting this charm and attractiveness that he has.”
Lee Kwang-soo (The Killer’s Shopping List, Sinkhole) is not only known for being funny, but he has a tendency to make people laugh on set. This can lead to a lot of bloopers.
“Well, to be honest, when things get funny we just laugh and then I would apologize very seriously for making people laugh,” said Lee. “But everybody, all the actors and the director, all like funny things and me being funny. So the atmosphere on set was really cheerful and upbeat and I think this really rubbed off on everybody, which kind of resulted in a lot of bloopers sometimes, but overall we just had an amazing time together.”
The actors improvised many lines as they filmed.
“Most of the actors would speak off the cuff,” said Lee Dong-wook. “Both in terms of their dialogue and their gestures. And the thing about those improvised scenes is that the person who is ad-libbing doesn’t laugh at all. And everybody else has to keep a straight face to make sure that that scene isn’t thrown out. So we would sometimes try and make each other laugh on purpose because if someone laughs really hard because of me, it makes me strangely proud.”
Lee Kwang-soo agreed. “That’s right. Even if we would have an outtake or a blooper, I would feel good and proud, somehow, because I made someone laugh.”
Even if real life divorce is not that funny, this comic take on divorce is set to offer some welcome laughs. The drama is directed by Lee Won-suk who directed the films The Royal Tailor and Killing Romance, and co-directed by Choi Bo-kyung. The Divorce Insurance airs on March 31 on Prime Video.
