'Legend of the Blue Sea' ends with high viewership ratings, Lee Ji Hoon on why filming was special

'Thank you to everyone for giving my character Heo Chi Hyun a lot of love, even though he was the antagonist.'

Legend of the Blue Sea
Lee Min-ho and Na Young-hee in 'Legends of the Blue Sea.' facebook.com/LegendOfTheBlueSeaKdrama/

The popular SBS fantasy drama "Legend of the Blue Sea" starring Lee Min Ho and Jun Ji Hyun ended with a record of high viewership ratings. Its last episode was aired on January 25, Wednesday. According to Nielsen Korea, as cited by Soompi, it received 17.9 percent nationwide viewership. It maintained the number one spot, though it couldn't make it to the 20 percent mark.

The mermaid drama "Legend of the Blue Sea" surpassed the 20 percent ratings mark earlier during the past couple of weeks. However, the viewership rating surprisingly dropped down as the drama ended.

It was an emotional finale episode, as the viewers witnessed that Shim Chung erased the memory of Heo Joon Jae once more. However, the latter recollected everything because of his diary. Actor Lee Ji Hoon revealed his thoughts about the role he played after 20-episode run drama came to an end. The antagonist of the drama said, "Filming 'The Legend of the Blue Sea' was such a meaningful experience because I learned new things every day I was on set," Korean newoutlet TV Report quoted Ji-Hoon as saying before a group of local media.

The 28-year-old actor who played Heo Chi-Hyun, the stepbrother of Heo Joon-Jae, further said, "Thank you to everyone for giving my character Heo Chi Hyun a lot of love, even though he was the antagonist."

Ji-Hoon also assured that he will be working hard to come back with good dramas and movies very soon. In other news, the SBS Wednesday-Thursday drama 'The Legend of the Blue Sea' soars high in China despite Hallyu ban.

According to the reports, the drama was not aired in mainland China because of the political dispute between the two countries. But, through piracy, the SBS drama was quite popular in China. "Saimdang, Light's Diary" took over the time slot of the recently ended drama "The Legend of the Blue Sea" which started on Jan. 26.

This article was first published on January 28, 2017