Doona!, releasing on Oct. 20 on Netflix, is an adaptation of the popular South Korean webtoon The Girl Downstairs. The K-drama follows the story of a former K-pop idol, Doona, who may or may not develop feelings for her regular-guy roommate. Starring Bae Suzy, a South Korean actor and former member of a K-pop girl group, as Doona, the series is directed by Lee Jung-hyo, known for his work on the internationally acclaimed romance romp Crash Landing on You. Doona! is one of the webtoon-based K-dramas coming to Netflix in 2023, as part of the streaming platform’s venture into webtoons. Web comics like these have gained immense popularity in Korea since the early 2000s and have inspired successful K-dramas, including All of Us Are Dead and What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim. To learn more about the rise of webtoon-based K-dramas, click here.
Doona! centers around Lee Doona, a former member of the K-pop girl group Dream Sweet. After reaching the pinnacle of her career, Doona surprises everyone by leaving the industry and moving into a sharehouse in a college town. There, she encounters Lee Wonjun, a 20-year-old freshman who has little knowledge of her celebrity status. Their first meeting goes wrong when Doona, known for her sweetness, accuses Wonjun of being a stalker. However, Doona starts to spend more time with him, insisting on eating together and hanging out. Wonjun realizes that Doona has lived only in the world of fame and is now experiencing the real world for the first time. Over nine episodes, the two characters navigate their growing attraction and face their personal struggles. Doona must decide if she wants to continue her life as an entertainer, while Wonjun deals with finding a job and supporting his family, all while an old love resurfaces at his university.
Director Lee Jung-hyo specifically wanted Bae Suzy to play the role of Doona due to her background as a former K-pop idol. Suzy was part of the Chinese-Korean group Miss A under JYP Entertainment from 2010 to 2017. Suzy admits feeling envious of Doona at times while reflecting on her own experiences as an idol. She appreciates how Doona is honest with herself about the challenges she faces. The K-pop industry has a reputation for being cutthroat, especially for young trainees, and has seen various scandals and deaths related to mental health issues. In the series, Doona struggles with meeting the public’s expectations while also dealing with her own insecurities. Suzy says the role allowed her to express raw emotions and capture the character’s journey.
While Doona! is based on The Girl Downstairs webtoon, it differs in several ways. The Girl Downstairs, created by Min Song-a, has a weekly release and gained a massive following over its three-year run starting in 2019. With 41 million views on the WEBTOON platform and translations in eight different languages, it has been compiled into three separate books comprising over 150 episodes. The webtoon is filled with cute and comedic interactions, confessions, and love triangles, portraying it as a heart-throbbing and heart-aching love story. In contrast, Doona! condenses the content and focuses more on developing the relationship between Wonjun and Doona. The K-drama takes on a slice-of-life tone with quieter, romantic moments. Director Lee Jung-hyo explains that they emphasized the romance aspect of the story rather than its comedic elements.
