Hometown (South Korean TV series)

For the 1985 American television series, see Hometown (American TV series).

Hometown (Korean: 홈타운; RR: Homtaun) is a 2021 South Korean television series starring Yoo Jae-myung, Han Ye-ri and Uhm Tae-goo. It aired on tvN from September 22 to October 28, 2021.^[5][6]

Hometown
Promotional poster
Hangul	홈타운
Genre	Mystery[1] Thriller[1]
Written by	Joo Jin[a][3]
Directed by	Park Hyun-seok[3]
Starring	Yoo Jae-myung Han Ye-ri Uhm Tae-goo
Composer	Choi Seong-kwon
Country of origin	South Korea
Original language	Korean
No. of episodes	12[4]
Production
Executive producer	Kim Geon-hong
Producers	Kwon Byung-wook Baek Chang-joo
Running time	60 minutes[4]
Production companies	Studio Dragon C-JeS Entertainment[3]
Original release
Network	tvN
Release	September 22 (2021-09-22) – October 28, 2021 (2021-10-28)

Synopsis

Set in 1999, Hometown is about a bizarre murder in a small town. It finds the truth of a recording tape containing mysterious serial killings.^[7][8]

Cast

Main cast (L to R: Yoo Jae-myung, Han Ye-ri, Uhm Tae-goo) promoting the series on Marie Claire Korea in September 2021

Main

• Yoo Jae-myung as Choi Hyung-in, a veteran violent crime detective with fifteen years of experience who is living in misery after losing his wife to a horrific terrorist crime.^[1][7]
• Han Ye-ri as Jo Jung-hyun, Kyung-ho's sister who lives with the social stigma of being a terrorist's family. Ironically, her life was destroyed by her brother's crime but it was reconstructed through his daughter.^[5][7]
  • Song Ji-hyun as young Jo Jung-hyun^[9]
• Uhm Tae-goo as Jo Kyung-ho, a convicted terrorist who is sentenced to life in prison for committing a gas attack in the town's train station in 1989.^[1][5]

Supporting

People around Hyung-in

• Kim Sae-byuk as Im Se-yoon, Hyung-in's wife.^[10]
• Choi Kwang-il [ko] as Im In-gwan, Hyung-in's father-in-law.
• Song Young-chang as Yang Won-taek, Hyung-in's boss.
• Jo Bok-rae as Lee Si-jeong, a passionate detective with four years of experience.^[11][12]
• Tae In-ho as Son Ji-seung, a prosecutor.

People around Jung-hyun

• Lee Re as Jo Jae-young, Kyung-ho's daughter who is a middle school student. She is living with her aunt Jung-hyun, but suddenly disappears.^[13]
• Park Mi-hyeon [ko] as Kim Kyung-sook, Kyung-ho's mother and Jae-young's grandmother.^[14]
• Lee Hae-woon as Jung Young-seop, Jung-hyun's classmate and head of the editorial department of Gyeongcheon High School.^[15]
• Kim Jung as Jung Min-jae, Jung-hyun's classmate and member of the editorial department of Gyeongcheon High School.
• Cha Rae-hyung as Kang Yong-tak, Jung-hyun's classmate and member of the editorial department of Gyeongcheon High School.
• Kim Ye-eun as Choi Kyung-joo, Jung-hyun's best friend since high school.^[16]

Gyeongcheon Girls' Middle School students

• Heo Jung-eun as Moon Sook, Jae-young's best friend.^[17]
• Park Si-yeon as Production Director Jung
• Park Seo-jin as DJ Han
• Kim Ji-an as Lee Kyung-jin^[18]

Others

• Kim Shin-bi as Kim Hwan-gyu, a Chinese restaurant employee who lives an honest life after leaving a bad past behind.^[19]
• Yoo Seong-ju as Pastor Woo
• Kim Soo-jin as Jung Min-sil

Production

The series was first announced to be aired on OCN.^[1] It was also included on OCN's promotional video for its 2021 line-up.^[8][20] However, in July 2021, it was confirmed that it would air on tvN instead.^[5]

Viewership

Season		Episode number
		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
	1	674	693	515	386	466	372	287	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	295

Hometown : South Korea viewers per episode (thousands)

Source: Audience measurement performed nationwide by Nielsen Korea.^[21]

Average TV viewership ratings

Ep.	Original broadcast date	Average audience share (Nielsen Korea)[21]
		Nationwide	Seoul
1	September 22, 2021	2.827% (2nd)	3.090% (2nd)
2	September 23, 2021	3.307% (2nd)	4.303% (2nd)
3	September 29, 2021	2.582% (2nd)	2.781% (2nd)
4	September 30, 2021	2.043% (2nd)	2.376% (2nd)
5	October 6, 2021	1.970% (3rd)	2.246% (2nd)
6	October 7, 2021	1.644% (3rd)	1.845% (2nd)
7	October 13, 2021	1.326% (N/A)	1.245% (9th)
8	October 14, 2021	1.277% (8th)	1.330% (7th)
9	October 20, 2021	1.055% (N/A)	1.142% (N/A)
10	October 21, 2021	1.074% (N/A)	1.030% (N/A)
11	October 27, 2021	1.163% (N/A)	1.242% (N/A)
12	October 28, 2021	1.520% (6th)	1.494% (7th)
In the table above, the blue numbers represent the lowest ratings and the red numbers represent the highest ratings. N/A denotes that the rating/ranking is not known. 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).

Note

1. Joo Jin is the pen name of director Cho Hyun-hoon, who was pointed out as one of the perpetrators of the Me Too movement in 2018.^[2]