When the Stars Gossip

When the Stars Gossip (Korean: 별들에게 물어봐) is a 2025 South Korean television series written by Seo Sook-hyang, directed by Park Shin-woo [ko], and starring Lee Min-ho, Gong Hyo-jin, Oh Jung-se, and Han Ji-eun. The series follows the fateful encounter of a space-tourist and an astronaut on a space station.^[6] It aired on tvN from January 4, to February 23, 2025, every Saturday and Sunday at 21:20 (KST). It is also available for streaming on Netflix in selected regions.

When the Stars Gossip
Promotional poster
Hangul	별들에게 물어봐
Literal meaning	Ask the Stars
Revised Romanization	Byeoldeurege mureobwa
McCune–Reischauer	Pyŏltŭrege murŏbwa
Genre	Science fiction[1] Romantic comedy[1]
Written by	Seo Sook-hyang
Directed by	Park Shin-woo [ko]
Starring	Lee Min-ho Gong Hyo-jin
Music by	Nam Hye-seung[2]
Country of origin	South Korea
Original language	Korean
No. of episodes	16
Production
Running time	70 minutes[3]
Production companies	KeyEast[4] MYM Entertainment[4]
Budget	₩50 billion[5]
Original release
Network	tvN
Release	January 4 (2025-01-04) – February 23, 2025 (2025-02-23)

Cast and characters

Main

• Lee Min-ho as Gong Ryong^[6]

An obstetrician-gynecologist with a strong sense of responsibility who arrives at the space station as a tourist.

• Gong Hyo-jin as Eve Kim^[6]

A Korean-American astronaut.

• Oh Jung-se as Kang Kang-su^[7]

A space experiment expert who has been on the space station for ten months.

• Han Ji-eun as Choi Go-eun^[8][9][10]

CEO of MZ Electronics. She is the daughter of MZ Group Chairman, Choi Jae-ryong, and Gong Ryong's fiancé.

Supporting

People at MCC

• Kim Joo-hun as Park Dong-ah^[11]

A veteran astronaut who has been to the space station three times and is a member of Seoul's MCC with Eve Kim.

• Lee El as Kang Tae-hee^[12]

A world-famous astronaut and the first Korean-American woman to become IOU Space Center Vice President.

• Lee Cho-hee as Dona Lee^[12]

Mina Lee's twin sister. A space doctor of IOU who checks the overall medical condition of the astronauts of Expedition 3.

• Lee Hyun-kyun as Han Si-won^[12]

A director of flight operations.

• Park Ye-young as Ma Eun-soo^[13]

MCC's mouse experimental partner.

People at ILS

• Lee Cho-hee as Mina Lee^[12]

Space scientist in charge of plants and Dona Lee's twin sister.

• Heo Nam-jun as Lee Seung-joon^[12]

Space scientist in charge of mice.

• Alex Hafner as Santiago Gonzalez Garcia.^[14][15] Astronaut from IOU Space Center.

People at MZ Group

• Kim Eung-soo as Choi Jae-ryong^[16]

Chairman of MZ Group.

• Baek Eun-hye as Na Min-jung^[16]

A pediatrics and adolescents doctor at MZ Hospital.

• Kim Kyung-duk as Secretary Go^[16]

Go-eun's secretary.

• Im Sung-jae as Jeon Yi-man^[16]

Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at MZ Hospital.

People around Gong Ryong

• Jeon Soo-kyeong as Ji Hwa-ja^[17]

Ryong's mother.

• Choi Jung-won as Jang Mi-hwa^[17]
• Jung Young-joo as Jung Na-mi^[17]

Special appearances

• Jo Jung-suk as newscaster
• Park Jin-joo as a reporter^[18]

Production

Casting

On November 18, 2021, it was revealed that Lee Min-ho and Gong Hyo-jin were in talks to take on the lead roles of a new drama series written by writer Seo Sook-hyang.^[19] On January 26, 2022, it was revealed that Oh Jung-se was offered a role and that the proposal is under review.^[20] On March 28, 2022, Lee and Gong were confirmed as the lead actors.^[6]

Filming

Filming began in April 2022.^[5] On February 8, 2023, Lee Min-ho posted on Instagram that the filming of the series has ended.^[21]

Release

The series premiered on January 4, at 21:20 (KST).^[22] It is also available to stream exclusively on Netflix.^[23]

Original soundtrack

Part 1

Released on January 5, 2025

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"Feel Like a Million"	Nam Hye-seung Park Jin-ho	Nam Hye-seung Park Jin-ho	Big Naughty	3:19
2.	"Feel Like a Million"		Nam Hye-seung Park Jin-ho		3:19
Total length:					6:38

Viewership

Season		Episode number																Average
		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16
	1	890	969	628	744	462	721	425	521	500	673	454	572	436	454	393	593	590

When the Stars Gossip : South Korea viewers per episode (thousands)

Source: Audience measurement performed nationwide by Nielsen Korea.^[24]

Average TV viewership ratings

Ep.	Original broadcast date	Average audience share (Nielsen Korea)[24]
		Nationwide	Seoul
1	January 4, 2025	3.324% (1st)	3.818% (1st)
2	January 5, 2025	3.883% (1st)	3.910% (1st)
3	January 11, 2025	2.237% (4th)	2.679% (3rd)
4	January 12, 2025	2.781% (2nd)	3.042% (1st)
5	January 18, 2025	1.8% (NR)	1.939% (6th)
6	January 19, 2025	2.905% (4th)	3.076% (2nd)
7	January 25, 2025	1.826% (10th)	2.144% (2nd)
8	January 26, 2025	2.199% (5th)	2.321% (1st)
9	February 1, 2025	2.075% (4th)	2.078% (3rd)
10	February 2, 2025	2.693% (1st)	2.791% (1st)
11	February 8, 2025	1.898% (3rd)	1.786% (3rd)
12	February 9, 2025	2.073% (2nd)	2.039% (2nd)
13	February 15, 2025	1.852% (3rd)	2.103% (3rd)
14	February 16, 2025	1.928% (2nd)	1.980% (1st)
15	February 22, 2025	1.783% (3rd)	2.097% (2nd)
16	February 23, 2025	2.550% (1st)	2.517% (1st)
Average		2.363%	2.520%
In the table above, the blue numbers represent the lowest ratings and the red numbers represent the highest ratings. This drama 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).