Spoilers: Legend of The Blue Sea - The Secret of a Mermaid

The hot new SBS drama "Legend of the Blue Sea". starring Lee Min Ho and Jun Ji Hyun, is garnering a lot of interest – and also a lot of questions about Jun Ji Hyun’s mermaid character. Recently, the production staff of the drama sat down to answer a few of those questions.

1. What is the color of Jun Ji Hyun’s tail?

In Episode 1, when Jun Ji Hyun was captured by greedy humans, the scales on her tail were gold. But in the current storyline they are silver. What happened?

Each mermaid has a unique tail color. The mermaid who met Dam Ryung (Lee Min Ho) back then had golden scales, and the mermaid who met Joon Jae (Lee Min Ho) in the modern day has silver scales. Just like Dam Ryung had a relationship with the golden mermaid, Joon Jae will also have a relationship with the silver mermaid. The two stories will unfold side by side and soon the viewers will understand how they are related.

2. What are the powers of mermaids and how do they affect the human world?

In Episode 2, it is revealed that mermaids communicate through telepathy, leading to a comic scene where a mermaid learns human language for the first time. The mermaid had the ability to absorb human language, culture, and even fighting techniques quickly, blowing away a group of gangsters with a powerful kick.

In Episode 1, one old fisherman said, “If a human lays hands on a mermaid, she can take away his soul and erase his memory. This is meant to defend mermaids against human attacks, but how it will affect the relationship between the mermaid and the human will unfold in the third part of the drama.

3. How did Jun Ji Hyun create the mermaid character?

Bringing a mermaid to life is no easy task – the actor has to perform underwater and then work has to be done in post-production. For many of her scenes Jun Ji Hyun needed to act as if swimming in deep water was natural and easy, with relaxed facial expressions. For the role, Jun Ji Hyun trained in swimming beforehand.

To make her job more difficult, the CGI that needed to be added later meant that she had to perform in a green chroma mermaid suit. Despite the lack of oxygen, the water pressure, and potential hypothermia, Jun Ji Hyun impressed the staff with her dedication to her craft.

Regarding what's gonna happen in the next few episodes, the production team give some spoilers:

Jun Ji Hyun's mermaid character, Shim Cheong will experience the life as a human in Seoul City and everything seems to be a whole new world to her. She looks dazed, confused and excited. It looks like more laughs are potentially in store for viewers as her character reacts to the streets of Seoul.

While holding a large shell in one hand and a flyer in the other, she looks lost as crowds of people pass by her. Furthermore, she looks longingly at some street food and appears to be hungry. 

Interestingly enough, her co-star Lee Min Ho is not by her side, leading viewers to speculate about how they got separated.

The drama team also released new stills from the upcoming episode featuring Lee Min Ho’s character in the past (Dam Ryeong).

Not much has been revealed about Dam Ryeong thus far. His character has been described as a kind romanticist that helped Jun Ji Hyun’s mermaid character. However, viewers will be seeing a strong and masculine side to Dam Ryeong through upcoming action scenes. 

The Joseon Dynasty character gets involved in some fighting as his enemies target him. At one point he even has a blade pointed at his neck.

The producers of the drama have promised that the upcoming episodes will make viewers fall more in love  (which I did already) with Lee Min Ho’s two characters as he shows off great acting skills. How could you be so cool and sexy?!