Anna (South Korean TV series)

Anna is a South Korean web series, written and directed by Lee Joo-young, and starring Bae Suzy in the title role, along with Jung Eun-chae, Kim Jun-han, and Park Ye-young. It premiered on Coupang Play, on June 24, 2022.

Synopsis
The series tells the story of a woman who lives a completely different life starting with a small lie.

Main

 * Bae Suzy as Lee Yumi / Lee Anna
 * Kim Soo-in as 14-year-old Yumi
 * Choi So-yul as 6-year-old Yumi
 * A woman who loses her true identity and starts living a new, unpredictable life under a new name because of a minor lie that she made up.


 * Jung Eun-chae as Lee Hyeon-ju
 * Yumi's former boss. Born in to wealthy family, she runs a gallery owned by her father where Yumi was a terminal employee.


 * Kim Jun-han as Choi Ji-hoon
 * Yumi's husband. An ambitious, goal-oriented man. He is the CEO of a promising venture company, his own business he started at a young age.


 * Park Ye-young as Ji-won
 * Yumi's only confidante. A senior in the editorial department of a university school magazine.

Supporting

 * Kim Jung-young as Hong-joo
 * Yumi's deaf mother.


 * Choi Yong-jin as Lee Sang-ho
 * Yumi's father, a tailor.


 * Heo Hyeong-gyu as Kang Jae-ho
 * A college student Yumi dated while she was pretending to be a college student.


 * Woo Ji-hyun as Seon-woo
 * An employee at a restaurant owned by Hyeon-ju.


 * Kim Soo-jin as Chief Kim
 * An employee at Hyeon-ju's company who took care of Yumi.


 * Oh Man-seok as Mr. Lee
 * Hyeon-ju's father and owner of the gallery where Yumi worked.


 * Baek Ji-won as Hyeon-ju's mother
 * The director of the gallery where Yumi worked.


 * Yoon Ji-min as Professor Yoon
 * Hong Hee-won as Secretary Jung
 * Chu Kwi-jung as Jae-Ho's mother
 * Jang Ha-eun as Narae, student at Yale University.
 * Lee Je-yeon as Music teacher
 * Park Soo-yeon as Secretary Cho Yu-mi

Production
Filming of the series began on October 15, 2021 and concluded on March 23, 2022.

Controversy
On August 2, 2022, director Lee Joo-young accused Coupang Play for making major edits to the series without her consent. Though the final version of the series submitted by Lee was consisted of 8 episodes (45–61 minutes per episode), the series which premiered on July 24 consisted of 6 episodes (45–63 minutes per episode). Lee had requested to remove her name in the credits for director and screenplay, but that was ignored.

In a statement a day later, Coupang Play explained that they found that the director's editing was significantly different from what was initially agreed with them but when they requested multiple times to edit according to what was agreed, director refused it. Hence Coupang Play edited the work to match the original production intent, with the consent of the producer and in accordance with the rights stipulated in the contract. However, director Lee's side stated that she neither received request for corrections nor has she refused to do so. Further more, both Lee and editor Kim Jung-hoon claimed that they never received any opinions regarding editing from Coupang Play.

Previously on July 8, Coupang Play had announced to release a extended version of the series in August. Amidst the controversy, it was revealed to be the director’s cut which consists of 8 episodes. It was released on August 12.