Mouse (TV series)

Mouse is a South Korean television series starring Lee Hee-joon, Lee Seung-gi, Park Ju-hyun, and Kyung Soo-jin. Directed by Choi Joon-bae and Kang Cheol-woo and written by Choi Ran, the story follows detective Go Mu-Chi (Lee Hee-joon) as he works alongside rookie officer Jeong Ba-reum (Lee Seung-gi) to hunt a serial killer.

The series aired on tvN on Wednesdays and Thursdays from March 3 to May 20, 2021. It was ranked 3rd hottest drama for the first half of 2021 based on KT's online video service (OTT) Seezn, and ranked 5th in tvN's all-time Wednesday and Thursday series (based on a paid platform integrated with cable, IPTV, and satellite/provided by Nielsen Korea).

Background
Screenwriter Choi Ran was inspired by an elementary school murder case that occurred in Incheon, South Korea, in 2017. During the murder trial, when asked about the most difficult thing the defendant is facing right now, the defendant responded, "The weather is nice, but it's the hardest for me not to see cherry blossoms.“ Seeing that the murderer felt no remorse or guilt, Ran developed the drama against this backdrop, as he wanted to see 'psychopath murderers feel the pain, reflect on their actions, and atone. Even if there's only a slight chance that they will feel empathy, they should understand their sins sincerely and feel remorse. That would be the best punishment and salvation for the psychopathic murderers.'

Synopsis
The story follows detective Go Moo-chi (Lee Hee-joon)'s attempt to catch a psychopathic serial killer, after witnessing a horrific incident as a child and dealing with his demons from the trauma. Along with his rookie partner Jeong Ba-reum (Lee Seung-gi), he attempts to unearth the truth behind psychopathic behaviours and find answers about the genetic predispositions towards psychopathy — and how one might act on the knowledge in the event that such predispositions could be detected.

Main

 * Lee Seung-gi as Jeong Ba-reum, a rookie police officer whose life changes after a confrontation with a psychopathic serial killer.
 * Lee Hee-joon as Ko Moo-chi, a detective who is willing to bend the rules to catch criminals.
 * Song Min-jae as young Ko Moo-chi
 * Suh Dong-hyun as teen Ko Moo-chi
 * Park Ju-hyun as Oh Bong-yi, a confident and tough high school senior who lives with her grandmother and practices martial arts daily.
 * Kyung Soo-jin as Choi Hong-ju, a talented production director of a reality TV program known as "Sherlock Hong-ju" at channel OBN.

Ba-reum's friends

 * Lee Seo-jun as Na Chi-guk, a new prison guard at Mujin Detention Center. He is best friends with Ba-reum since high school.
 * Woo Ji-hyun as Gu Dong-gu, a prison guard and Ba-reum and Chi Kook’s friend. He was in the same class with Ba-reum and Chi-guk at a private academy.

People around Ko Moo-chi

 * Kim Young-jae as Ko Moo-won, Moo-chi's elder brother. He is a priest temporarily housed in the basement of a church. When he was young, he was saved from being killed by a serial killer, but has become disabled since. He is isolated from his younger brother Ko Moo-chi.
 * Jo Yeon-ho as young Ko Moo-won

People around Oh Bong-yi

 * Kim Young-ok as Kim Gat-nam, Bong-yi's grandmother

===Police Station ===
 * Pyo Ji-hoon as Shin Sang, a freshman detective working under detective Go Moo-chi
 * Ahn Nae-sang as Park Du-seok, head of the Military Manpower Administration Evidence Storage Team and former successful homicide detective
 * Hyun Bong-sik as Bok Ho-nam, leader of the Mujin Bokbu Police Station Violent Team
 * Yoon Seo-hyun as Gang Gi-hyeok, a detective inspector and former colleague of Moo-chi
 * Kim Min-soo as Lee Min-soo, a detective
 * Jeong Seok-yong as Woo Jae-pil, Du-seok's former partner

Others

 * Ahn Jae-wook as Dr. Han Seo-joon, a genius neurosurgeon doctor at Guryong Hospital
 * Kim Jung-nan as Sung Ji-eun, Dr. Han's wife
 * Kwon Hwa-woon as Sung Yo-han, an emergency medical resident at Mujin Hospital. He is the youngest doctor in Korea to pass the state examination.
 * Jo Jae-yoon as Daniel Lee, a doctor of genetics and a criminologist
 * Jung Eun-pyo as Kang Deok-soo, a child sex offender
 * Song Jae-hee as Woo Hyung-chul, Jae-pil's son and a lawyer
 * Yoo Yeon as Hyung-chul's mother
 * Ha Young as Song Soo-jung
 * Kim Kang-hoon as Jae-hoon
 * Seo Woo-jin as younger Jae-hoon, a mysterious child born in 1995 whose family is murdered one day making him a key suspect in the case
 * Son Woo-hyeon as Kim Joon-seong, Yo-han's classmate and friend
 * Jung Ae-ri as Choi Young-shin, a corrupt Secretary General in the Blue House who voted in favour of the Kill Psychopath Fetus Bill in 1995
 * Kim Ha-eon as Kim Hankok, a kidnapped kid
 * Cherish Maningat as Hankook's mother
 * Go Woo-ri as Jennifer Lee, Daniel Lee's sister and Han's former girlfriend
 * Kang Mal-geum
 * Cheon Jeong-ha as Chi-guk's mother. This was the last drama role portrayed by Cheon before her death in 2021.
 * Jin Seo-yeon
 * Ma Dong-seok
 * Kim Yo-han as a brain transplant patient (episode 20)

Production
In April 2020, Lee Seung-gi and Choi Jin-hyuk were offered to star in the series. In June, Lee Seung-gi was confirmed to play a rookie police officer. On October 29, reports revealed that rapper P.O would star in the drama after he was spotted attending the script reading. A rep from the network confirmed, "It's true that P.O will be starring in the new drama 'Mouse'."

Release
On July 1, 2021, Series Mania, an international festival dedicated to television series from around the world, announced the line-up for its 2021 Program taking place in Lille, France, between August 26 to September 2, 2021. The line-up included Mouse, where it will have its first French premiere in the international panorama category to be chaired by Florence Aubenas. On July 28, 2021, it was announced that Mouse will be included in the "2021 K-format Virtual Screenings in the US” held by KOCCA.

Audience viewership
The drama broke the record for the highest viewership ratings among all tvN's Wed-Thur dramas in more than two years. It also placed 1st in its time slot across all channels among the 20-49 age demographic. The finale's real-time online viewership rate of TVING on the Korean network platform hit a record high of 90.6%.