Seo Kang-joon Returns in KBS Romance Drama 'A Love Other Than Yours'

Actor Seo Kang-jun is stepping into the role of a boyfriend who has stood by the same woman for a decade. His new project is KBS 2TV's upcoming weekend drama "A Love Other Than Yours", a grounded romance about a couple 10 years into their relationship.

On August 31, the production team behind "A Love Other Than Yours" released a written interview with Seo ahead of the show's premiere. The series follows a longtime couple who begin to face unfamiliar emotions within a relationship that had come to feel routine. Seo plays Namgoong Ho, a man who has been in a relationship with with Lee Mi-do, played by Ahn Eun-jin, for 10 years and has built his life around a future with her.

Seo said the character pulled him in from his first read of the script. "Namgoong Ho was the first thing that caught my eye," he said. He described the character as delicate and warm, but with a cool steadiness underneath. "He compromises with reality but never crosses a certain line. He didn't feel like a carefully built character. He felt like a real person who could be living somewhere out there."

He also explained what made him sign on. "Dramas usually let you experience a fantasy or fill some kind of void, but this one sits right next to real life," he said. "It tells our story through love, which is a theme every human shares, and through that it looks at life and growth. That's what drew me in even more."

Seo pointed to one word to sum up how Namgoong Ho loves: sacrifice. "Going to work, saving money, putting up with the unfair parts of daily life. He does all of it for a future with Mi-do," he said. "He's the kind of person who would do anything for the one he loves."

He also talked about what he focused on while playing the role. "I wanted his deep thoughts and worries to come through in his eyes more than in his words," he said. "I kept thinking about the feelings and the life that weren't written on the page."

On working with Ahn, Seo said the first thing that came to mind was how they simply understood each other without needing an explanation. "We talked a lot about treating that sense of familiarity as the most important thing. The comfort that only long-term couples have, where you can read each other without words. We wanted to show it as it is," he said. "Even in scenes that needed emotional depth, our takes on the material matched surprisingly well."

Seo said the drama covers many of the feelings that show up over the course of a real relationship, including jealousy, boredom, love and resentment, understanding, and sacrifice. "The wavering you might feel within that familiarity and boredom, and the deep history a long-term couple builds despite all of it. I think that will move people and make them want to root for the couple," he said.

"A Love Other Than Yours" premieres on September 12 at 9:20 p.m. KST.