HÀ NỘI — The second season of Forever Young, a soap opera about friendship and love between young people from Việt Nam and South Korea, returns to Vietnamese television screens on November 3.

The Vietnamese-Korean co-production will air on VTV3 every Wednesday and Thursday.

The series tells about the lives, dreams and choices of young Vietnamese students who study in Seoul and struggle with conflicting emotions of friendship and love. The series centers on a Vietnamese student named Linh (played by Nhã Phương) and Junsu (Kang Tae-oh), a talented K-pop star. They overcome obstacles of distance and families to fall in love but are faced with a choice between love and career.

The show, the first collaboration between Việt Nam Television and the CJ E&M Corporation (South Korea), premiered in Việt Nam in 2014 and earned the highest ratings among the programmes aired at the same time.

The success of the series catapulted the actors and actresses to fame. Vietnamese actress Nhã Phương won the Asian Star award at the Seoul International Drama Awards. Before, she won the Impressive Actress Award, while South Korean actor Kang Tae-oh won the Impressive Actor award at the Việt Nam Television (VTV) Awards last year.

The first season ended leaving viewers in suspense over the fate of Linh’s and Junsu’s love affair.

Forever Young comes back with a new concept. Beside the familiar actors and actresses from the previous season - Nhã Phương, Kang Tae-oh, Hồng Đăng and Shim Hae-sun - new characters will be featured.

After four years apart, Junsu meets Linh once again in Việt Nam. He, meanwhile, took up with beautiful designer Cynthia (Jung Hae-na) when they worked in the US. Junsu and Linh now have to decide whether to leave their love story in the past or start a new beginning.

“We had many arguments during the filming but we know all directors want to make the second series better than the first season,” said local director Nguyễn Khải Anh who with his Vietnamese colleague Bùi Tiến Huy collaborated with South Korean director Lee Jeong-wook to produce the second season.

“The success of the first part of the series and the love of the audience are our motivation, but also put pressure on us, so we have to try better to preserve the youth’s passion, desire and enthusiasm, as well as to bring new wind to the second season.”

Beside Việt Nam and South Korea, the series with English subtitles has been aired on Channel M, which broadcasts to Southeast Asia, Australia, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

The soap opera was shot at many famous locations in both Việt Nam and South Korea, such as Hà Nội’s Sword Lake, Asian Park in Đà Nẵng and Hạ Long Bay in Việt Nam, and Namsan Tower, Sky Park, Nami Island and Everland Park in South Korea. — VNS