Q&A with the production team of The First Night with the Duke

Director Lee Woong-hee and screenwriter Jeon Sun-young answer our questions about the isekai web novel adaptation starring Taecyeon and Seohyun

Are you enjoying The First Night with the Duke as much as we are? If you haven’t picked it up, the drama adapts the Korean web novel of the same name, and tells the story of a down-on-her-luck young woman (Seohyun) who gets pulled into the story of her favorite escapist novel. Predictably, as much as she tries to stick to the plot, her presence has consequences… and she begins to attract the attention of the male protagonist (Taecyeon). You can watch the drama on Viki.

We got a chance to ask the PD and screenwriter of the K-drama our burning questions—and their answers give us a peek behind the scenes about the process of adapting a novel into a drama, the choices they made about what to change and what to keep the same, and even some fun anecdotes from set!

Dramas Over Flowers: The web novel The First Night with the Duke is set in a fantasy medieval European country. We understand that for a k-drama the transition to historical Korean setting makes a lot of sense. But what aspects did you have to pay attention to when making that switch from fake-historical Europe to fake-historical Korea?

PD Lee Woong-hee: There were many settings present in the original work that couldn’t be implemented in a Korean historical drama, so we tried to express them differently. For example, traditional Korean houses don’t have second floors, so scenes like jumping down from a balcony had to be changed. Also, Zeronis, who is a “duke,” can be seen as a powerful figure next to the king despite his dark past.

On the other hand, Yi Beon, who is a “royal relative,” is a descendant of the royal family but is more of a troubleshooter carrying out missions assigned by the king rather than an actual power holder. Therefore, we added the detail that he always wears dark-toned military-style clothing, as if a soldier always wears a uniform.

Since there are no carriages in this world, the protagonists have to run around more often compared to the original. We put effort into carefully changing Western elements one by one into Korean-style details like this, and I believe these adjustments also influenced the story’s development to some extent.

Writer Jeon Sun-young: In Korea, the historical drama “Sageuk” genre provided the most fitting backdrop for portraying the kind of class system and hierarchy you’d typically find in a medieval European fantasy setting. So we started by adapting the key social positions of the original characters in a way that would feel natural in a Korean historical context—like turning a duke into a royal family member, a count’s daughter into the youngest daughter of a high-ranking official (Yeonguijeong), and a baron’s adopted daughter into a merchant’s adopted assistant.

Once we shifted the setting to a sageuk-style world, we also wanted the theme of “the first night” to feel more provocative and meaningful than it might in a European context. In order to do that, we contrasted it with the extremely conservative values of the time, which helped us highlight the emotional weight and ripple effects of “that moment” in a more dramatic and entertaining way.

Another big reason why fantasy romance (or “Rofan”) is so popular is the rich, luxurious visuals. So we thought a lot about how to translate those eye-catching moments from the original into something uniquely Korean. For instance, instead of a European-style party, we used a traditional Korean social gathering centered around traditional liquor. We also added a royal selection ceremony (Samgantaek), which wasn’t in the original, to show the scale and grandeur of the royal court. And we used settings like Yukjo Street to incorporate more detailed elements of the period.

We really wanted to offer the same visual satisfaction as a European fantasy, but just in a Korean way. I think viewers will enjoy spotting the differences and similarities between the original and the drama. A lot of thought went into the art direction, and the production team did an amazing job bringing those details to life.

With The First Night with the Duke and the upcoming Omniscient Reader, we’re getting multiple isekai adaptations in 2025, where the main character falls into the plot of a story they know. Is this a new trend? Why do you think this kind of story is becoming popular?

PD Lee: Personally, I think it’s largely because so many fantasy dramas and films have already been produced. At this point, viewers have seen so much content that they can often predict what’s going to happen next just by looking at the setup—their expectations and standards have gotten incredibly high. So even if a story tries to go, “You didn’t see this coming, did you? Aren’t you curious?” the audience might respond, “Oh, I’ve seen this before—it’s going to go like this, right? Predictable.” I think the trend in Hollywood of producing mostly sequels and remakes is also a reflection of this.

In that sense, stories that feature protagonists who already know the plot—those that say, “Okay, you already know what’s going to happen, but what if we twist it like this?”—seem to resonate more with today’s viewers and readers. You could say creators have begun to acknowledge that “there’s no such thing as a completely new story under the sun,” and that has led to a more humble approach to storytelling, one that tries to meet the audience where they are.

I also think the rise in single-person households plays a role. Many protagonists in Isekai (other-world) stories tend to be people who live alone, feel isolated, or are going through difficult times in the real world. These characters more closely reflect the reality of many viewers today, which could be why they feel more relatable.

Writer Jeon: The premise of waking up one day as a character inside a novel or game has always been a popular storytelling cliché – I think that’s because almost everyone has at least one story they’ve loved so much, they imagined being part of it. The real challenge is whether that setup can be even more entertaining when brought to life on screen, and whether viewers can actually immerse themselves in a live-action version of that world.

I think one of the reasons “other-world” (isekai) stories have been gaining even more popularity lately is because they tap into that initial thrill of “escaping real life,” which was one of the core themes we had in mind from the start. Ironically, as stress and pressure in real life keep getting worse, and people feel increasingly powerless to change their situation, stories like this become even more appealing. I think there’s a subconscious desire in viewers to gain new energy and a sense of motivation through these stories.

Also, because the main characters in these settings aren’t bound by real-world limits, they can grow, evolve, and take on epic challenges – there’s so much room for creative expansion. That freedom is definitely a part of what makes these stories so popular.

What’s the most fun part of adapting a story from a web novel to a TV drama?

PD Lee: This was my first time working on a remake of an existing work. I think many people, myself included, assume that having this “map” makes it easier to reach the destination. But adapting a web novel into a drama feels more like turning a simplified map into a fully rendered 3D model. If the map shows a forest, we have to bring that forest to life with countless trees—considering where exactly it should be placed, how the sunlight filters through, and how that affects the characters. Every little detail needs to be thought through.

Also, since the pacing between a written work and a visual production are completely different, some scenes required additional dialogue or action compared to the original web novel. In particular, this story includes many moments where the protagonist recalls texts from a novel. In web novels or webtoons, readers are given the time to absorb that text, but in a drama, there isn’t time to read through a lot of on-screen writing—and too much text can even feel messy. So we had to think hard about how to simplify and effectively express those moments on screen.

Writer Jeon: The most fun part was being able to fully embrace and bring to life the kind of romantic lines that have traditionally only been accepted—or understood—within the romance fantasy genre. It felt like the ultimate, no-holds-barred version of romance. I even caught myself smiling while writing some of the lines. As a writer, that in itself felt like another kind of fantasy. And as a viewer of this series, I find myself experiencing a little bit of vicarious satisfaction with every episode 😊

In this drama adaptation, how did you change the story enough to maintain suspense while also staying true to the spirit of the novel? It must be challenging to adapt a story where the heroine already knows what’s going to happen in the story-within-the-story, and many viewers also know what will happen because they have read a previous version of the story.

PD Lee: Thankfully, the writer added a lot of detailed elements to make the story work better as a full-length drama. For example, the female lead now has older brothers, which is something that wasn’t in the original, and her parents’ roles were expanded too. That helped add more emotional weight to her journey, turning someone who used to be alone into a character who finds family in this new world. I think those additions made the story feel more relatable and engaging for a wider range of viewers.

We also made some bold changes. Instead of sticking to every major episode from the original, we left some out and focused on creating new scenes that could build tension. Since this is a visual medium, we wanted even the small moments to be fun to watch. The bomb shot (poktanju) scene is an example where we really tried to make it look cool and fun to watch on screen.

Writer Jeon: Yes, so we focused on how the story would change once the female lead intervenes. We treated K’s possession and involvement like a butterfly effect—raising the question of how she would deal with situations that start to diverge from the original plot. We wanted to highlight her active role and growth, as well as give the characters more drive through her new actions and breakthroughs. Throughout that process, we worked to naturally incorporate iconic scenes and strong episodes from the original work at just the right moments.

But since this is a series drama, we couldn’t focus only on romance, and we also needed to explore the characters’ development from multiple angles. So just when it might feel like there’s nowhere else for the story to go, we made sure unexpected challenges and events would appear. That’s probably where the biggest differences from the original came in.

Through this process, the theme grew beyond just romantic love between a man and a woman—it expanded into a deeper question of what it really means to be a protagonist. We also focused on developing the supporting characters’ stories more fully, weaving in twists that weren’t in the original. That helped enrich the overall plot and give the narrative more layers.

Do you have any funny or interesting behind-the-scenes anecdotes to share from the set?

Writer Jeon: Since I was rarely on set, this one’s probably best answered by the director... I’d say one interesting point is that from the middle of the shoot onward, Seohyun and Taecyeon—who were both deeply immersed in their roles as Sun-chaek and Prince Gyeong-seong—started actively pitching their own ideas for the romance scenes.

PD Lee: In Episode 3, there’s a scene where Sun-chaek forcefully feeds Yi Beon a traditional Korean snack called “jooak” at the Seonmun club. We filmed that scene on an extremely cold night—it was more than minus 10 degrees Celsius, and the temperature kept dropping since it was a night shoot. The props team had worked hard to prepare the jooak, but everything froze solid. It got to the point where it was physically impossible to bite into them.

We ended up scrambling to defrost them using a microwave and hand warmers, but they froze again almost immediately. So we had to heat them, film one bite, then heat them again and film the next bite—it was a whole process. Our lead actors are on the younger side, and especially Ok Taecyeon, who plays Yi Beon, has such a cheerful personality. So no matter how tough the shoot got, I remember everyone joking around and having a good time on set—it was always lively and full of energy.