October 30 (2021-10-30) – December 19, 2021 (2021-12-19)
Chimera (Korean: 키마이라; RR: Kimaira)[a] is a South Korean television series directed by Kim Do-hoon and written by Lee Jin-mae. Starring Park Hae-soo, Lee Hee-joon and Claudia Kim, the series tells the story of three leading characters who dig through secrets of the past 30 years to find a culprit named 'Chimera'.[3] It aired every Saturday and Sunday at 22:30 on OCN from October 30 to December 19, 2021. (KST).[4][5]
Synopsis
The title of the drama is borrowed from Greek mythology. Chimera is the name of a monster that has the head of a lion, the body of a goat, and the tail of a snake, and breathes fire through its mouth.
An explosion took place in the past. That explosion led to a serial murder case known as the Chimera case. 35 years later, a similar explosion takes place.
Cast
Main
Park Hae-soo as Cha Jae-hwan, 35 years old, a perfectionist homicide detective
Nam Gi-ae as Cha Eun-soo, 60 years old, Jae-hwan's mother
Kang Shin-il as Han Joo-seok, 60 years old, head of the Violent Crimes division
Joongsan West Special investigation headquarters
Woo Hyun as Bae Seung-gwan, 60 years old, Joongsan Police Chief
Heo Jun-seok as Go Kwang-soo, 38 years old, head of the Special Investigation Headquarters
Kwon Hyuk-hyun as Lee Geon-yeong, 29 years old, representative of a powerful team of special investigations. A young detective who is best friends with Jae-hwan. He is jealous of Eugene, former FBI agent[6]
Yoon Ji-won as Jang Ha-na, 29 years old, an agent of the special investigation team. She is good at computers and works in an image analysis room[7]
Kim Ji-hoon as Jo Han-cheol, 42 years old, homicide detective
Jung Young-ki as Im Pil-seong, 38 years old, homicide detective
Seo-ryun group
Kim Gwi-sun as Lee Min-ki, 64 years old, Member of Parliament[8]
Kim Ho-jung as Lee Hwa-jeong, 58 years old, president of Seoryun Hospital
Lee Ki-young as Seo Hyun-tae, 64 years old, Chairman of Seo-ryun Group
Others
Cha Joo-young as Kim Hyo-kyeong, 35 years old, an elite reporter belonging to the investigative reporting team of a broadcasting company[9]
Lee Seung-hoon as Ham Yong-bok, a former detective who was involved in the Chimera investigation with Joo-joo and Seung-gwan, and now owns a beauty salon.[10]
The filming of the series, produced at a cost of ₩13 billion, was temporarily halted in June 2019 due to sexual harassment allegations.[2] An assistant director (the offender) and producer were fired as a result. Production company JS Pictures issued an apology to the victim (a writer) and the cast and crew.[11]
The series was slated for release in the second half of 2019, but did not air until October 2021 for unspecified reasons.[12][1]
Viewership
Chimera : South Korea viewers per episode (thousands)
Season
Episode number
Average
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
1
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
319
N/A
395
N/A
433
N/A
427
N/A
524
TBD
Source: Audience measurement performed nationwide by Nielsen Korea[13]
In the table above, the blue numbers represent the lowest ratings and the red numbers represent the highest ratings.
This drama airs on a cable channel/pay TV which normally has a relatively smaller audience compared to free-to-air TV/public broadcasters (KBS, SBS, MBC and EBS).
Note
^In Greek mythology, Chimera is a monstrous fire-breathing hybrid creature.
^"박해수X수현X이희준, 다채로운 매력 담은 2차 티저 공개 ('키마이라')" [Park Hae-soo X Soo-hyun X Lee Hee-joon, the 2nd teaser full of colorful charms released ('Chimera')]. Ten Asia. October 1, 2021. Retrieved October 1, 2021 – via Naver.
^Kim Young-woong (October 13, 2021). "권혁현, '키마이라' 출연 확정...박해수 절친 이건영 役 [공식]" [Kwon Hyuk-hyun confirmed to appear in 'Chimera'... Park Hae-soo's best friend Lee Kun-young [Official]]. Sports Kyunghyang (in Korean). Naver. Retrieved October 13, 2021.
^Park Pan-seok (October 6, 2021). "윤지원, '키마이라' 특별 수사팀 막내 요원 장하나 변신 [공식]" [Yoon Ji-won, transforming into Jang Ha-na, the youngest agent of the special investigation team for 'Chimera' [Official]]. OSEN (in Korean). Retrieved October 6, 2021.
^Park Soo-in (October 21, 2021). "김귀선 '키마이라' 출연, 야당 실세 현직 국회위원 된다" [Kim Gwi-sun to appear in 'Chimera' and become an incumbent incumbent member of the opposition party]. Newsen (in Korean). Naver. Retrieved October 21, 2021.
^"[공식] 차주영, 130억 규모 '키마이라' 주연 합류..엘리트 기자로 활약 예정" [[Official] Joo-Young Cha joins the lead role in 'Chimera' worth 13 billion... Planned to work as an elite reporter] (in Korean). Seoul Economy. April 12, 2021. Retrieved October 3, 2021.
^Son Jin-ah (October 15, 2021). "이승훈, '키마이라' 출연 확정…열일 행보 시동 ON" [Lee Seung-hoon confirmed to appear in 'Chimera'... Start working hard] (in Korean). MK Sports. Retrieved October 15, 2021 – via Naver.
^"'키마이라' 측 "성추행 피해자에 죄송→가해자 2명 책임 물을 것" [전문]" ["Apology to the victim of sexual harassment - The two perpetrators held accountable"]. Xportsnews (in Korean). July 16, 2019. Retrieved March 5, 2023.
^Lee, Jung-hyun (April 26, 2019). "박해수·이희준·수현, 드라마 '키마이라' 주연" [Park Hae-soo, Lee Hee-joon, Soo-hyun to star in the drama 'Chimera']. Yonhap News Agency (in Korean). Retrieved October 1, 2021.
