Gong Yoo and Kim Go-eun return to Jumunjin, red scarf and all

The four central stars of Guardian: The Lonely and Great God will stand together again before the same sea, 10 years after the drama became one of tvN's defining works. Gong Yoo, Lee Dong-wook, Kim Go-eun and Yoo In-na are heading to Gangneung for tvN's 20th-anniversary edition program, Brilliant Because We Are Together - Guardian 10th Anniversary Trip. The special is scheduled to premiere on July 4, 2026, at 9:10 p.m.

The significance of the program is that this meeting does not come across as merely another reunion variety show. Guardian: The Lonely and Great God is not remembered as a hit drama that simply passed with its broadcast run. It remains a series that viewers continue to recall through its filming locations, original soundtrack, lines and signature scenes.

The teaser makes its first impression through place rather than grand explanation. The four actors return to the Gangneung sea and the Jumunjin Breakwater, locations that served as the backdrop for important moments in the drama. For many viewers, the site is remembered as the place where Ji Eun-tak first summoned the goblin Kim Shin.

By placing the red scarf, buckwheat flowers and the familiar sound of Beautiful back on screen, the program does not push a new story too aggressively. Instead, it slowly reawakens memories that viewers already hold from the drama.

Gong Yoo says, "Let's have fun today and enjoy ourselves," while Kim Go-eun smiles and says, "It really has been 10 years since we came here." Lee Dong-wook's reaction, "Has it already been 10 years since Guardian?" captures the true point of the project. What lands as strongly as the fact that the actors have gathered again is the feeling that viewers and actors have lived through the same stretch of time together.

Guardian: The Lonely and Great God first aired in December 2016 and ended in January 2017. Its 16th and final episode recorded an average viewership rating of 20.5 percent and a real-time peak of 22.1 percent on paid platforms, surpassing what had then been seen as the ceiling for cable dramas. It was a record that overtook the 19.6 percent average rating for the finale of tvN's Reply 1988 after just one year.

That is why this trip feels closer to an event that brings back one of a channel's representative dramas than to a simple long-awaited meeting among the cast members of a popular series.

The force behind that record did not come from only one element. It came from the lines written by Kim Eun-sook, the images shaped by director Lee Eung-bok, the fantasy romance created by Gong Yoo and Kim Go-eun, the other love story built by Lee Dong-wook and Yoo In-na, and an OST that remained strong on music release charts. Those elements came together at once. They are also the reason a 10th-anniversary variety special is possible. Even after the drama ended, fans continued visiting particular scenes and locations, keeping the work alive as a memory embedded in everyday life.

The challenge of a reunion variety show is obvious. The sense of delight can be used up in the very first scene. For Guardian 10th Anniversary Trip to gain real force, it will need more than the sight of the four actors laughing together. It must also bring out the choices made during filming, the scenes that feel different when viewed again now, and the mix of distance and closeness that emerges when actors meet again after moving through their own careers.

The approach selected by the teaser is easy to understand. It chooses the filming location before a studio talk format. When actors walk through the same space together, there is a greater chance that natural conversation will surface than if their memories are prepared like scripted reminiscence. For fans, Gangneung's Jumunjin is already a place that needs no explanation, and for the actors, it is a starting point that can bring back the physical memory of the shoot.

The program carries the label of a tvN 20th-anniversary edition. From the channel's perspective, calling Guardian back does not end with revisiting past glory. Today's viewers consume series over a long period through clips, replays and OTT platforms rather than only through the original broadcast. In that environment, a program that gets people talking about a hit work again can become a gateway for new viewers.

The first broadcast is set for July 4, 2026, at 9:10 p.m. What kind of story the reunion of the four actors will become at the Gangneung sea and the Jumunjin Breakwater will be revealed through the broadcast.