What a record-breaking finale! tvN’s period romance drama Mr. Sunshine is now the highest-rated Korean cable drama of all time in terms of average viewership ratings, unseating Goblin: The Lonely and Great God from the top spot.

Mr. Sunshine’s final episode which aired Sunday night achieved a nationwide audience share of 18.129 percent, the series’ personal best in ratings, making the overall average rating of the series equal to 13.059 percent which is higher than Goblin‘s 12.924 percent by 0.135 percentage point. Mr. Sunshine has also unseated Goblin from the top spot in terms of ratings in the Seoul area as it pulled in an average rating of 14.747 percent, which beats Goblin‘s 14.729 percent.

The following are the top five highest-rated Korean cable dramas of all time (as of October 1, 2018) in terms of nationwide average ratings: Mr. Sunshine (no. 1), Goblin, Reply 1988 (12.428 %), Signal (8.821 %), and Strong Woman Do Bong Soon (7.649 %).

In terms of nationwide peak ratings, the following are the top five highest-rated Korean cable dramas of all time (as of October 1, 2018): Reply 1988 (18.803 %), Goblin (18.680 %), Mr. Sunshine (no. 3), Signal (12.544 %), and Woman of Dignity (12.065 %).

Mr. Sunshine tells the story of a man (played by Lee Byung-hun) who as a child was taken to the United States during the Shinmiyangyo incident in 1971 when a U.S. military expedition to Korea turned into armed conflict. He spent his life living in a foreign land since then and comes back to his motherland several years later as an American soldier, meeting an aristocrat’s daughter (Kim Tae-ri) who falls in love with him.

The drama marks the third collaboration of PD Lee Eung-bok and screenwriter Kim Eun-sook, following the commercially successful series Descendants of the Sun and Goblin. With the achievement of Mr. Sunshine, it is highly likely that Lee and Kim will consider working again together in the future.

In a comment, Lee Byung-hun thanked all the viewers for their interest, time, support, and love for the series. He said, “As the drama comes to an end, I remember all the moments throughout spring, summer, fall, and winter of this year. As my first drama in a long time, ‘Mr. Sunshine’ was a never-ending parade of excitement and nervousness.”

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