The popular SBS drama Stove League, starring Namgoong Min and Park Eun-bin, is set to be remade in Japan. 

On August 28, Studio S, a drama production and distribution company under the SBS Media Group, signed a collaborative agreement with Japan’s NTT Docomo and Yoshimoto Kogyo’s joint venture, NTT Docomo Studio & Live, at the 'BCWW 2024' event held in Seoul's COEX.

Stove League, which originally aired on SBS in 2019, tells the compelling story of a new general manager who arrives at the bottom-ranked professional baseball team, Dreams, and prepares for an extraordinary off-season, referred to as the "stove league" in baseball terms. The drama was a massive success, achieving a peak viewership rating of 20.8%, and was praised for its strong storytelling and outstanding performances by its cast, including Namgoong Min and Park Eun-bin. The series won several awards, including the Grand Prize at the SBS Drama Awards and Best Drama at the 2020 Baeksang Arts Awards.

The remake in Japan is highly anticipated, with fans eager to see how the critically acclaimed series will be adapted for a Japanese audience.

At the signing ceremony, Hong Sung-chang, head of Studio S's drama division, was joined by actors Ha Do-kwon and Cha Yup, who played key roles in the original series as franchise star Kang Doo-gi and reliable catcher Seo Young-joo, respectively.

Hong Sung-chang expressed his enthusiasm, stating, "Studio S is strengthening its production and distribution capabilities aimed at the global market through its merger with SBS Content Hub, SBS’s content distribution subsidiary. We hope that this opportunity to co-produce and collaborate on Stove League will enhance our competitive edge in the Japanese market."

Studio S plans to use this agreement as a stepping stone to directly participate in the Japanese drama market, seeking to produce content with strong global market potential and bolstering its production and distribution capabilities within Japan.

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