Athena: Goddess of War

Athena: Goddess of War
Promotional poster for Athena: Goddess of War
Genre	Action Romance Thriller
Written by	Kim Hyun-jun Yoo Nam-kyung
Directed by	Kim Myung-jun Kim Tae-hun Hwang Jung-hyun
Starring	Jung Woo-sung Cha Seung-won Soo Ae Lee Ji-ah Kim Min-jong Choi Si-won
Composer(s)	Lee Dong-jun
Country of origin	South Korea
Original language(s)	Korean English Japanese Italian
No. of episodes	20
Production
Location(s)	Seoul, Rome, Venice, Belluno, Vicenza, Padova, Dolomites, Tottori, Honolulu and New Zealand
Running time	60 Minutes
Production company(s)	Taewon Entertainment
Release
Original network	Seoul Broadcasting System
Picture format	480i (SDTV) 1080i (HDTV)
Audio format	Stereo
Original release	13 December 2010 (2010-12-13) – 21 February 2011 (2011-02-21)
Chronology
Related shows	Iris Iris II
External links
Website

Athena: Goddess of War (Hangul: 아테나: 전쟁의 여신) is a South Korean espionage television drama series broadcast by SBS in 2010 and a spin-off of 2009's Iris. Budgeted at ₩20 billion (US$17 million) like its predecessor, the two series are among the most expensive Korean dramas ever produced.

Starring Jung Woo-sung, Cha Seung-won, Soo Ae, and Lee Ji-ah, the series premiered in December 2010 after filming in a number of overseas locations, including Italy, New Zealand, Japan, and the United States. The series is set in the same universe as its predecessor, allowing for select characters from Iris to reprise their roles throughout the story.

Developing on events set in motion in Iris, the story follows the fate of South Korea's ambitious nuclear energy program meant to unify the Korean Peninsula and position the country as the leader in the global energy race. As a result, a new counter-terrorism agency known as the National Anti-Terror Service is instituted and tasked with protecting the nuclear energy technology from potential threats at all costs. Among its ranks is seasoned agent Lee Jung-woo, a skilled operative that has grown tired of his job's uneventful day-to-day affairs. He soon finds the answer to his dull existence when fate introduces him to an efficacious villain by the name of Son Hyeok and the shadowy organization behind him known only as Athena.

The story begins around the same time as Iris, when Kim Hyun-jun is being hunted down by North Korean agents and branded a traitor while in Budapest. South Korean President Cho Myung-ho (Lee Jung-gil) expressed interest in advancing nuclear technology to lead the world with the most advanced and cost effective energy source of the century. To do this, he enlisted black-ops agent Dr. Kwon Yong-kwan (Yoo Dong-geun) to help retrieve a defecting North Korean scientist, Dr. Kim Myeong-guk.