News bites: February 21, 2023

28 February 21, 2023February 21, 2023

by tccolb

Gong Yoo (The Silent Sea) and Seo Hyun-jin (Why Her) are a pairing that I never knew I wanted, and both are in talks for a new Netflix romance called Trunk. With PD Kim Kyu-tae (Our Blues) as the talent behind the camera and scripts by Park Eun-young (Hwarang), the story is based on a novel by Kim Ryeo-ryung, who also wrote the original novel series for the movie Punch. [Sports Seoul]

Speaking of Punch, Kim Yoon-seok (Escape from Mogadishu) is making his drama comeback with Netflix as well – his last drama being MBC’s Love Me When You Can back in 2006-7. Along with Yoon Kye-sang (Kiss Sixth Sense), Go Min-shi (Jirisan), and Lee Jung-eun (Missing: The Other Side 2), the four will be starring in the mystery-thriller Alone in the Woods. PD Mo Wan-il (A Couple’s World) is attached to direct with writing by Sohn Ho-young. [JTBC]

Honey Lee (One the Woman) has confirmed casting for MBC’s Flower That Blooms at Night (roughly translated), playing a dutiful widow by day and a masked hero at night. Production for the investigative comedy sageuk is being led by a team of four, with PD Jang Tae-yoo (Lovers of the Red Sky, Hyena) and PD Choi Jung-in (On the Verge of Insanity) co-directing alongside writers Lee Saem and Jung Myung-in. [MBC]
2023 is shaping up to be a big year for historicals and the sageuk king Choi Su-jong (My Only One) will be headlining KBS’s 50th anniversary series The Goryeo-Khitan War (working title). The Goryeo-era story will follow the real historical figure General Kang Gam-chan, with Lee Jung-woo (The King of Tears, Lee Bang-won) penning the scripts and directing helmed by PD Jeon Woo-sung (Strongest Deliveryman) as well as PD Kim Han-sol (Imjin War 1592). [News1]
Seol In-ah (Oasis) is considering an offer to star in a time-slip called Sparkling Watermelon, the newest project by writer Jin Soo-wan (Chicago Typewriter, Kill Me, Heal Me). Production is still in the planning stages and filming is set to begin once casting has been finalized, with PD Sohn Jung-hyun (Mental Coach Jegal) at the helm. [SpoTV News]

The promos continue for tvN’s Pandora with a new poster of our heroine Lee Jia (Penthouse 3). Also starring Lee Sang-yoon (One the Woman), Jang Hee-jin (The Red Sleeve Cuff), Park Ki-woong (The King’s Affection), and Bong Tae-kyu (Penthouse 3), the revenge-thriller will be taking over the weekend slot starting March 11. [Sports Donga]
Over on TVING, a new poster has dropped for Part 2 of Island, featuring leads Kim Nam-gil (Through the Darkness), Lee Da-hee (Love is for Suckers), Cha Eun-woo (True Beauty), and Sung Joon (Call It Love). The fantasy will be returning to our screens this week on February 24, with production continuing under director Bae Jong and writer Oh Bo-hyun. [Maeil Kyungje]

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1 Gikata

February 21, 2023 at 11:26 PM

1 - I like SHJ, but everything else feels like nope-bingo)))

3 - It's been a while since we saw Honey Lee in historical drama. Red Sky's PD is not banned from sageuks yet? Big mistake.

4 - epic Goryeo sageuk! History-based! Protagonist ISN'T royalty! What a great potential - both for ratings and controversies...

5 - as long as ML is decent and it's NOT a romcom (not writer's forte, I'm afraid). Title isn't giving me hope tho...

7 - give Miho more outdoor-friendly shoes before she trips and dooms the humanity by accidentally breaking her neck!

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2 mmmmm

February 21, 2023 at 11:26 PM

Whatttttttttt

Gong Yoo Seo Hyun-jin

Sign me up. NOWWWWWWWW

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I have been binge watching coffee prince since after it aired every year to commemorate gong yoo in a romance drama (I bleeped “big” out from ninety and pretend it never happened) and finally I’m getting it. Praying this one is escapes the “big” curse. I always thought gong yoo didn’t star in romances anymore after big because it flopped after his landslide success in coffee prince. I loved goblin but was never able to rewatch it like coffee prince because the main fl and her character sucked. I only watched it because of gong yoo and how fun the over drama and other characters were. But when I think of gong yoo I think of the king of romance that he was from his coffe prince days, and always lament the fact that he doesn’t do more dramas (he finds them exhausting) and we may never see him in another romance block buster before he or I are too old to care lol

TLDR I am super pumped for gong yoo to grace our small screens and praying it doesn’t turn out to be crap like big. I miss him in romances.

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kiara

February 22, 2023 at 4:24 PM

I'm calling the best kiss of 2023 with this pairing.

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Ally

February 23, 2023 at 4:33 AM

That was my first thought too!

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3 Anne18

February 22, 2023 at 12:22 AM

Comment was deleted

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4 jerrykuvira

February 22, 2023 at 1:23 AM

1 is a stroke of exciting good news.

With the kind of PD attached to 2 and the story it is based on, I'll prepare my mind for the crazy things to come. And I like the casting here.

3. Honey Lee. Investigative comedy. After One the Woman, I can bet on this a million times to be perfect. Hyena's PD and OTVOI's, I'm taken. I'm going to pretend I didn't see Lovers of the Red Sky in that PD's resume.

4. I've got so many things to say about this one. The title alone has shot me an arrow. The writer attached has me melting. The plot has me thinking about the many choreographies to grace my screen. You better be longer than 16 episodes.

I'll wait for more news on 5 before jumping in.

6 is really a Pandora. With each promo coming out I feel like there's more to this. The premiere is going to drive me somewhere.

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5 Wise

February 22, 2023 at 2:15 AM

How good Seo Hyun Jin is? Let say her acting is the only thing that made me watch “Why Her?” till the end. If that doesn’t speak so much volume I don’t know what will. I can’t wait for her new drama.

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6 Soyesterday

February 22, 2023 at 3:39 AM

Kim Soon-ok is the Lionel Messi of makjang dramas

If shes still the writer on Pandora, then its going to be a trashy flaming hot mess... and i will watch.... every.single.episode.

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7 Kafiyah Bello

February 22, 2023 at 4:11 AM

1. The way I screamed excitedly about this, until I saw the writer. lol. I will still watch because my love for Gong Yoo is unwavering and static. Maybe the writer will surprise.

2.hmmmmm

3. Honey Lee is always fabulous, so will try this.

4. Seol In Ah is working, good for her. She deserves it.

5. Pandora looks great, cheers to a BA woman even if she is a former assassin.

6.LOL, excited for this. I am entertained by Kokdu and this isn't nearly as bad.

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Tazzo

February 22, 2023 at 2:08 PM

Agreed for number 1. I screamed way too loudly and then shut up with fear of another “big” crisis when I saw the writer director and started praying lol

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Kafiyah Bello

February 23, 2023 at 4:17 AM

😭😭😂😂😂

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8 Unaspirated

February 22, 2023 at 5:42 AM

Trunk: I need to watch something with Seo Hyun-jin besides Oh Hae-young Again. That was a drama I enjoyed during the watch, but afterwards grew to like less and less as the annoying parts stayed with me and the good parts faded. Still very interested in any Gong Yoo situation though.

Flower that Blooms at Night: I just saw the words “masked hero” and I’m in.

Sparkling Watermelon: Even if this turns out to be wild, the name alone is fantastic.

Island: Nothing anyone can say can make me less excited to watch this again hahaha! The casual way KNG has one hand in his pocket while he holds his knife in the other? Perfection.

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cozybooks

February 22, 2023 at 7:01 AM

Sparkling Watermelon is a beautiful name I agree

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9 bong-soo

February 22, 2023 at 6:54 AM

A new addition to my list of upcoming historical/sageuk kdramas:
No. 4. Definitely. KBS’s THE GORYEO-KHITAN WAR looks epic.
(No. 3. MBC’s FLOWER THAT BOOMS AT NIGHT is already on my list.)

@kiara, We have a Goryeo set drama coming up. Do you have any further info on a possible drama set during the Silla Dynasty? I still come up empty on searching.

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kiara

February 22, 2023 at 10:30 AM

Hi @marcusnyc20, bong-soo.

Great news! Thank you for saving us from all these Joseon k-pop dress-up sageuks or whatever you call them.
Honey Lee is a must-watch, and PD Jang Tae-yoo would do better with a more mature lead/cast.
I'm glad KBS picked writer Lee Jung-woo for their 50th-anniversary sageuk. Like Jeong Hyun-min, he is well-versed in history with coherent old-school storytelling.
I like Choi Su-jong as a familiar face from Goryeo era/3 kingdoms sageuks, but the charismatic Kim Yeong-chul, with his commanding presence, will always be my sageuk king.
Did you watch "Empress Chun Chu?' This drama is set around the same timeline.
Let's hope KBS has learned its lesson on animal abuse. That ruined "King of Tears" for me.

I'm sorry I don't remember the title, but I'll look it up.
Don't you think "Our Blooming Youth" would have been better as a Shilla sageuk? The novel is set in the Tang Dynasty and it doesn't transition well to Joseon IMO. Oh well....

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Kurama

February 22, 2023 at 10:49 AM

I'm wondering why Lee Jong Won is the first name of male actor for the drama with Honey Lee... I liked him in Golden Spoon but I can't imagine this pair...

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kiara

February 22, 2023 at 11:33 AM

I've only seen him briefly in "My Unfamiliar Family." He is probably her sidekick? Lol, I mean, she is a one-woman show, and there is no need for romance with a widow in Joseon.

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bong-soo

February 22, 2023 at 5:07 PM

@kiara,
1. Lol, I can’t take credit for saving anybody from anything;
2. MBC’s FLOWER looks like it could be fun but there seems to be a lot of chefs in the kitchen (2 writers, 2 directors). Honey Lee is a blank slate for me. She has sageuk experience and of course I wish her well. The ML will be very important. I will have to wait for further info on this;
3. Great role for Choi Su-jong in THE GORYEO-KHITAN WAR. Agree about Kim Yeong-chul. He gave a terrific performance in KING OF TEARS: LEE BANG WON;
4.Unfortunately no I have not seen KBS’s EMPRESS CHEONCHU/THE IRON EMPRESS (2009) and at 70 episodes (those were the days) I probably won’t get to it lol. I love this description of the empress from the drama’s wikipedia page:
“ Determined to realize her ambitious goals for the kingdom of Goryeo, she dons armor, battles against foreign invaders, and tramples her lover, her son and brother in her rise to power.”
How about a remake? and
5. Re OUR BLOOMING YOUTH. It probably would have been better set in Silla but once the decision was made to make the prince a Crown Prince living in the palace in Joseon we have what we have. I haven’t seen this week’s episodes but I am enjoying Park Hyun-sik’s performance. Perfect casting. I am not sure about his personal bodyguard but that is another story.
I am intrigued about the Chinese dramatization of the original historical mystery novel “The Golden Hairpin” which all this is based on. A 60 episode dramatization from 2021 is on the shelf because of the ML Kris Wu scandal. If that can be ‘fixed’ and released I would probably give it a watch. I enjoyed the novel which is available in English.

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kiara

February 24, 2023 at 9:26 PM

@marcusnyc20
@wishfultoki, Goryeo, or Khitan? What say you?

2. For a sageuk, I like it when there is more than one PD or writer. It's a demanding genre.
3. Choi is 60 years old, which is not a problem since General Kang lived to be 82; I hope there is a younger version of him to do most of the fight scenes. Not that he can't do it, but he fell off a horse while filming "A KING'S DREAM," IIRC.
4. I enjoyed part of EMPRESS CHUN CHU but didn't love it. I'm not sure if I finished it or not. My favorite character was General Kang Jo. I think I stopped watching after he died. Lee Deok-hwa portrayed General Kang Gam-chan. Kim Ji-hoon was in it too. It was my first time seeing him in a sageuk.
5. It's cheaper to make it a Joseon-era sageuk, but Shilla could have been a breath of fresh air and might have been more interesting to the local viewers.
I read the first few chapters of the novel and kind of spoiled myself since the K-version follows the same story.
I read somewhere that they are reshooting the C-version with a different actor. I'll watch any Tang Dynasty drama, so I hope it's true. "Longest Day in Chang'an" still blows my mind.

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bong-soo

February 25, 2023 at 7:16 PM

I will get to LONGEST DAY at some point. It has been on my Viki US watch list seems like forever.

WishfulToki

February 26, 2023 at 9:57 AM

*crying in excitement at the thought of a Goryeo drama*

Thank goodness for anniversary dramas! MBN did great with BOSSAM as their 10th anniversary project in 2021 (has it been that long already?), so KBS should pull out all the stops for this one.

Don't you think "Our Blooming Youth" would have been better as a Shilla sageuk?
Yes. Yes. Yes! Though I wonder if it's also do with the fact that it stars Park Hyung-Sik. I miss his Mane of Glory from HWARANG 😂

bong-soo

February 26, 2023 at 11:56 AM

@wishfultoki, If you want to go down memory lane you can go to my fan wall. I have a HWARANG bts pic of the Park brothers: Seo-joon (hyung) and Hyung-sik sporting manes of glory lol.

kiara

February 26, 2023 at 12:11 PM

I would have loved to see him in his mane of glory too. I do not like the PD and writer of his current sageuk, so I wonder if it would have made any difference.

10 cozybooks

February 22, 2023 at 7:00 AM

Wow! All of these sound like fun, but I'm super intrigued by the new thriller and the gong yoo and Seo Hyun Jin painting:)

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11 Diana Hansen

February 22, 2023 at 7:27 AM

Gong Yoo
saeguks
Kim Nam-gil
Honey Lee
Count me in for all of them! I love saeguks so the more the better. Just watched Island in all its glory and can't wait for part two except I have to wait til I can get it on the dark side. Love Honey Lee and this sounds perfect for her. And I thought February was good!

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12 ladynightshade wants her own ryu sunjae

February 22, 2023 at 3:29 PM

1. DREAM PAIRING! DREAM PAIRING!! DREAM PAIRING!!! (In complete denial of the screenwriter)

2. Certainly one hell of a cast. Never would’ve imagined them together, but count me as interested.

3. Honey Lee back in a sageuk… I win.

4. GORYEO??!? WE’RE GETTING A GORYEO-ERA SAGEUK??? THIS IS NOT A DRILL!!!

5. The writer of my favourite drama of all time Chicago Typewriter? I’m in. I also like Seol In-ah, so that’s cool I guess. Sparkling Watermelon is a lovely title, I hope they don’t change it.

6. This drama will probably be a makjang mess, but Lee Jia looks really hot here.

7. I still need to watch Part 1 💀. I’m getting worse at keeping up with stuff.

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13 OldLawyer

February 24, 2023 at 7:24 AM

I had hoped for another historical from the writer of KING OF TEARS and it appears that we will be getting one.

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