Song Hye-kyo signs on for romantic K-drama Now We’re Breaking Up, busy Song Kang courted for another series
- After a break of more than two years, Song Hye-kyo will appear on TV screens in revenge drama The Glory, and alongside Jang Ki-yong in Now We’re Breaking Up
- Having starred in Netflix horror Sweet Home, Song Kang is favourite for the lead role in a new series from When the Camellia Blooms director Cha Yeong-hoon
As broadcasters, cable networks and streaming services compete against each other with full to bursting production pipelines, Korean drama casting announcements have been flying thick and fast recently.
Here are a few of the most exciting developments this month.
Now We’re Breaking Up
Song will play Ha Young-eun, the design team leader in a fashion company who is a self-disciplined realist. Meanwhile, Jang will play Yoon Jae-kook, a gregarious and charming freelance fashion photographer who is Young-eun’s opposite.
Joining the leads will be Choi Hee-seo of Deliver Us from Evil and Kim Joo-hun, last seen in Start-Up. Filming starts next month with an airing date expected in the second half of the year.
Office Romance Cruelty
He and Park Min-young (City Hunter) have been offered the leading roles in the upcoming JTBC series Office Romance Cruelty (literal title), the new show from When the Camellia Blooms director Cha Yeong-hoon.
Should they sign on officially, Song and Park would play Lee Si-woo and Jin Ha-kyoung, two employees at the Korea Meteorological Administration.
Island
The Fiery Priest lead Kim Nam-gil is returning to the small screen after signing on to Island, a Jeju Island-set supernatural thriller for OCN, in which he will play Ban, a mysterious ghost hunter on the island who is himself part human and part ghost, as he plays host to two different personalities.
The show will follow the arrogant and selfish Won Mi-ho, a corporate heir who finds herself banished to Jeju after an incident, where she now works as a high schoolteacher teaching ethics, but before long she gets caught up in a case relating to ghosts who are looking to rid the world of humans.
It’s Okay to Not Be Okay star Seo Yea-ji has been offered the role of Mi-ho, while Cha Eun-woo of True Beauty has also been courted for a supporting role.
High Class
The cast has been confirmed for the upcoming tvN series High Class, which will star Parasite actress Cho Yeo-jeong, Kim Ji-soo (Hwarang), Ha Joon (Missing: The Other Side), Park Se-jin (Hyena) and Gong Hyun-joo (The Goddess of Revenge). Former After School cast member Lee Ga-eun will also appear in a supporting role.
Taking after recent successes such as SKY Castle and The Penthouse, the show focuses on the web of deceit and hypocrisy woven by some powerful women. Jo plays a lawyer who loses everything when she is framed for her husband’s murder. Her son attends the elite HSC international school, which all the other characters are connected to.
Hometown
Currently making waves in the American indie film Minari, which has been building a very strong buzz ahead of this year’s Academy Awards, Han Ye-ri is in talks to star in Hometown, alongside Uhm Tae-goo (Save Me 2) and Yoo Jae-myung (Vincenzo). The mystery-thriller from cable network OCN focuses on a series of puzzling murders that take place in a small town.
Han is eyeing the role of Jo Jung-hyun, who helps her mother run a Chinese restaurant, but who experiences prejudice as she is related to terrorist Jo Kyung-ho, played by Um, who was behind a gas attack and is now serving a life sentence. Hometown will be a six-episode limited series.
Finger
Currently starring in the KBS2 romantic comedy Hello, Me!, Kim Young-kwang has been offered the lead role in Finger, a new Netflix series to be directed by Jung Ji-woo, known for Happy End, Eungyo and Tune in for Love.
