Real life seeps into some upcoming Korean drama series, with a pair of adaptations of non-fiction books about couples dealing with the ups and downs of life joining the release schedule.
Speaking of adaptations, a big Korean star makes his return to the small screen for a remake of a 1990s Japanese drama, while a new police show and inheritance drama are also in the mix.
Say You Love Me
After a 10-year hiatus actor Jung Woo-sung is making a small-screen comeback in the upcoming melodrama Say You Love Me, a remake of the 1995 Japanese TBS drama of the same name. Shin Hyun-been, Jung’s co-star in the thriller Beasts Clawing at Straws, has reportedly been offered the co-starring role.
The story concerns a deaf painter and his relationship with a young aspiring actress.
Jung is attending the Cannes Film Festival as one of the stars of the espionage action thriller Hunt, the directorial debut of Squid Game actor Lee Jung-jae. Shin rocketed to stardom in the medical drama hit Hospital Playlist and was back on screens last month in the Yeon Sang-ho-scripted horror series Monstrous.8 new Korean drama series to look out for in May 2022
The Married Couple Is Jobless
Yoon Kye-sang and Jung Ryeo-won are being courted to star in new project The Married Couple Is Jobless (translated title), a dramatic adaptation of a 2020 non-fiction book of the same name by Pyun Sung-joon. The story chronicles the experiences of a couple who decide to quit their jobs and enjoy their lives.
Yoon is being eyed for the role of Pyun Sung-joon, who worked as a copywriter in advertising for two decades prior to his abrupt departure, while Jung would play Yoon Hye-ja, a publisher with a degree in Korean literature.
Jung Ryeo-won, last seen in Diary of a Prosecutor in 2019, also recently signed on to Start Defense, alongside Lee Kyu-hyung. Meanwhile, Yoon ye-ja featured in Crime Puzzle last year and will be back on screens this week as the lead of the Disney+ drama Kiss Sixth Sense.
Curtain Call
First announced last year as A Tree Dies Standing, the retitled drama Curtain Call has firmed up its cast ahead of production and a planned release in the second half of this year.
Ha Ji-won has replaced the previously cast Son Ye-jin, joining existing cast members Kang Ha-neul and Oscar-winning Youn Yuh-jung. Ha will play the youngest daughter of the family that owns the Hotel Paradise. Kang will appear as an actor asked to pretend to be the son of the family’s matriarch, played by Youn, who emigrated from North Korea decades earlier.Also newly added to the roster is Sung Dong-il, as the hotel’s longest-serving employee. River Where the Moon Rises director Yoon Sang-ho will direct the KBS series, scripted by Midnight Runners’ Cho Seong-geol.Brain Cooperation
My Sassy Girl actor Cha Tae-hyun and Jung Yong-hwa of the band CNBlue have been offered the lead roles in Brain Cooperation (translated title), a new police show that will air on KBS. The actors are being courted to play police officers who engage in a fierce battle of wits as they team up to fight crime.
Filming is scheduled to kick off in July, with an air date expected in 2023. Lee Jin-seo, who last made the series Revolutionary Sisters, will direct the show.
X in Crisis
Kwon Sang-woo, Im Se-mi and Sung Dong-il are teaming up for the Wavve original drama X in Crisis (translated title). Based on the non-fiction book It Hurts Because I’m a Middle-Aged Man, the story concerns Mr A, a man who went to a prestigious school and landed a great job, only to fall on hard times later in life, when stocks and housing prices crash and he’s on the brink of losing his job.
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Kwon plays Mr A, while True Beauty’s Im Se-mi will feature as his wife, Ah-nae, who aspires to be a web novelist. Sung, Kwon’s co-star in The Accidental Detective films, plays neighbourhood doctor Heo Joon. Kim Jung-hoon, who directed Kwon in The Pirates: Goblin Flag, will direct the series.ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tK%2FMqWWcp51kuaqyxKyrsqSVZLhuvM6pZqRllKeurq2OmqmtoZOhsnB%2FkHBwaW5iZLe2usZmrqinXajCr7OMrJytZaSreq6xy6ibq5mdlnq0rdhmsKitXaG8t7GMppxmoJFit6p51qil