Kim Nam Gil Finishes Military Service Shortly and Considers Sageuk Drama Comeback

The rise of Kim Nam Gil is one of those odd stories that doesn’t quite have the same impact unless you lived through it, like I did. Here was this career character actor, that at most played a second lead in Goodbye Solo and was remembered as the dead ex-husband of the heroine in the daily drama Be Strong Geum Soon that launched Kang Ji Hwan and Han Hye Jin into stardom. He gets this secondary part of Bidam in the mega-sageuk Queen Seon Doek, where Uhm Tae Woong is the male lead with Lee Yo Won, and then proceeds to steal the drama so utterly and thoroughly that MBC rewrites freakin’ Shilla history for him to make the titular Queen love him instead of the lead. Talk about “woah”. I think it’s a shame Kim Nam Gil was schelpped off to military service just when he made it, and he left at the tail end of Bad Guy rendering the already wobbly drama into a mess of epic proportions. The ending made no sense to the point I wondered if I hallucinated it all. But time passes without a glance, and in two weeks Kim Nam Gil finishes his MS and returns to K-ent. What’s in store for him? Looks like he’ll pick a project to jump into right when he comes out.

Turns out he’s apparently as hot as he was when he left. He’s already been approached with multiple drama offers, and his agency has revealed that he is seriously considering the KBS drama Woochi. Based on the legend of Jeon Woochi (which was made into a time-traveling movie with Kang Dong Won), the drama will tell of the descendants of Hong Gil Dong. Jeon Woochi is reportedly accused of killing his master Hong Gil Dong and goes on the lamb in Joseon Korea. I hope Kim Nam Gil takes this drama because it sounds right up his alley. His Bidam performance in QSD was quite legendary. So much so I would get daily phone calls from family members during the airing of QSD (i.e. the female persuasion) screaming “Bidam!!!” and wanting to talk about him. Yes yes, he was awesomely quirky and hot eating a chicken, wielding a sword, and having a mopey love for Deok Man. I find Kim Nam Gil a performer capable of rising above even risible dramas, and he suits intense characters like no other. Looking forward to his return to the screen whether big or small. If he does take on the title role of Woochi, the drama is slated to follow Nice Guy on Wed-Thurs on MBC premiering around November.


Comments

Kim Nam Gil Finishes Military Service Shortly and Considers Sageuk Drama Comeback — 36 Comments

  1. First, Yay!! Happy Fourth of July Koala unni. Please kdrama gods make him accept the role of woochi and have him dress in black and swield a sword and looking smoking HOT and show his choc abs. I love him in QSD but feel that he was wasted in Bad Guy due to the military thing. Now, I am very happy that he is back and hope he be in a lot of dramas. =) I do hope he will be with the other duo LYW and UTW in another drama again. I love love triangle.. =)

  2. Alt D + Ctrl C + Ctrl V on my FB account => there, all my friends are gonna be so happy to read the news. Thanks, Mrs Koala. 🙂

  3. Chingu, unfortunately you didn’t hallucinate the ending of Bad Guy. Oh how I wish it was a mass hallucination!

    Anyway, I caaaan’t wait to see him back on my screen again. Let’s prepare for unbelievable hotness! *g*

  4. I can’t believe he’s almost out. I was in Korea while Bad Guy was airing and the whole you-must-come-to-the-army-now thing was going down. Poor Bad Guy. It wasn’t just the abrupt departure of its leading man that screwed it over; the FIFA World Cup didn’t help, either. Which doesn’t really excuse the awful writing (what WERE they thinking?!?), but I’m sure it didn’t help. But it was still one of the most gorgeous dramas I’ve ever seen, and it’s too bad that it went nuts, because it was just the right kind of moody for me. Not to mention Kim Jae-wook (~sniffle~ I miss him!) was totally amazing in a screwed-up, broken kinda way.

  5. Good day Ms Koala. I woke up to see these two beautiful men as your new posts (Kim Rae Won and Kim Nam Gil) and thought, she likes me. LOL. I am a fan of KRW but have not seen his latest drama because I can get depressed on my own. As for KNG, well I think this man is headed for greatness. Bad guy may have ended badly but what a great drama. I would like to see him act again so that I can prove to myself he is a great actor.
    On a side note, I would like to say that the first lines of our declaration of independence states that we are all born free and equal but it takes government to protect those freedoms. Sorry to use this forum to get that out but I read the news before I read your posts and got a little upset.
    Thank you always for your blog. I told you before that reality sucks and getting away for a few moments through drama is wonderfully therapeutic.
    I know you are watching IDID so you know my angst is strong these days with these two dramas. They are great dramas nonetheless.
    Have a great day.

  6. Korea has a long history but watching dramas you would think that all of it was Joseon era. I want other time periods. **of of rant**

    Ok Bad guy was my first drama ever. I was browsing Hulu 2 summers ago on on the front page they had Bad guy featured. I clicked on it and 2 years on dozens of dramas later I am here on Koalas commenting on dramas. full circle.

    • There have been a bunch of dramas showing other time periods like God of War which depicts Koryo, King Geunchogo depicts Baekje, King Gwanggaeto depicts Gorguryo, etc.

    • @coolrepublica

      I think Joseon era sagueks take up at most half of the saguek dramas, but that leaves a cool 50% remaining for all the other eras. That does feel like Joseon dominates, and as a particular era it does. But there are TONS (I mean tons and tons) of non-Joseon sagueks.

      My first three sageuks in a row were non-Joseon era. When I got to a Joseon sageuk, I was like “what the hell is this mincing around, gimme swords and armor, ROAR!”

      Here are some suggestions:

      Seodongyeo – conflict between Baekje and Shilla
      Jumong – the formation of the Gorguryeo dynasty
      Jamyunggo – conflict between Nakrang and early Gorguryeo
      Queen Seon Deok – Shilla
      Kim Soo Ro – the unification of 12 tribes to form Geumgwan Gaya dynasty
      Gye Baek – Baekje

      ……and many more. I personally LOVE the non-Joseon era sageuks.

  7. I have even more respect for him because he chose to do the movie “No Regret” which I thought was just a hallucination because it was SO good. That movie had so little of a budget , the actors apparently didn’t just do it for near free, but the whole cast donated to get a wind-maker for one of the last scenes. It was also centered around homosexual love in the male-host industry – so kudos for that too.

    He’s just a stunning actor and a great guy. I can’t wait to see him back. (If I have to live through another Kim-Rae-Won-comes-back-and-is-boring-and-dull I’ll cry.)

    • I loved No Regret. I didn’t know about the background of the movie, so thanks 🙂 Makes me appreciate it even more

  8. omg!!! So happy to read this. Kim Nam Gil is my *cat-nip*.
    Everything I’ve seen him in…he’s fearless. (and also naked alot, which he does well, casually)

    In *Portrait of a Beauty*…when the femal lead paints a flower on his bare back, then presses her (equally bare) chest to him to create an inked copy…swoon/dies. That was one hella-HOT scene.

    Welcome Back Nam Gil !!!!!!! woooooot. (happy Dance ~ ~ ~)
    p.s. If only Lee Min Ki can get cast in the same show, I would die of happiness.

    • Wow, a woman after my own heart. Kim Nam-gil is my favorite actor, with Lee Min-ki a close second. If they got reunited, it would be epic swoon! I actually would like to see Kim Nam-gil in a great movie, while I prefer Lee Min-ki in dramas.

  9. hello !! finally!! i’m so happy like evrerybody here!
    He also played in drama Lovers with lee seo jin, I noticed him at that time and was wondering why it took him so long to have this succes which he deserves! it’s a shame that PD nim s didn’t see him before, and didn’t choose him for playing the first roles before Queen SD!

    ps! i’m not very strong in english, sorry, but i wanted to share this excitement about his return!

    • Once you mentioned Lover, it click my memory. OMG that’s was Nam Gil? I dont even realize it. He was so damn cute as a left hand of mafia boss. A cool yet clueless-about-love kinda gangster, reminds me of a cold sweet black forest (cant resist a sweet bad ass guy). I may not a Nam Gil fan, yet I find him very attarctive in every project he had most because of his wonderful acting even if it is a minor role.
      Bravo Kim Nam Gil.

  10. He is also briefly in Kim Samsoon as a doctor. Army of Bidam Lovers represent!! If Woochi means Kim Nam Gil in a mane of glory, well then! I think we can all agree that would be a good thing!

    • Yes!!!! Mane of Glory was all that I was thinking too….and if this Woochi is going to have that whole swashbuckling, rogue thing going (like in the movie) then this is totally up Kim Nam Gil’s alley and also a total change from Bidam and whatever the name of his character was in Bad Guy

  11. No not Kang Dong Won’s Jeon Woo Chi! I was hoping he will be the one to reprise that role in the small screen for his kdrama comeback!

    And I am still not a part of the whole Kim Nam Gil fandom. Bitter about Bidam stealing the glory from Yu Shin, can’t let that one go. *mygrumblingswillneverend*

  12. now this is EXCELLENT, or as my daughter, the master of understatement put in:

    OH. Say. (with a wiggle of the eyebrows)

  13. BIDAM!!!

    haha! I was definitely one of those QSD Bidam fanatics back in the day! Oh, good times! Wow, two years flew by so fast. I’m anticipating his drama comeback. Woochi sounds like my kind of drama though I’m hoping it’s not a 60 ep saeguk like QSD. That extension was absolutely ridiculous!

  14. The only reason I endured and loved QSD was my Bidam!!!!! Am so excited that he’s now coming out of MS soon and possibly doing a sageuk drama…. Looking forward to see his muscle toned upper body….ooooohhhhh lalalaaaaaaaaaaa Thanks for this news madam K.

  15. I miss him. So glad that he will be back on screen soon. I actually like him prior QSD which I FF alot cos its too long & I dun watch saguek often .but I endure BG lousy ending just for him do maybe I will watch the new show if he starred in it.

  16. Two full years of drama watching (I also started two summers ago) and I STILL haven’t watched Kim Nam-Gil in anything. QSD is too long and then the entire Kdrama community has essentially ruined Bad Guy for me so I’m not really interested (except I did watch that one elevator scene, omg). It upsets me because he’s such a HOT guy (I watch dramas for all the right reasons). Wow, it just hurts looking at those pictures.

    But anyway, does anyone have any Kim Nam-Gil recommendations? Not QSD or Bad Guy (I’ll watch it eventually)…Maybe a movie?

    • He was in Lovers as the left-hand man of the lead Lee Seo Jin. He was such a cutie pie.

      He was in movies ‘No Regret’ and ‘Portrait of a Beauty.’

    • The best drama Kim Nam Gil has done is Goodbye Solo, that is almost permanently on my top-10 list of best K-dramas ever. It’s…..different. It’s Noh Hee Kyung at her most amazing. KNG was actually quite iffy in it, maybe a weak link at some points, but he played a VERY difficult character to portray. If you love GS it changes your drama viewing experience completely on what to expect and how to view it.

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