Drama Casting Update: Kim Bum Accepts Hidden Identity, Kang Min Hyuk Declines School 2015

Welp, you win some and you lose some, I can’t always get my way when it comes to dramas casting my fave lovelies. The good news first – Kim Bum is returning to K-dramas come early summer as he joins the cast of upcoming tvN crime procedural Hidden Identity. It will be his first drama in two years, not since the underwhelming and massively stupid sageuk Goddess of Fire. That drama remains most notable for the two leads Kim Bum and Moon Geun Young getting together for a passionate and whirlwind romance that went all over Europe but sadly didn’t last more than six months.

Kim Bum’s character for Hidden Identity will be a late-twenties detective who belongs to a special unit that solves crimes by going undercover. The drama comes from the PD that did the well-received Bad Guys with a track record of helming dark gritty procedurals. Also inked to the cast is veteran film actor Park Sung Woong, an amazing actor who typically plays bad guys though I believe he’ll be leading the undercover unit as the cop boss this time. I’m thrilled Bummie is returning to K-dramas, not that he was doing nothing for the last two years as he’s been focusing his career doing C-movies, with a few that are slated for release later this year.

The sad drama casting news today is hearing Kang Min Hyuk has passed on his first drama leading man gig in the upcoming KBS drama School 2015. The reason given is a conflict with his CNBLUE scheduled activities for spring, but that hasn’t stopped fellow CNBLUE member Lee Jong Hyun from doing double duty with the KBS Friday night drama Orange Marmalade and being on We Got Married. Even weirder is that School 2015 is being produced by the CNBLUE agency FNC Entertainment, so if not Min Hyuk then who is the agency going to give the male lead to?

I’m super disappointed Min Hyuk passed on School 2015 because I think an ensemble drama from a production team with a good track record is the perfect vehicle for him to test out his leading man chops, i.e. to confirm he has what it takes to level up his game. Not to mention rumored leading lady Lee Yoo Bi is a great young actress to have as a costar. Oh wells, back to the casting drawing board I guess. KBS really needs to hurry up since currently airing Mon-Tues drama Blood just passed the halfway mark.


Comments

Drama Casting Update: Kim Bum Accepts Hidden Identity, Kang Min Hyuk Declines School 2015 — 30 Comments

      • I think there is supposed to be two female leads so LYB might still be the lead. KSH will probably play the girl who lost her memory.

      • @ockoala… agencies have gotten super sneaky about calling sub roles leading roles… I wonder if LYB was going to be second lead all along because Kim So Hyun will be playing Eun Byul for sure and I don’t think LYB’s article mentioned who she was going to be playing.

        I’d rather LYB say adios to this production if that’s going to be the case. Kim So Hyun isn’t even a rookie – we all know she and Kim Yoo Jung are going to reign over drama land in 5 – 10 years – so what is the point in casting her in this series instead of someone who could be a leading lady right away?

      • Oh you’re right. My bad! LOL as the fast moving news as I’m typing up an article. I do wonder if this means LYB passed?

      • @Rina I agree with you, if this is just another drama where Lee Yoo Bi wil be sidelined as second lead then it’s better for her to not take it. Kim So Hyun is from the same agency as LYB so maybe Sidus also wants 2 of its actors in the drama?

    • @Rina—- I think I remember reading that there is going to be two female leads for this drama. LYB is supposed to play a girl who becomes popular overnight after transferring schools.

      KSH is a top child actress but all the roles that she played so far have been really small roles. And she hasn’t been around as long as other child actors and was basically an unknown actress before 2011-2012. So technically this would be her first big role and I really doubt that LYB will play a secondary role.

  1. So excited for Bummie’s drama comeback! He may be taking the road less traveled, but I admire him for constantly immersing himself in challenging roles that will hone his craft. Imo, he shines more in these kind of roles than those flower boy characters.

  2. I’m not that sad about Kang Minhyuk passing on the role – he’s very cute but not really showing that level of acting chops the way Lee Yoo Bi did in Gu, or Lee Jong Seok in High Kick 3. I just hope they get a good new actor to fill his shoes.

  3. if minhyuk pass this role, can we get Jung Hae In? he’s from FNC too, and I like him when he acted on the three musketeers 😀

  4. YAY Kim Bum! Welcome back! Finally they cast an actor with both talent and good looks. Also the plot sounds really interesting. Very excited for this.

  5. what MGY has been doing? She vanished. I hope she is okay 🙁

    Since her dating and breaking up news, I don’t hear anything about her. When she is coming back huhuh

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