Scholar Who Walks the Night in Talks with Jin Se Yeon for the Female Lead

I feel like this is the other shoe dropping, after hearing that Jin Se Yeon was planning a drama comeback sometime this year and then having all these casting issues with dramas since 2015 began. A news report claims Jin Se Yeon is in talks with the KBS production of vampire sageuk Scholar Who Walks the Night. The leading lady was offered to Han Groo last month but it fell through for various reasons and the production has been looking for another leading lady.

It’s almost too easy to joke that Jin Se Yeon has carved out a niche for herself taking second chance leading lady roles as she did with Five Fingers and Age of Feeling. She has also taken on lead roles in her own right with Dr. Stranger and Gaksital, but the criticism of bad acting continues to dog her. Her movie Police Family with Hong Jong Hyun is about to premiere this weekend so the girl continues to have a high flying acting career regardless of the naysayers begging her not to act ever again. Can she actually improve? So far the jury is still out on this one.

Scholar has extended offers to Lee Jun Ki for the male lead vampire scholar and Changmin of DBSK for the second male lead crown prince character. Neither men have confirmed yet so it’s not just the leading lady role that remains up in the air. I’m with the majority that find Jin Se Yeon a pretty bad actress, her emoting needs A LOT more work. With that said, I don’t personally find her as annoying to watch onscreen as other bad actresses like Go Sung Hee or Gu Hye Sun, but that’s such a personal opinion since what annoys me is so subjective.

I actually liked her more than Kang Sora in Dr. Stranger only by virtue of liking her character more, and because her character had the consistent romance storyline with Lee Jong Seok which was quite moving for me initially before the narrative went off the rails. I would prefer a better actress be paired with Lee Jun Ki, but she’s not the worst I can think of so I’ll take this possible pairing with an open mind. Which might snap shut in the first episode if she sucks right off the bat, who knows? With no one confirmed, this drama could turn into School 2015 2.0 with a completely different set of leads in the end from the ones offered the roles initially.


Comments

Scholar Who Walks the Night in Talks with Jin Se Yeon for the Female Lead — 47 Comments

  1. Jin Se Yeon to pair up with Lee Jun Ki? Please tell me its an April Fool joke, no?

    LJK please run…..not going to watch this.

  2. REPENT! REPENT you UNBELIEVERS! Muahahahaha!

    WHERE IS YOUR GOD NOW?!

    Ahem, in all seriousness, it’s sageuk, so it usually requires a different set of emoting most of the time anyway. If she’s wooden, then sageuk might just be right up her alley. I’m not saying sageuk actresses don’t emote much, but they certainly do very little as far as expression goes. And when they do need to explode of emotions, it usually comes off in the most theatrical ways. Which does sound horrible in some way. But I heard it’s for a tomboy role anyway, maybe that will mask most of her deficiencies?

    Still, I’d much prefer if she did rom-coms first though. That’s like the easiest route as far as acting goes. Also, she does seem naturally bubbly. More of IG’s Ok Ryeon will do herself much more favor.

    • “If she’s wooden then sageuk might just be right up her alley”

      By that standard, Han Ga In should be a great sageuk actress too (she sucks).

      And most important in sageuks is proper pronunciation. JSY talks like she has a mouth full of pudding even in modern dramas, what hope is there for her not screwing up a sageuk?

      • True. If wooden actress is nich for sagueks then kim tae hee and han gain should have shine. But sadly they did not.

        Saguek is all a different ballpark all together but they need serious acting chops to carry the whole dramas as believeable than modern ones.
        Additionally sagueks sctress who shined so awesome are those with great charisma and screen presence much like moon chaewon and go hyunjung. and sadly Other that bad acting jin siyeon is also bad in that…

    • The amount of leading roles she got in the short time is also unreal considered there are much better young actress out there. She got leads roles one after one, coming from no where….
      It’s ok if she can act, but she doesn’t. There is no emotion in her face

  3. throw stones at her and whoever her sponsor
    Belong to a small agency and she has such a terrible acting skill, thus there is no way she could land all those roles without powerful sponsor. Even the another famous actresses from large agencies couldn’t have that much opportunities. Most of her dramas are prime-time dramas . What? How? Why? So awful.
    Most of cases are having many dramatic things happen behind the scene like an actress suddenly couldn’t take the role anymore, or another actress got kicked out, or the station in need of anyone available immediately…… and then her name pop up as an candidate and she got the role just like that.
    Even it’s just a April joke, it sounds like a nightmare.
    1000 Lee Jun Ki won’t be able to save this drama if both she and Changmin got casted.
    Hope Jun Ki will reject this drama since it doesn’t look good at all.
    I was looking to see Junki back to dramaland. Too bad then =((

    • What I am worried about, though, is all the LOVE:hate back and forth all through the drama. The drama of the female lead overpowering the drama itself.

      I don’t think she is horrible, either, but just not terribly interesting.

  4. I ACTUALLY LOVED her in GAKSITAL, the only drama I’ve seen for her. But I didn’t think she was a bad actress at all. I’ve seen worse. She has that cute personality, and at least she is not plastic faced obvious on screen

  5. Han groo was froppped for her? Are they deaf, blind and dumb?
    I mean she’s carved a niche for herself but she’s not a good actress.

  6. Well Jun Ki’s costar from AatM had to suffer through months of acting opposite Shin Se-kyung, so why would LJK be spared? “Join me in suffering like a good soldier” said Yun Woo-jin while tears of wickedness streamed down his face.

    • You are completely right, there ARE worse actresses out there. However, very few of those actresses consistently sign themselves up for lead roles in which their inexperience in acting is glaringly obvious. What is still worse is that she has a history of back-to-back dramas where she signs on for one before her role in the other drama has ended.

      I think that amounts to being greedy or her inability to say no to opportunity that arises. Traditionally, bad or inexperienced actresses work their way up from supporting roles, working out their kinks before starring in leading ones. And when they do, they give the public some time to forget about their poor performances in previous dramas.

      Thankfully, she’s given us a break by starring in a movie, but now that she’s back to dramas, it is to be hoped that she will devote her full attention to this role when she takes it on and not force the writers to kill her off prematurely so she can go and star in something else.

  7. If she gets it, I want LJK OUT! IMMEDIATELY! NO IFS ANDS OR BUTS ABOUT IT! I’m sick of her being cast in anything. She needs to just stop acting now. I was so terribly looking forward to this drama with oori Jun Ki, but here she comes to try and ruin it and poop all over my parade. Take a break already. You have been in too many dramas (proof that practice does NOT make perfect). There are so many good actresses in Kdramaland. Why does she keep getting roles? WHY?!

  8. I wonder if she is going to “die” in this drama! She certainly seems to like doing that for all the rest of her dramas!

  9. So, instead of Han Groo, they want Jin Se Yeon instead?

    Well, who knows. Jo Bo Ah went from SUFBB –> Surplus Princess dramatically improved in her acting, so I will try to remain somewhat optimistic for JSY.

  10. LJK should learn a good lesson from poor Hyun Bin and drop this drama. Let Chang min be the lead with JSY, they will look good together (beautiful people who lack acting skill)

  11. oh damn. plz tell me it just a joke. why would the pd pair LJK with a woman that cant show emtion. you know she going to ruin the drama with her acting. hope LJK will drop this drama if she is cast as the female lead.

  12. hehehe… i told you so…
    consider this as done deal…this is what she do, taking other people’s reject is her specialty.
    will be interesting to see how this drama would turn out… rating and quality wise.
    good luck to lee jun ki.

  13. OMG I can’t even… NO just NO. PERIOD. If she signs on I hope Lee Jun Ki signs off, because even if I love Lee Jun Ki I just can’t see myself even checking out the drama if she ends up being the female lead.

  14. Lee Joon Ki is now confirmed. I wish she would say no, but it is unlikely. She is pretty wooden, but at least so far in what I have seen her in, she is not irritating as in over acting.

  15. “I actually liked her more than Kang Sora in Dr. Stranger only by virtue of liking her character more, and because her character had the consistent romance storyline with Lee Jong Seok which was quite moving for me initially before the narrative went off the rails.”

    ARE YOU BLIND?????!!!! – Anonymous

    Yours (post) is boring..Dramabeans has so much fun with WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY

    • That last comment is uncalled for… And I assume you can certainly take your readership to the “more fun” sites..

  16. The only time I liked her was in Gaksital because she was a new face then.. And that was the only drama I ever watched with her in it, lol. I’ve only heard bad things about her. But she is a bright looking girl and shippable. And she’ll look decent in costume. So I’m ok I guess.

  17. The hate is ridiculous. And ridiculous how people’s first reactions are to hope for her character to die.
    And saying Koala’s post is boring…just because she doesn’t share the same “she’s a horrible horrible choice” opinion? Yeah okay.
    I feel like people are so extreme in the kdrama fandom. Just because they suck in one drama, it’s an automatic assumption she’s going to suck in everything else for the rest of her life. Yeah, maybe it’s not fair that she’s getting lead roles, but that’s her luck. If she was seriously THAT bad as people are describing, producers wouldn’t use her. But the hate she’s getting is overly ridiculous and making it seem like she is the worst actress on EARTH, which she ISN’T. I’ve seen enough dramas from different countries to know that. People are hating like the kdrama industry is PERFECT or something and all actresses are all perfect at acting and there shouldn’t be a single flaw at all.
    She’s young and learning. So she’s learning through experience with lead roles. So what? Some better actresses can’t get lead roles for certain reasons. That’s not her fault.
    People need to be a little more accepting and keep an open mind. Your bashing is not going to make her improve nor is it going to change the fact that she’s going to keep acting. Why don’t we hope her acting gets better instead of hoping she never gets casted again or for her character to die?

    • but she’s sooo bad at acting, i can’t finish all dramas with her in it (Gaksital, Five Fingers, Generation or whatever the title, Dr. Stranger), it’s all sucks (well, except gaksital maybe, it’s at least decent).

      -___-” and it’s obvious that producer use her not because of her acting’s capability, but instead because of her sponsors. It’s sucks, since there are a lot of people who are better than her, but because of sponsors, she easily get that role.
      her tone also too annoying to hear.

  18. No!!!! Please, not her!!!! Hearing Lee Jun Ki takes part in this drama is the best news this week but pleaseeee not her as the leading lady. This comic is my favorite comic and putting her as the main lady is the ultimate disaster!!!

  19. I like Jin Seo Yoon in Dr Stranger & other dramas she performed. I’m really looking forward to watch Scholar Who Walks the Night. Love the cast. Lee Jun Ki, Changmin

  20. I love Jin Se Yeon in all of her drama my daughter the flower, gaksital, five finger, inspiring generation and doctor stranger. now looking forward for her movie “meet the in law 2” and her next drama

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