Lee Jun Ki in Talks to Play 4th Prince in K-drama Adaptation of Bu Bu Jing Xin

Yes, yes, yes! Thank you drama gods for making the K-version of Bu Bu Jing Xin (Startling with Each Step) seem less like a potential trainwreck right off the bat. The production of Moon Lovers has extended an offer to Lee Jun Ki to headline as the male lead, which would be the character in the original novel and C-drama adaptation of 4th Prince played by Nicky Wu. So much perfection in the casting I can’t even. Lee Jun Ki is getting older and this is a spot on role where he doesn’t have to pretend to be in his twenties and can embrace the hot older male lead glory that is 4th Prince. This is a difficult role to play, and Nicky surprisingly pulled it off to everyone’s shocker, the coldness and distance masking reservoirs of restrained emotional intensity. The character also cries a crap load in towards the end, I remember Nicky talking about how he was dehydrated from so much crying, and I for one know that Jun Ki can cry like the best of ’em. Make this happen Moon Lovers, even if you have to kidnap Jun Ki-ssshi and drag him to the set.

I believe the K-version of BBJX will be set in the Goryeo dynasty but might go the way of The Moon Embraces the Sun, with the creation of fictional royal family members. It also might not have as many princes vying for the throne since Emperor Kangxi’s nearly two dozen sons clearly beyond prolific. If Lee Jun Ki is cast, it’ll be his fourth sageuk in four years, starting with Arang and the Magistrate, The Joseon Gunman, and Scholar Who Walks the Night.


Comments

Lee Jun Ki in Talks to Play 4th Prince in K-drama Adaptation of Bu Bu Jing Xin — 67 Comments

  1. omg!!! yes yes yes! Lee Jun Ki can definitely pull off the role! he’s a great actor.

    i love the original so much that i dont want a different version but i guess. lol

    i cant really think who can 100% pull it off the roles. hard to say but i hope the cast will be good. Chinese palace gives off a different vibe than Korean palace so we’ll have to see how it goes.

  2. Dehydration from crapping (aka diarrhea) is pretty serious lolol. On an even more serious note, love the updates on BBJX, can’t wait to see which hotties end up playing these heartstring-tugging roles!

  3. I am the only one who think he shouldn’t play that role. I’m so used to the smiley lee jun ki, not the cold lee jun ki. When lee jun ki doesn’t smile, he just looks lifeless in the beginning of scholar who walk the night. He doesn’t look like a guy that has a hidden agenda.

    Probably Nicky played the role so well, I can’t find another alternative.

      • I totally second that. An idol that can’t act would ruin the drama. My fave character was the 14th Prince – looking forward to see who is cast for that role. But will the Korean version have that many princes? Most k dramas only have 3 at the most in a royal family…

  4. Uncontrollaby fond or any drama on that time would be happy with this. I think alot of actors have turned this down since it ended with LJK.

    I think alot of co-actors for the prince will also turn down there roles if given. it’s obviously not going to be big then. LJK dosen’t have the star power to making this into something and gather large casting. He has done to much saguek and they rarely generate and hype or anything.

    Uncontrollably Fond remains the drama to look forward this year they have legit star power on the team atleast

    • O, please, why do you comment on the topic of another drama about a project, that has only leading stars and no time slot? They may coincide in time, yes, but still it’s not sure. Are these 2 dramas even comparable?

    • hahaha. Not a big fan of Lee Jun Ki, but i was dying laughing at your comment!

      “Uncontrollably Fond remains the drama to look forward this year they have legit star power on the team atleast” LOL

    • But why? LJK is a far better actor than those ones of UF combined together! Unless you’re AGB, you shouldn’t care so much about ratings and “hype”. Viewers need good acting to begin with and that’s not debatable…

    • Gathering a large cast is not the power of the lead actor, but the financial power of the production. You need a lot of money to pay the salaries of the large cast and the more famous the actors and actresses are, the higher the salaries. To their agencies, $ > hype. Of course, it’s best to have both.

      I read that this drama has quite a big budget, so I’m curious to see who else will get cast, especially the female lead (Ruoxi) who (to me) is the most important character in BBJX.

  5. I think his to weak to play the 4th prince. Feel sorry for KHN he should drop out if they cast LJK as the 4th. its going to be another uninteresting drama.

    I would even prefer KHN as the 4th prince at this point LJK sucks big time and is not 4th prince materiel nor as any drawing power. I would have casted even Park seo jeon.. while Kim soo Hyun and Jo In sung fit this role much better even Joo Won would have been great. LJK make dramas unimaginable uninteresting

    • His drama don’t do good just wonder why they keep casting him. KHN has more hype and starpower at this point and would interest people as 4th prince compared LJK. I would prefer KHN as the 4th prince anyday over LJK

      • “KHN has more hype and starpower at this point”

        lol. I love Kang Haneul and want him to take a lead role but let’s not kid ourselves here.

      • @Gina

        He sucks the life out of great projects and fantasy sagueks like the Scholar who walks the night, Joeson Gunman both flopped but had promise and would have done better with others. 2 weeks also flopped. Arang being mediocre. so in his last for projects 3 flops and one mediocre. sagueks are difficult to sell and especially with him headlining. its not a coincidence they all flopped with him and nor did they do good overseas

      • @Ipman – April Fool’s Day is almost 5 months away, try harder. Scholar Who Walks the Night was an utter mess of a project whose only saving grace was its cast, especially Lee Jun Ki. (this is according to both Korean and international viewers btw). “Great”, really?

        lee Jun Ki had drawn critical and viewer praise for all his performances since his return from military service, and Arang and SWWTN were both sold to Japan at high prices (Arang for what was, at the time, a record price) on the strength of his name. And Joseon Gunman not only topped its time slot in the ratings through its second half, but was also pretty well-received in China. So much for the notion of him not doing well overseas.

      • @soshi-GG LOL! Are you fucking kidding me? This K-remake have a budget of 15 billion won, and will be entirely pre-produced so that it can be broadcast simultaneously in Korea and China they wouldn’t cast him if he no star power! Fyi, he has almost reached 17 million Weibo followers.

      • C’mon, people! You’re either teenagers or plain ignorants. I love, love KHN but he’s no LJK, at least not right now. What’s wrong with this hateful comments? Are specific Agencies out “hunting” on blogs? I’ve never ever seen anyone before commenting against LJK’s acting…Something’s wrong here!!!!

      • @Ipman, I don’t think SWWTN can be considered as anything remotely resembling a great project, the writing was bad, and they changed writers halfway through. The music was also bad. The only good thing about that drama were the actors & actresses and the costumes. I also don’t know how an actor can “suck life out of great projects”???

        Joseon Gunman did not flop, neither did 2 Weeks, and Arang was not mediocre. It’s precisely that sageuks are difficult to sell that they look for him to headline them, because with him on board, they can both sell and do well overseas. You must have missed the news about the good overseas sales and reception.

    • @Aloha, Unable to comment on LJK’s suitability for 4th prince, but have to say that whether a drama is interesting or uninteresting depends a great deal on the script/writer and director, and not just the actor/actress. If the script is not good, no one will watch, even HJW couldn’t save TTILY.

      KHN is not yet lead actor material, especially for sageuks, and is too young for 4th prince role. KHN is 25 vs Nicky Wu’s 45. We were speculating that he will play the role of the 13th or 14th prince after the news that he was cast.

      I don’t think you have watched or read BBJX since your casting choices seem rather random. Unless you like to give the director a hard time by casting actors who have no sageuk experience at all?

    • how do u mean??..he makes drama unintresting it seems u hvent watch all of his drama to judge him like dat…..if u are lookin for who to blame blame writers for d drama he featured nd stop sayin shit.

  6. The more important thing is the writer – Lee Jun-ki can turn in a great performance even in utterly messy dramas like Scholar Who Walks the Night, but even he won’t be able to salvage a botched adaptation of the original story, just the same way that Joo Won and Shim Eun-kyung wouldn’t save k-Nodame.

    And PLEASE GOD can they cast a decent female lead and not write her to be an utter ditz? Lee Yubi was charming in SWWTN but her character was made to act like such a naive idiot and kept in the dark for so long that I got really annoyed. No idols (the flowervase kind that is – as koala describes c-actresses who are pretty but lacking in acting skill) for this one, and no crappy non-idol actresses either. If they want a new actress, they should try Jo Bo Ah or Kim So Eun. I guess my dream of seeing a pairing of Moon Chae Won with Lee Jun Ki won’t work out this time….

  7. i’m not interested with the idea of bu bu jing xin remake, so i’ m not really care about the cast, i quite like the original but i like 8 prince more than other but i guess ljk did many sageuk lately, i think they should choose someone unexpected for this drama, i thought viewer will be boring

  8. I’m tired of LJK honestly?, I used to like this guy. Time between dog and wolf is one my favourites and iljimae is the ONLY sageuk I watched from start to finish. I’ve not watched his other recents. I wish he pick a better drama in the future like modern romcom for a change, otherwise this one will be a miss.

  9. Tell me something new another saguek and Lee Jun ki means another flop. this is more appreciable for the song ”a little bit of history repeating” If it was a female who had the same track record she would have been put to sword and just wait whomever they confirm as female will get the harsh treatment except Jun Ji hun who likely won’t take this role she is in labor

  10. This may be a high profile project but not exactly the best choice. I think at this point LJK should probably consider doing a romcom to add more variety to his works. Plus, I’m skeptical that the Korean version of BBJX will work anyway.

  11. I have this feeling that he will say yes to this, and I’m freaking exited! ☺ he is one of the Top actors in Korea and I’m sure he can make this drama DAEBAK ^^ keep raising Junki oppa~ JJANG :))

  12. I can’t agree more with you dear Koala, I loved BBJX and as LJK gets older, I want to see him play this kind of roles.
    He is not a boy anymore and that guy CAN act, so let that happen! I might can see her already with Park Min Young as Ruoxi.
    Oh, we just have to wait and see if he takes it or leave it.

  13. it isn’t work is JK accept role cause he play saguk too much . No different and No interesting .

    Uncontrollaby fond is makjang drama but not confirm that popular

  14. I hope he doesn’t accept. I have found his last three sagueks to be utterly boring and dropped them after a few episodes. The last project of his I watched from start to finish was Two weeks. There is such a thing as being typecast and LJK is headed there in strides. If he stars, the possibility of this drama going the way of his latest projects is pretty high.

    It’s time for him to star in a modern day drama, doesn’t have to be romcom, it could be action…but he has to mix it up. Just sayin’.

  15. This is good news and i’m sure he will fit the role but isn’t it time to do some modern day drama? anyway if he accepts (and i think he will) i’ll gladly watch it. i just hope the actress will be good and no idol. maybe kang sora or reunion with kim so eun? they had chemistry in SWWTN.

  16. Interesting. Should he take up on the offer, I’d love to see him with Park Min Young. Haven’t seen the Chinese version, but Park Min Young does give off the same vibes as the female lead judging by the images. Though something tells me that Park Shin Hye will be a contender, which is not bad. I think she’ll suit the role too.

  17. LJK is one of the original flower boy..no wonder he’s sought after actor when it comes to sageuk drama as he can effortlessly pull it off..

  18. BBJX was great at the time it came out, and perhaps for a couple of years after. However, I can no longer bring myself to rewatch it now for some reason. The story is probably only a little better than average, but it was enough to serve an awesome cast of actors and a grand production. Regardless of how much money that this production will spend, it will be unlikely to surpass the Chinese simply because the Chinese dynasties were much bigger and their emperor commands more respect than the Koreans. The acting skills might even out or the Koreans may be a little better depending on the cast; however, the script is most likely going to be worse, as most of the original script used historical events as inspirations. In the end, it’ll just be one giant waste of money

  19. OMG YES PLEASE. Now if only they cast Jang Geun Suk as one of the other leads, and Jun Ki’s leading lady should be Park Bo Young!!!

  20. thank you for the article that’s a great news 😀 LJK ssi back to small screen, that’s all I need (sageuk or modern drama no difference for me I love him and enjoy watching him all the same)!!! I find Lee Jun Ki ssi a perfect cast and if he signs up for the drama then I’m in for sure 😀

    “Make this happen Moon Lovers, even if you have to kidnap Jun Ki-ssshi and drag him to the set.” hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I love and share your enthusiasm, LOL.

  21. I am not LJK fan and never watch any drama where he is in but not hating him either. He might get some charm that draw many people to become his fans but me.

    One thing that I think will happen, if this drama really on, Koala will do a recap as she normally recap LJK, LMH, HB drama. So, I will read the recap but skip the drama.

  22. Yikes, not the 4th Prince I was hoping for..

    I don’t hate LJK, but I can’t help but feel a bit disappointed that he is casted as 4th Prince. From the cheesy title “Moon Lovers” to LJK’s casting news. I feel like my excitement in this is dropping and dropping..

  23. Aw I’d love to watch this K adaptation. BBJX was the first C drama that I got to watch through the end and I loved it. But I don’t like Nicky Wu because I have prejudice against his boy band. LOL…..I definitely love LJK in any dramas and have been his fan since Iijimae.

  24. i pray lee joon gi dont accept dis drama…he should act a modern drama for christ sake..lee joong gi pls dont take dis role…instead u can play a wolf drama in saguek….but prince i dont want to

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