SNSD’s Seohyun and Kang Hana Join IU as the Female Cast of K-version Bu Bu Jing Xin

On the heels of the male casting getting confirmed like a cascade of flower boy dominoes, the ladies of upcoming K-version of Bu Bu Jing Xin has signed on the dotted line. IU‘s confirmation as the female lead was alongside male lead Lee Jun Ki earlier this week in the SBS drama that has now ditched the silly sounding title of Moon Lovers and is going with the direct Bobogyungsim: Ryeo (i.e. Bu Bu Jing Xin: Splendor). Joining the female side of the cast along with IU is another singer-actress in SNSD‘s Seohyun and K-actress Kang Hana.

Seohyun plays the last princess of Baekjae during the time when Baekjae has fallen and Goryeo is the ruling kingdom. She hides her identity and becomes a gisaeng with a hidden agenda. Kang Hana plays the only daughter of the King of Goryeo, and we know how many sons he has by all the pretty male faces cast as the various princes. Her princess is determined to support the prince best suited to rule over Goryeo in the future. On a more minor casting note, singer Z. Hera will be playing a small role as the daughter of a general.

I feel like it’s easy pickings to rag on the casting of Seohyun in this drama, but she’s not playing a critical role and at this point the cast is bursting with so many people I doubt even if she’s gives the worst performance ever it will substantively harm this drama. That pressure is totally on Lee Jun Ki and IU, to be honest, the drama rises and falls on the coiled intensity of 4th Prince and the optimistic-to-disillusioned time-traveling heroine. With that said, I do wish another SNSD girl was cast if one of them had to be in this drama, but not sure the ones I like such as Sooyoung or Yoona would do anything less than the female lead role. Oh wells.


Comments

SNSD’s Seohyun and Kang Hana Join IU as the Female Cast of K-version Bu Bu Jing Xin — 42 Comments

  1. Are these new roles? i’m more curious to know who’ll be playing 8th’s wife, thought the drama would have a strong 2nd female lead at least. sigh. they might as well get jung yonghwa to act as one of the prince opposite Seohyun LOL.

    • Not a bad idea and it’ll attract even more fans of the two. Since the casting is such a train wreck now, I’m sure another mediocre idol actor won’t do any harm ?

    • I don’t think Seohyun’s role is new. Base on the description, she’s the girl that’s in love with the 13th prince and became his companion while incarcerated

  2. I wonder why not Yoona. I mean, she’s watchable and already so famous to international viewers. Almost all the casts are rookies too.

    I just hope they have acting chops because it will feel weird watching someone with stiff actings. that’s all I can say.

    I saw the trailer and Fan made MV for Bu Bu Jing Xin, and suddenly doubt Lee Jun Ki since he’s too flower boy. But I will be happy if he proves me wrong later on.

    So, which station this gonna be aired?

    • There is no way Yoona would play second fiddle to IU, especially considering Yoona is much bigger star in China than IU. If she was ever gonna be in this drama she would play Ruoxi.

      • Thats what ive been saying. SM won’t possibly let their ‘Yoona’ be a second fiddle to IU. This includes Sooyoung, because she has been playing a lead role (more possibility than Yoona though)

      • What I’m going to say, why not cast Yoona for the lead instead of IU if their target is international viewers? Both are in SM though. I don’t think Sooyoung is better than Yoona in terms of acting. In my opinion, both are watchable and that’s more than enough for me. It just because people always looking at her status as visual in her group which makes them forget the girl is okay in acting. In fact, Yoona is way more famous in and outside Korea. IU is talented but she involved in scandal. Anyway, goodluck for this drama. I really wonder how it will turn.

  3. These new roles and all make this remake so much much different from the original. The only things that are the same are time travel, the roles of princes, politic/ 4th vs 8th and later vs 14th, and the main’s girl romance. I feel like they are making this complicated than it is. I wish they would just stick to the original and make it even better which will probably be hard; and we don’t know if any of these actors besides LJK and Ha neul are capable of carrying out their roles. Also, they are behind crucial things like gorgeous backgrounds and palace, and I don’t know how most of these princes will look like in Goryeo hairdos.

      • Even IU is too modern looking. Park Min Young would have been awesome in the role. I refuse to buy into the hype and end up being disappointed again. That’s what happened to Cantabile Tomorrow even with fantastic OTP.

      • Since IU is time travelling from the modern time to the past, I guess it’s OK for her to look somewhat modern?

  4. I like Bu Bu Jing Xin and I love LJK. The rest of the cast make my head spin. Wtf, people? This is an enormous idol parade.I’m not sure if any of these fresh faces can match LJK’s intensity. If the producers of this thing wanted idols in it, they should have given the role of the 4th prince to someone with more subdued acting style.

  5. SH’s character sounds like 13th’s wife in the original which is a minor role. But from the news, sounds like they changed the script a lot….

    The casting for this drama is just a mess tbh but at least they cast talented ppl to play 4,8 and 14th (thanks god). Wish 13th goes to someone else but we cant have it all can we. Anyway, good luck to this drama and its cast members~~~

    • i can’t imagine anyone on par with Yuan Hong for 13th tbh. methinks Kang haneul looks like he suits 13th more than 8th actually. oh well.

      I thought there were some rumours about Kim So Eun being in talks, but I guess that went nowhere since she’s now left Fantagio. maybe she’s sick of sageuks or something.

      • Kang Haneul suits 13th but I am anticipating what he will bring to the table as the 8th.

        Kim So Eun is wise to avoid this. Reading this latest casting news further confirms that this drama is going to be one huge fan service. That was one of the biggest problem with SWWTN. They dressed LJK up in beautiful costumes and had him parade like on a catwalk, encouraged by fans’ responses about how beautiful LJK looks in saeguk. They even made Lee Yu Bi’s character behave like LJK’s fan. The romance was so cliche. In the end, only LJK’s fans were delighted. I think most of Lee Yu Bi and Kim So Eun’s fans wished they never acted in the drama.

      • SWWTN was based on a manhwa, and they were just following the story in the manhwa. Don’t see how this can be a problem since that’s what an adaptation is supposed to be.

        LYB received a best new actor for her performance in this drama, so don’t think she or her fans regret too much.

        Probably LJK’s fans were the ones who wished he never acted in SWWTN in view of the bad story, script, writing, music and production value. Both he and LYB also got badly hurt while filming the drama!

        Anyway, what’s with the neverending comments about past dramas in posts on ML? It’s really time to move on.

  6. The drama just got better with these two girls joining. I love the cast so I will be watching. Most cdrama, I never watch cause the graphics looks old still.

  7. how many bad actor/actress this pd going to cast? the only one that is good in acting is LJK. is he going to carry the show again?

    • Do what? Kim Soo Hyun got his Daesang with IU as his female lead. Jo Jung Suk got Excellence award with IU as his female lead.

      • What?! Haha… KSH daesang are worthless he just completely overated! And for JJS he just deserved that award, that’s it! See, it has nothing to do with IU. She dont even got anything for her acting!

      • @Lis, JK can’t have it both ways. If he wins, it is all due to his own merits but if his drama fails, it’s always his co-stars’ fault. That’s totally nonsense and IMO, the more his fans keep to this, the more it’s going to make him look bad.

      • Then, based on IU’s “track record”, let’s hope some of the actors in the drama such as LJK, KHN, JiSoo etc. will get Best Actor awards this year.

        But imo, KSH and JJS got their Best Acting awards on their own merits.

        @D, except for you, nobody has ever said that LJK wins due to his own merits and that if his drama fails it’s his co-stars’ fault. Agree that this is total nonsense, and don’t know whether you are a fan or anti-fan, but please stop “adding salt and vinegar” and trying to make LJK and his fans look bad.

      • @Jan, I am neither a fan nor anti-fan of LJK or of any of these actors. I happen to like BBJX and was at first excited about the remake. Have you been following the updates on this blog about the drama? You would have noticed that LJK fans have been extolling him to great heights and blaming all his co-stars for his drama failures. When IU was named his co-star for this, they predict this drama will fail because of her and that their precious LJK will have another flop in his hands.

        My opinion is that if this drama fails, it would be primarily due to the story. Secondly, it would hinge on the acting of the key actors and actress. The casting of the pretty boys with dubious acting skills only tells me that this production might not be taking acting or quality that seriously and it’s worrying. I also think LJK is miscast as the 4th Prince, his acting has become very exaggerated. His fans say it is to make up for the lack of acting from his co-stars. I applaud his efforts but it doesn’t work. It just makes it worse because he becomes overly animated while his co-star deadpans and makes wide-eyed expressions. I have my doubts about IU too because the role of Ruoxi is more complex than any character IU has played. I differ from the majority here in that I do not have much confidence in LJK either.

      • In terms of bad acting or for being a sly fox? Oh ok… then i completely agree with you they should have been pairing her with someone who is akward at acting just like her!

      • I’m just being sarcastic. LOL…I’m not a fan nor an anti of either IU or Lee Jung Ki. I consider them being on par in terms of acting and charisma. It’s your personal preference to dislike or even diss up either IU or LJK. But your personal taste won’t change the fact that the pairing is not showing any disparity between them.

  8. Is this gonna be an idol drama? Sounds like. LOL…The name change still sounds awkward given how difficult it is to register the English spelling.

    • Surely I’m not speaking for others. That name change does sound awkward to me. If they would like to translate into English, then at least pick a title that sounds more meaningful in English. C adaptation of BBJX (Chinese novel name) has English title “Startling at Each Step.”

  9. Personally I feel like people like Seohyun and Baekhyun have probably really really minor roles that their total screen time won’t even be a fraction of what IU has. Feels like their names are kinda thrown in the mix as media play as well as to attract their large fanbases to support and view the show. No harm really (:

  10. For me,i’m not anti fans or biggest fans of IU and LJK but give them a chance to show their emotional,variety and creative acting skill in this drama. Just give them a shot you guys. @D was right. If this drama fails,it’s because the plot of the story. Forget about scandal. She’s been sabotage okay! Many people knew that but i don’t know who hides those proof so that IU will look bad because of her cute and innocent image on and off stage and her ‘national little sister’title. This is music industry real life story. Maybe you see her as a disgusted woman because people think she was a lolita and pedophile just because of her own mistake that maybe,for me she didn’t realize. Anyway,watch the drama until it ends and then you conclude your opinions to her acting skills. For me,if the famous director Kim Kyu Tae chose her as the female lead that means he has his eye on IU’s acting skills for a long time and he believes in her. He wouldn’t take a big risk for those cast if not for their acting skills. FYI,for my own opinion,i think she does suit Ruoxi characters in past and modern times. Even Suzy looks modern but she looks pretty suit and good in her latest movies Dorihwaga and she also a female lead eventhough she doesn’t act in many drama like IU. And IU was not stiff in acting,but for me she was powerful in act cute,innocent,spunky,clumsy or character that is more feminine and childish. But lacks in emotional character such as Ruoxi for this drama. But give her a chance for this drama. If she can transform into Cindy in Producer as an ice princess,cold,diva act and sensitive in some of the scene that really touch people,then,why not in this drama? Effort,skills,creative and most important,confident in the character is needed in this drama. Don’t judge the book by it’s cover. Effort,talents,and acting is what we take as a point to judge her ability to carried out Ruoxi character very well or not. For me,put yourself in her shoes and ask yourself,what if you’ve been hit by a huge scandal like that? How do you feel? What can you conclude? You can’t spoke your mind or your hearts out and tell the netizens and the reporters what your hearts and your mind told you too. As a label and well known artist in some agency,you still in their view and you need to follow the protocol and the principle wisely.Sometimes the agency make the decisions for you. What you have to tell to the press,the netizens and maybe your own fans. You can’t make a decision by yourself. That is against the rules. You still a label artist. Just because she was the national little sister with her cute and innocent face,people accuse her as sexual because lack of proof for her innocence,netizens compile many proof to make her look more as a sly fox,sexual,pedophile,disgusted,abusing child type that make her talent,her career,her effort,her truth,her fame/stardom,her grief and sorrow,her tribulation travelled since she was a young child was shadowed by the scandal that neither I or we knew the truth for the scandal. The truth been hidden and buried. People may distort the truth. As for her acting skill and talent for her to complete the character Ruoxi in this drama,just give her a chance to prove everyone that they were wrong about her. To prove she can act even she was lack in some skills. Judge her acting, not her outlook or her scandal. This is my own opinion for people to think about it.Trust is needed for her own good.Those Daesang awards is based on their effort,contribution,and acting skill in their dramas.With or without IU in the drama,does nothing with the actors such as LJK,KHN,Jisoo,NJH to win or not win the awards. It’s up to the professional judges to judge their acting skills?merits in their dramas. Just give a chance and hope for an excellent ratings equivalent with their effort for this drama. Best of luck for the success of the story of the drama and the how the casts carried out each others character that need to be carried out for the drama. Good luck to all of them!

  11. i think the cast will do great in this drama…im a hardcore fan of snsd seohyun..although she is stiff in her first drama casting in passionate love but i also agree that she recently show some improvement in her casting drama like WARM AND COZY..and also to her two musicals…it wud be great if all the commentators here are going to support the drama and give the chance to all the old and new actors and actresses to act base on their skills…i love kdramas especially historical and fiction drama…gud luck to all the cast especially to my bias snsd seohyun…:)

  12. I think people are being way to pessimistic about this drama early on. Lol judge after watching a couple episodes. If this drama fails, it’ll most likely be due to the scriptwriting, not the acting. It’s not like all of the highly-rated dramas of South Korea have had tremendous acting skills (i.e. the Heirs). Quality of the script/plot is most important, so I hope they don’t disappoint. This is why TVN dramas have been doing so well lately.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.