Productions Halts on Hwayugi as Labor Department Investigates and Episode 3 and 4 Will Both Air Weekend of January 6th

I don’t recall a K-drama fraught with so many mishaps, and so soon after premiering. Wolf had to be halted after airing a few episodes when leads Eric and Han Ji Min got hurt in a stunt car accident and it was never finished, so hopefully the same does not happen with Hwayugi (A Korean Odyssey) and more importantly the drama films smoothly for the rest of its run in terms of keeping the production team and cast all healthy and safe. As of today, production is halted on the drama as the department of labor investigates the working conditions that caused one crew member to be hurt and hospitalized after falling off a ladder and more recently another crew member tripped on the stairs and hurt his ankle.

Episode 3 will not be aired this weekend and will be pushed back to next weekend Saturday January 6th, and episode 4 was already delayed to that first weekend in January and will now air Sunday January 7th. This weekend is the last few days before the New Year holidays so I’m glad everything is grounded to a halt and that whatever issues are plaguing the set and production schedule get sorted out and addressed so that things can properly resume for the sake of producing a drama where no one gets hurt behind-the-scenes and there are no further airing difficulties.


Comments

Productions Halts on Hwayugi as Labor Department Investigates and Episode 3 and 4 Will Both Air Weekend of January 6th — 22 Comments

  1. Hwayugi is now available on Netflix. I’m all for the delay in showing episodes to make sure there won’t be problems in future episodes coz it’s a really good show, from the first 2 episodes shown. Accidents do happen esp in shows like this that needs lors of stunts and lots of editing.

    • I saw that too, it was added yesterday. Good for the series and the viewers! Probably just in Asia in the meantime though since I see the comments that it’s not yet available in Norway and US.

      • I noticed that for some kdramas airing live like Prison Playbook and a Korean Odyssey, they show 2 episodes per week. Same with Black, eventho the series finished airing in korea, they still only show a couple of episodes per week.
        I was surprised to see Hwayugi fearured on Netflix when i opened it yesterday. I guess it’s only available in a few countries at the moment

  2. I saw a few fans spew some anger at the production crew for “unprofessionalism” or causing setbacks of Oppa and Unnie’s show who are the stars and doesn’t deserve bad CGI or whatever. Well, reality-check to those people: the production crew also makes the show even if they are behind the camera and they may be even pulling as much or more overtime than the actors. I say it’s unfortunate for this show to be put on hold or even cancelled, but if it helps the production to get it together then so be it.

  3. “I don’t recall a K Drama fraught with so many mishaps” – you don’t remember the fire on the set of Maids that KILLED a crew member? Also, the crew member on Hwayugi wasn’t just “hurt and hospitalised” HE WAS PARALYSED FROM THE WAIST DOWN.

  4. Perhaps they should produce an episode per week. I saw the 1st episode which was as long as a movie. And if they want to keep the quality they should do épisodes of 60 mn . Off of topic , but the acting of CSW in the episode gave me the vibe of Johnny Depp in some of his Tim Burton’s movies and even a little of JSparow .

  5. The drama with many special effects should be taken seriously. Eric and Han Ji Min’s Wolf was a tragedy. Their injuries were that serious proven by the drama was cancelled forever.

    I heard Cha Seung Won doesn’t wanna continue the drama. What a shame…. production should think deeply before even started the drama whether they are capable to do that or not.

  6. I don’t think the production will ever be forgiven for ruining Lee Seung Gi’s comeback. They should have planned this out better. If you have such a large scale fantasy drama with special effects in every scene why not just preproduce it? TVN got too greedy this time.

    • Haha They are always greedy since Goblin. It was lucky that the hype was traslated into impressive ratings for that drama and somewhat hid it’s bad quality. At least Goblin were able to produced a few episodes of good quality that even the quality deteriorated as it went, audience were alread hooked onto the drama. For the storyline, it amazed me that Korean audience dug a lovestory between a mature man and high school student.

      Anyway, I feel sad for Hwayugi actor, staff, crew and the whole team. Hope it bounced back.

      • @hjw

        Personally, the age gap didn’t bother me, be it 90 or 900. What bothered me was that the girl was a high school minor. :/

        They could have made the girl a college student. An adult. Then the age difference wouldn’t be a problem.

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