SBS has already locked down its first Summer drama in It’s Okay, It’s Love with Gong Hyo Jin and Jo In Sung but MBC isn’t that far behind with the first news reports are out that the rumored remake of the popular Taiwan drama Fated to Love You will be getting a prime Wed-Thurs slot on MBC this Summer. It’s Okay, It’s Love is billed as a rom-com-esque drama about people living with mental illness and hang-ups, but the remake of Fated to Love You is a bona fide rom-com with an end dish of melodrama to tie it all together. This is the second major TW-drama K-remake this year, with the first one being Witch’s Romance with Uhm Jung Hwa and Park Seo Joon which is a remake of My Queen with Ethan Ruan and Cheryl Yang. Apparently Ethan dramas are the only one’s worth remaking, otherwise why the second remake being FTLY also being a Ethan drama, though his co-star was Chen Qiao En for that outing. Only two things excite me about the prospect of this K-remake, the first is that the two leads who are currently in discussions to headline are none other than Jang Hyuk and Jang Nara, which reunites them from a blockbuster K-drama called Successful Story of a Bright Girl which if you can believe it was a whopping twelve years ago!
I really like the fact that the age of the lead characters has been increased by about a decade if the drama is courting Jang Hyuk and Jang Nara. It adds a twist to the story which is that these characters ought to be more mature yet they fall into a trap and end up getting married after conceiving a baby on their first accidental night together. I am a huge Jang Hyuk fan and of all his leading ladies, Jang Nara was also one who had fantastic chemistry with him and they rocked that Successful Story rom-com despite it’s story being so stupid it defies explanation. Funnily enough, Successful Story was remade into a TW-drama two years ago called Sunshine Girl (Sunny Girl) with Rainie Yang and Wu Zun. Anyhoo, MBC has revealed that it’s courting the two Jangs and both are looking favorably at this project and the prospect of working together again. The behind the scenes talent includes the PD of The Queen’s Classroom, Feast of the Gods, and Best Love and producing the drama is the company behind Arang and the Magistrate. If both accepts, it’ll be Jang Hyuk’s first drama since the big-budgeted bust that was IRIS 2 though Jang Nara will be returning to television after last year’s well-received School 2013.
I’ll be the first to admit FTLY is the one of the most addictive dramas from the get-go and featured really memorable things like an unexpectedly steamy love scene in episode 1 plus some genuine laugh out loud moments in the early parts of the story. It was tanked, IMO, by it’s own high success leading to an extension that sapped all the tension and story out of it’s bones. It did catapult Ethan to super-stardom and cemented Chen Qiao En as Taiwan’s drama it girl, but it also featured one of the worst second male lead performances of all-time in Baron Chen being unable to act one iota. I still have fond memories though and if a K-remake has to be done then upping the age of the characters and letting Jang Hyuk dig back into his early career rom-com roots works for me. I also think a tight 16-episode script might do wonders for condensing this story into a tight snappy package without all the TW-fillers.
Oh how I loved this drama. When my friends play the ost, I still feel nolstalgic about It.
Hoping they will do the remake justice. Maybe they won’t have the super wonky side characters this time and a better ending.
I don’t know about this. FTLY is literally my favorite drama of all time because of its addictiveness so this drama has nothing but extremely high expectations written around it.
I like Jang Hyuk and Jang Nara both together and separately. I will probably tune in even though I haven’t watched the original. I still need to know what is her fountain of youth secret.
Omg FTLY was my favorite drama!! I hope they do it justice! Remakes always make me feel uncomfortable bc it’s not always as good as the original and things will have to be tweaked here and there for it’s own flavor. Nonetheless, I will look forward to it when it comes out.
I’m definitely gonna watch it if the two confirm 🙂
I believe that no one can beat Taiwan version. The actors in that one were all amazing. As for the korean one, I’m ok with the girl but the guy have GOT-2-GO!
Hell yes!
Oooh, I love FTLY! If Jang Nara doesn’t work out, I can totally see Moon Chae Won rocking a role like this.
One of the reason why ftlu was so funny was because the girl’s mother superb peformance… Remember ‘Dylan’… Mean retard… Hahaha
oh, koala i just screaming delightedly when this news appeared yesterday. thinking its only last month i posted for wishing that Jang Nara will be reunited with JH again in Mozart Romance. so sad it got cancelled. now, bam this news make me grinning and i totally hope both can confirm. i want Jang Hyuk do rom-com again but if this consider a melo i’ll take it.
I think the next one to be adapted is autumn’s concerto (also settv’s drama)
I love love jang hyuk and jang na ra so yes please!!!!
Hopefully the korean version will cut all those draggy four last episodes.
I hope so!! Autumn concerto and fated to love you are my two favorite taiwan dramas
*toss* but i think the most challenging part in adapting this drama is to find the child actor to play xiao le’s character.
@running_wild – completely agree with that. If they ever decide to remake Autumn’s Concerto, the first thing they must look for is a child actor even half or a quarter as capable as the little boy who played Xiao Le. I’m still amazed at the talent of that child; the scene where he runs after his dad while Vanness drives the car away is so gut-wrenching it still makes me cry today.
As for leads, there are just so many capable actors, so I don’t worry about it. KDramas are known for melo, so that part should be a piece of cake lol.
omg !! Yesterday I was still watching fated to love you again for the millionth time and was telling my brother that I hope that there would be a korean version of it because the story is that good and it really happened today omg so excited and there’s jang hyuk !!!!!
I thought ‘fated to love you’ was a remake of That one korean drama about two young people who had a baby. The one with Kim Rae Won abd eugene??? So this is a remake of a Taiwan drama that is a remake of a korean drama?
You mean my wonderful life (kim jae won and eugene)??? Nope definitely not. Totally different stories.
Loved this drama at the time. Not sure how it holds up now since it’s been years, but I would check out a remake for sure. I agree the extension killed the drama. Doing without those would do wonders for the drama. I’m note even sure I watched all of it, but ended up skipping to the end.
OMG, can’t believe it’s been 6 years. I still have a sweet spot for FTLY: it’s my fave TWdrama of all time, and the OTP were so cute together. On the other hand, it had some inexcusably bad puns. Remember 上床／上船? Or baby boy 纪念品? Good times.
FTLY was major crack (except the last few eps), I watched it like 3 or 4 times. Still remember ep 12 where the OTP lost their baby, really good and heartbreaking acting by the leads.
I will check out the k-drama version, which I think may have a really different feel to it.
but i think moon chae won can rock this role better! but well korean got alot talented actors and actresses so i don’t worry too much. Jang Nara and Jang Hyuk are ok but i want someone younger…maybe around kim soo hyun to ji sung age. But whoever been cast, I will still tune for this!
Hmm, jang hyuk is around ji sung age FYI. They differ only one year.
I loved this drama at the time but back then my tolerance for a certain type of female lead hadn’t been worn down to practically zip, I’m not sure if I can watch this.
I love Story of a Bright Girl…so I am very excited about this pairing! Hope it’s true!
Super random but what do you think of the pilot episode of Rock N Road starring Terry? err Chris Wu hehe.
I adored Fated to Love You! Even bought the DVD so I could watch it over and over. I laughed, I cried, this drama had so much win. Kinda excited and Jang Na Ra sounds like a good fit!
i did not see this pairing coming…
but I loved Fated to Love you…
and I think korean remake would be a good thing for that drama…
It seems a lot of co-stars are reuniting in dramas these days, so is it too much to hope for that soon, Kim Soo-hyun will do another drama with Suzy soon? I know everyone has a problem with her acting, but we cannot deny the fact that they are fabulous together.
MCW +1.
So many remakes.
I can see AC in the future too.
I havent watched anything with Jang Nara since 2005, zomg its been that long. Looking forward to watching this if i ever get a chance
OMG OMG I WOULD TOTALLY WATCH THIS IF IT’S the two of them together again!!! OTP!!!! I dont watch korean dramas anymore but I would totally watch this….. please come true~
ohmaygad!!! ojala sea asi!!!! me encantan ambos actores para esta historia!!!!
If this happens, I super like. I loved FTLY and watched it really several times. And each time I watched it, I still feel the excitement. I very much welcome the pairing of Jang Hyuk Oppa and Jang Nara for the remake. I would love to see Jang Hyuk oppa back in Rom-Com. Super super like! I hope this really happens!
Don’t hate me, but despite popular opinion, FTLY actually wasn’t for me. I love Chen Qiao En, no doubt…but I didn’t particularly love the drama itself. Can’t really pinpoint it, but none of the scenes really made an impact on me except for that one episode where the girl is hit by a car, loses her baby, and everything was shot to hell…all in succession.
Therefore I’m actually quite happy to see a remake. Maybe the new version will draw me in…admittedly, I have a HUGE and GINORMOUS bias for my love, Jang Hyuk. That and the fact that I love Jang Nara…she starred in one of the first dramas (be it chinese, taiwanese, or korean) I’d ever watched.
Looking forward to this. As long as Jang Nara’s makeup artist and stylist don’t hate her as much as Chen Qiao En’s did. How they managed to make Chen Qiao En that fugly for the first few eps is beyond me.