I’m probably in the minority with how okay I am with this potential pairing, which just took one step forward in becoming a reality. Lee Jun Ki is confirmed to return to dramas this year with the fantasy sageuk Scholar Who Walks the Night playing the vampire scholar male lead. The drama has been in the works since late 2014 and has run through various rumored male leads such as Park Hae Jin and Kim Soo Hyun with nothing panning out beyond early discussion. With the drama definitely on the MBC Wed-Thurs calendar, currently scheduled for July after the Hong sisters drama Feeling Warm and Good, it’s a relief to have the leading man locked down.
If I am disappointed Jun Ki took this particular drama, it’s solely because he promised me a rom-com and I’m still waiting for it! After Joseon Gunman he said in a subsequent fan meeting that he wanted to do a modern romance next, which he could be counting the upcoming C-movie Begin Again towards but I still wished it was a romance K-drama. Since his military discharge three years ago, he’s done one drama a year and toggled between sageuk and modern so based on his schedule I really thought this year was due for a modern drama. I’m happy whenever Lee Jun Ki does a drama, any drama, so I’ve come around to him donning fangs for his best vampire impression and whatever the story and cast has in store.
After Han Groo‘s casting for the Night Scholar female lead didn’t pan out, currently the production is in talks with Jin Se Yeon for the leading lady. Most people likely don’t know that Jin Se Yeon got her first big acting role starting off in a sageuk – she was the teenage actress for Han Ji Hye‘s role in the sageuk The Duo. I actually thought she was better than Han Ji Hye and found her adult performance underwhelming, but then again Han Ji Hye really is not cut out for sageuks so the comparison isn’t all that hard to top.
I find Jin Se Yeon is still a nowhere near being considered a good actress (which means consistent good delivery), and even in the roles I’ve found watchable such as her performance in Age of Feeling and Dr. Stranger she skates by on playing characters I like as opposed to delivery a performance that wins me over. Occasionally I see glimpses of something flickering to life but it isn’t consistent and I wonder what will make the switch flip, because she’s not one of those actresses I find hopeless. Even Kim Tae Hee and Lee Yeon Hee have upped their game in recent years, who says Jin Se Yeon can’t. For Jun Ki’s sake, I hope she brings her A-game (and then some) if she ends up being cast.
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My Summer is now better!
Couldn't agree more Koala.
I agree with koala on this
Be hopeful, Koala! Maybe Jun Ki will fulfill our rom-com wishes in the winter!
if she accept the female lead role it only means im back again on kdramaland.and im gonna have less sleep again for months...well well well she may not be the best yet but i dont care I JUST LOVE HER!!!and lee jun ki is known for choosing a drama with a good story so im good..,so excited both are my favorite.
I really hope that seyeon accept the offer and improves in her acting. I wholeheartedly agree with everything mentioned by miss koala in this entry. She is definitely not among the best actress out there but for me she's likeable and I do see some improvement in her acting especially in the 5 last episodes of doctor stranger. Furthermore seyeon is very pretty without much makeup. And I've seen her rocking very short haircut and she look amazing in it. So I'm really excited to see her portraying this role.
It's a sageuk so the female lead is unlikely to have short hair.
Plus after having so many female leading roles- one shouldn't have viewers needing to say she needs to improve.
If she hasn't improve enough to silent her detractors.... better not say anything more huh?
Exactly. Five years of experience in so many projects and she still never learned how to make a natural looking expression.... even Lee Yeon Hee and Suzy do better than her.
You said it so well. She keeps getting lead role and we keep saying she-needs-to-improve everytime. So, it natually comes to the point we just get tired of saying that, so the she-shouldn't-get-lead-role will be in our thought instead.
Let hope that we don't have to experience another Hyde, "Jerk" and Me where the script was terrible, the female lead was terrible and we just painfully sat through because of the male lead. Let pray the terrible experience not fall upon us twice in a year
Why is Lee JunKi confirmed when he doesn't even know his co-star yet? No doubt he has the ability to deliver good performance and character portrayal but Jin Se Yeon is not considered as a good actress at all. I don't even find her decent. Like netizens are saying, her sponsor must be very influential coz she keeps getting prime time lead roles when her dramas are failing after another.
If she really ends up doing, i just hope she improves her acting so that viewers can relate to her character.
How do we know junki doesn't know his costar, he probably does. And if he approves and is willing to work for her, maybe it will be fine. I think it really depends on how well she is cast. I didn't like her in other roles much, but thought she was great in Gaksital, and so did the k- citizens in general.
Majority or all will like LJK's projects no matter who he is paired with!
Thanks for the words...I can now look positively towards the show :)
The fact that she continues to get leading roles is an insult to actresses more talented than her. Especially ones who bother to keep showing up to work and don't run off in the middle to do other dramas. I don't think someone interested in improving her acting would do things like that, even Lee Yeon Hee and Gu Hye Sun never dared.