Casting is starting on the recently announced upcoming KBS drama slated for early 2016 tentatively called Murim School, with the Murim the same meaning as the Chinese phrase wu lin (武林) which means the world of wuxia martial arts. This Murim School (武林学校) is situated in Korea and accepts students from around the world with the goal of teaching them the tenants of murim adapted for the modern era including justice, faith, sacrifice, communication, and morals. The teachers will use different murim inspired teaching methods and the drama will show how the kids grow in challenging and entertaining ways.

Rising young actor Lee Hyun Woo, still much too underrated IMO, is in talks to star as the male lead. He will play a fallen male idol singer who goes back to school. Also in talks to play an international student from Thailand is 2PM member Nichkhun, which is basically playing himself. Directing will be the PD from Prime Minister and I so I expected a light comedic touch even if this drama concept sounds way too overreaching for what really boils down to a typical school drama but with an international bent. Murim School will be fully pre-produced with an eye to get on the KBS Mon-Tues time slot in January of 2016. Despite the low ratings of Who Are You: School 2015, that drama did generate buzz among the younger generation so it’s a good bet KBS wants to capture and build upon that same base for Murim School.

If Lee Hyun Woo signs on then I’m watching Murim School for sure, even if Nichkhun also signs on since his bad acting will likely be tolerable playing a supporting role. Lee Hyun Woo is 22 years old now, not too old to go back and play a high school student, especially with how he actually still looks like he could be in high school. He’s also no stranger to playing high school students in dramas, having done so in God of Study and To the Beautiful You.

Most recently he made a memorable cameo in the currently airing MBC vampire sageuk Scholar Who Walks the Night, a little taste of what he’s capable of but leaving me wanting more so the news of his consideration of Murim School is totally a thumbs up for me. KBS intends to do open casting calls to fill the vast number of international student roles in this drama, going to China, Thailand, and many other countries to look for new multi-lingual entertainer talent.