Casting is confirmed and unveiled in a splashy way with a Bazaar Taiwan photospread for the four male leads of the upcoming Taiwanese drama new adaptation of Boys Before Flowers (Hana Yori Dango). Famed Taiwan idol drama producer Angie Cai is re-doing her own hit Meteor Garden which launched last decade’s TW-drama idol heyday, with Meteor Garden 2018 her big project since it was announced earlier this year with news that she was conducting a full scale search for the leads. The new F4 will consist of in clockwise order above: Wu Xi Zhe (22) from Shenzhen, Taiwanese actor Kuan Hong (22), Dylan Wang (19) from Chengdu, and Liang Jing Kang (23) from Guangzhou. All four are quite tall at close to 185 cm, and honestly I’m totally feeling this casting of relative unknowns and total fresh faces. Angie Cai has not revealed which actor is playing which of the F4 and will announce it during the drama production media event prior to kickoff of filming.
Probably the prettiest F4 cast I’ve seen, but my problem is that Meteor Garden was never a watchable show for me.
Omg, I was thinking the exact same thing. Always knew that it was very popular, but never watched it. I did however, watch the anime version. And I enjoyed it, a long long time ago.
I must have watched nearly every version of Hana Yori Dango but meteor Garden was a really bad struggle for me..couldnt finished it..
Whoa!!! So young!!!
There was a time when I was obsessed with MG in the most embarrassing level I’ve ever been in my life. It was seriously the rage back in the day. But those days are literally more than a decade ago.
They look very pretty, as was the original. I’m looking forward to it. Because MG will forever be the most prominent and detailed memory of my childhood tv watching life lol.
This article shows a couple of things
1. Males are still SE Asia’s priority. Why can’t they release the female actor first since her character is supposed to be the dominant one?
2. Prettiness is so important and they have to look half westernised to be leads. I sure hope they have more talent then just being pretty boys.
Taiwan is not SE..
And the female leads already announced, koala just didnt write about it.
About pretty actors/actreess, nothing wrong about that. Look at korean drama … Almost everyone is dashing.
For me its prettiness is bonus as long as he/she can act.
But sometimes people want to see prettyness, and it okay too. Different folk different stroke
This drama is clearly not just targeted for the Taiwanese. It will be released every where, just like it’s predecessors.
It’s a mistake to release pictorials of male leads before the female lead role in this modern world but what can we expect. This storyline is actually very old fashioned now, especially if females are supposed to be the future.
Yes, nothing wrong with pretty people, in fact they are blessed. The most important thing is for the leads to look and act as closely to the original writer’s description.
I mean, they are playing high school students so although they look younger than the original cast, they look more age appropriate. They are awfully pretty though and it makes sense they chose a very pretty main cast because they will need strong visuals to get fans of the original AND the current generation of younger girls and women to get hyped up about this remake.
I do hope they were chosen not just for their looks but because they are also charming onscreen and good (or at least not terrible) actors. They do show some engaging personality in these shots so I think they’ll be decently charming onscreen.
The one with curly hair reminds me so much of Harry Styles when One Direction first burst on the scene. His smile and energy is kind of similar too…
Also, I think the actor with the headband will be the male lead. Honestly, I wasn’t even checking for this remake but I’m more excited for it just based on these guys’ castings. I’m usually not into pretty boys either!
Shen Yue has already been announced as the female lead. I think they released both bits of news at the same time, not too sure.
The cast is indeed quite pretty. It should be interesting to see what they do with the adaptation this time around. It’s a favorite of mine so I’ll be checking it out.
I still think Jerry Yan is the best Doumyoji and the most good looking one too. I had a huge crush on him back then.
When a director has to remake their own work from another story from another country which has been remade in four different countries (Taiwan, China, Korea, Japan, America) yup Asia is running out of ideas…
Producer is Taiwanese and remaking it in Taiwan. Taiwan was the first to nske a live version, and it has been at least more than a decade ago.so probably time to make another one for the younger generation. At least the boys look their part…unlike the disasterous remake of Princess Returning Pearl.
Boys Over Flowers, Playful Kiss and Jin Yongs novel would probably considered to be classic stories now? so expect a remake every 5 years..
No, it’s not Taiwan. Japan is the first who did live adaptation for Hanadan back in 1995, but it was movie (or may be SP?). With Uchida Yuki as Tsukushi, Tanihara Shosuke as Damyoji, and Fujiki Naohito as Rui (yup, I found this version when I was obsessed in marathoning Fujiki’s past work). It’s old and may be unwatchable for some, particulary because of their fashion, but worth for younger version of Fujiki.
1. Hana Yori Dango Manga
2. Hana Yori Dango Anime
3. Hana Yori Dango Japanese movie
4. Meteor Garden/Shower Taiwan
5. Hana Yori Dango Japanese drama
6. Hana Yori Dango Korean
7. Hana Yori Dango Chinese
8. Hana Yori Dango U.S.
Way too many remakes of the same story.
How many different versions of this drama have I watched already!!
But you can bet I’m going to tune in to check how this new version holds up.
Wait, even though the producer has not released which actor will play which F4 character; isn’t the hairstyles in the pictorials a giveaway? One of the key features of the leader of F4 is his hairstyle, which one of the actor has in the pictorial.
At least they look different. And the best looking cast I’ve seen in all the versions.
One of them looks like LMH though. I am so happy they are young and fresh and don’t look the same. Of course I am going to watch it. Even though I cringed my way through MG and BoF. And even the Japanese version.
I am such a sucker.
I have watched the Taiwanese, Japanese and the Korean version and I liked the Japanese one the best due to the leads’ chemistry and how they kept it short without too many draggy parts unlike the Korean one. Let’s see how this will turn out.
My guess:
1. Curly Hair = Dao Ming si
2. Bandana guy = 3. Gangster/triad guy
4. Long Hair with black earrings = The flirty guy/ ladies man
5. Short Hair guy = Ji hoo..the white knight- second lead…
I agree with you. Mmmm…. can they act and who will be the female lead?
^The female lead is Shen Yue also a newbie and fresh face. You can read more about the casting at avirtualvoyage.
Have no idea if any of them can actually act, I’m keeping an open mind though.
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Ah my youth , my obsession way back hahaha im feeling them and i think i know which is which ah , my love dao ming ze, meteor garden have one downfall for me hope no more prolong ye sha .
i heard japan will make too. my country too…lol
Nothing will ever touch Hana Yori Dango Japanese version charm and aura. Nothing
Right on! I couldn’t agree more.
If this is a Taiwanese drama why are 4/5 of the leads from mainland China? I’ve never seen that ever happen in a Taiwanese drama before. Seems like it’s just going to be with Angie chai as producer but obviously meant for a mainland audience, for the money. Personally I watched her last series and her humor and storytelling is outdated.
Well both Taiwan and Mainland China uses Mandarin for their drama, so it will be easier to cross the ocean.
I am surprised Hong Kong never made this into a drama. I guess TVB is the only network left, they should adopt what Mainland China is doing and just adapt internet novels into dramas and some of these comic books into dramas, since we all know TVB is running out of ideas.
Would love to see a Cantonese/Hong Kong version…I am sure they can make the Triad guy story much more interesting since Hong Kong has always been obsessed with Triads movies, dramas etc.
interesting suggestion… but trying to find 4 young (age 19-25), tall, good looking actors in HK will be very difficult. Most TVB actors are over 40…
Why would TVB pay the copyright fees and produce a drama that is only catered for teens? Would they be able to make enough profit out of it? China-made dramas are broadcast on TVB anyway.
lol…yeah..the good actors snd actreses from TVB are all old…TVB really needs to bring back their acting scho to teach the younger kids to act instead of just having “veteran” actors/actresses playing 20 year olds or babysitting the younger gen…TVB have done teenager/college series before…I just hate to see all chinese dramas going the Mandarin route..I would like to keep the Cantonese dialect as relevant as possible…HK can always spin the triad version of this…lol
i have watched all versions of this but the one i love most is actually the japanese version that made me watch the anime and read the manga..its more closer to the manga and because its short without dragging so many parts..but i guess i’ll still watch this just to see what it will be like..
Seems I am in the minority here, but this cast Does Not entice me to watch this version, not one bit.
I was really hoping Thailand made a HYD. So many handsome looking actors in Thailand!
So glad that the producers went the route of casting relative unkowns for all of the main lead roles. (Heard the main actress roles are also filled by newbies) When doing a remake where the original is as well known as this one, I think that’s the best route- too much baggage if well known/big stars are cast.
Better to have those types in supporting roles or cameos. This new F4 have the looks so I hope they have the acting talent to match.
I`m an uber fan of Hana Yori Dango so there little chance of me not watching at least the first few episodes(to see if its ok) but whats up with Taiwanese tv it just seems to be remake after remake..