SBS is lining up an office based rom-com for early 2022 and the casting is filling out this week. Ahn Hyo Seob has been confirmed as the male lead of Office Blind Date playing a workaholic chaebol heir who has no interest in romance and finds a partner to get his parents off his back. In talks for the female is now Kim Se Jung, with earlier talk of Jo Boa, an ordinary office lady who goes on a blind date in place as her friend and meets the CEO of her company under that fake identity pretense. He asks her to marry him out of practicality. Rising actress Seol In Ah of Record of Youth and Queen Cheorin will play the second female lead here. It looks like SBS really likes Ahn Hyo Seob since he’s been filming its upcoming sageuk drama Hong Chun Gi (Red Sky) so we’ll see him back on the small screen later this summer opposite Kim Yoo Jung, and I want to watch that first to see if he’s improved because his last drama that I watched Abyss did him no favors.
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Reading the manhwa, I always imagined older actors for these roles especially the male lead.
Same! I think Kim Jae-Wook would have been perfect for the male lead.
I wanted to say KJW as one of my options but I don’t know if I want him to be in another “office drama as the male lead who gets involved with a subordinate” so soon.
It’s actually difficult for me to think of who my pick would be for the male and female leads. I will have to look at a lot of actors and actresses to see who gives me the vibe of the characters.
@vegaspink
Yeah, he would have been in 2 office romances back to back.
Overall I just think the cast is too young. Not a big fan of young CEOs in shows, but maybe they’re planning to change a lot of things
@mtree, I also want an older female lead because I don’t see the younger actresses with that natural mature but sexy aura like the one in the manhwa, esp when playing the femme fatale during the blind dates. Even after the pretending stopped, she has that air from her walk and movement to me that younger actresses don’t have yet. I don’t want them to make the femme fatale parts to be forced nor comedic which I feel like they will do both.
I also want a bigger man to play the lead. Not just tall but broader. I also feel like an older actor will have that natural mature and authoritative aura rather than a younger actor.
I’m extremely nervous about AHS leading a drama. I really like him in My Father Is Strange but Abyss gave me trauma. I can give this one a miss but have to watch Red Sky with KYJ. Please drama gods, please don’t let that saguek be messed up.
It will never mess up It is in the hands of SBS and a very solid director who masters sageuk genre. We have the assurance that it will be good and also a writer of be melodramatic which earned fl a nomination in baeksang, Also it is acquired by viu as its third original kdrama
He did well in Romantic Doctor and I hope that made people forget Abyss. Now he needs a role to prove more his acting skills and to differentiate himself from Nam Joohyuk, they look so much alike and have the same charm. I hope this is it.
He tends to do well as SL but once as ML that’s a whole new story.
^ agreed. He wasn’t the main male lead in Father is Strange and even for the portion of the storyline that he had, the scenes were mostly carried by Ryu Hwa Young. I’m not convinced he’s main male lead material tbh but SBS has given him plenty of chances so let’s hope he can do a Lee Yeon Hee in Miss Korea.
my opinion aby office romance webtoons they are always heart heart fluttering. but in many cases, its drama adaptation always fail. exemption to the what’s wrong with secretary kim.
ok let’s change the topic. i think ahn yeo sop can be called son of sbs already? since he frequently stars in many sbs drama. just like song kang who is called as son of netlix. eh.. but i think songkang’s drama frequency in netflix is more than ahs in sbs.
This is what I also think. As someone who have ready read the manhwa, I personally think AHS does not fit the role (KJW, JCW, LDW, or KWB will fit better. Or if SBS wants to give the role to rookie actor, Kwak Si Yang or Lee Jae Wook will fit better than AHS). However, it seems SBS gives AHS special treatment as “Son of SBS”. I once watched interview of SBS CEO and he really praised AHS even explicitly said “AHS will be the next Kim Soo Hyun after Red Sky”. There was also an issue related to the order of names in Red Sky promotion materials, in which AHS name comes first before KYJ (KYJ is the titular character in the drama and more veteran than AHS, her name should be put first).
from reading the webtoon not only do neither ahn hyo seob and sejung not match these roles, i feel like sejung is going to overpower his presence since she’s just a much more stronger actor and definitely has much more screen presence
Let me preface this comment by saying: this is my favorite manwha of all time. In a perfect world, the drama version would not exist because it would undoubtedly let me down. Now, AHS is a bit younger (and shorter, ahem) than I expected the male lead to be but he is still talented and pretty. Second on the other hand, is adequate at best and DOES NOT suit the female lead at all. Jesus. I will actually riot if she gets cast. JBA is slightly better but her personality doesn’t match the female lead so…….yeah. SIA as the second lead is very nicely cast in my opinion, she has that bubbly energy on point. This is all very conflicting. Gah.
***Sejong, not second ??♀️
since you’re familiar with the material, who would you suggest to play the male and female lead?
Agree, Seol In Ah is nicely cast not sure about the male and female leads.
@Ve – AHS is *shorter* than you expected the ML to be?? If wiki is right, he’s 1.87 m…how tall is this ML? ?
It’s actually his acting in ML role that makes me think he needs to stick to SL until he levels up. The field is hella competitive for young male actors, even tall and good-looking ones, and ones whose acting is at his level don’t last long.
the boss visually is more like SungHoon, the broad shoulder man looking and mature type while the female lead for me is softer looking, someone that look like Yoona but a shorter
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@vee – Ahn hyo seop is already like 188cm so if you find him too short for the role then I can’t imagine who is tall enough for the standard lol. Also JBA will look like his elder sister so the boss part will be quite a stretch thus sejeong being the same age as AHS is actually a much better choice since they are all 95ers. I am not much into AHS as I still find his acting a bit challenged but he should do fine on breezy office setting romcoms. Sejeong is one very lively girl irl and an idol with good acting skills. Most of all she is not afraid to look ugly in order to draw laughs. The chemistry should hold up. Definitely checking in for this one.
I heard the PD of this drama is the one from Suspicious Partner. Let’s see if they can pull off romantic kissing scenes as hot as JCW-NJH. Hehe! If there will be a lot of lovey dovey scenes.
I know the second female lead Seol in Ah can kiss very well.
Not sure about AHS-KSJ haha.
AHS is more like the younger brother character of this manhwa.
This manhwa is kinda frustrating, with too many misunderstandings, wrong assumptions, and overthinking plot. It’s like the female character has made a conclusion out of one clue.
On the other hand, the male character is nice, stern, workaholic but you never think he is that mean because his mean-ness only shown by the female lead overthinking monologue, we never see him being bad. I think they will make him a jerk but I think he deserves to be cheeky and means because they wronged him 1st and the secretary is such a good guy, no one deserves him in the story.
Aaaah, I don’t really like the manhwas and I feel like I know how they’ll do it but I wish they make the female lead has more sense, not overthinking and cut short the double identity plot. Also make the male lead nice,at least the same as the manhwa and don’t ruin the secretary to be this bumble, comic relieve.
ah I forgot, the friend character is so frustrating and didn’t help any situation
I also agree that AHn Hyo Seop does not fit the male lead role. For the male lead, it supposed to be played by older actor, such as Kim Jae Wook, Ji Chang Wook, Sung Hoon, Lee Dong Wook, or Woo Bin (dont put Lee Min Ho, LOL). Or if SBS wants to cast new face, Kwak Si Yang, Teo Yoo, or Lee Jae Wook, Ahn Bo Hyun, will fit better than Hyo Seop. I think SBS has given special treatment to Hyo Seop. Frankly speaking, SBS wants him to be the “Son of SBS”. He only has dramas with SBS since 2018 until now. There was an issue with order of names in LOTRS promotion materials in which SBS put AHS name first before KYJ (KYJ is the titular character and she is much more veteran than AHS, her name should be written first). There was also an interview with one of the high-rank officials of SBS, he really praised AHS even explicitly said “AHS is Kim Soo Hyun in the making” (he compared AHS in LOTRS with KSH in METS). I also dont like the female lead. Sejeong is pretty, but I always think there is something wrong with her acting.