K-netizens Think Upcoming Hong Sisters Fantasy Sageuk Drama Return is a Hot Mess After Leading Lady Swap to Jung So Min and Demotion of Oh My Girl’s Arin from Second Female Lead Down to 8th Spot
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Two decades of K-drama watching and a still keen memory tells me that a hot mess drama casting/production isn’t always indicative of a bad drama to come, buuuuuuut it does tend to turn out that way with only a handful able to overcome a messy start. The upcoming Hong Sisters new drama Return (Returning Soul) had a leading lady switch at the beginning of filming from rookie actress Park Hye Eun to established leading lady Jung So Min, and the whole thing went down very publicly and everyone felt bad for Park Hye Eun to get so unceremoniously dumped even if she may have been in over her head to headline such a big drama. Now the promos are starting and K-netizens noticed that Oh My Girl’s Arin (Choi Ye Eun) who was announced as the second female lead was nowhere to be seen in the landing page featuring 7 actors and actresses, and saw that she shows up in the 8th spot in the larger cast line up. It just makes the drama look like it doesn’t know what it’s doing as casting and character importance keeps getting shuffled.
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I frankly see no problems with Oh Ah Rin being further down on the list considering her non existent acting resume and I’m sure the role was always a minor supporting role from the start which the production blew out of proportion due to the popularity of her group in order to attract more attention from the general public. What is surprising is seeing Hwang Minhyun ahead of all the veteran actors. I like him a lot as an idol but even in Live On he wasn’t great but since his character was meant to be only eye candy it hardly mattered. This however is a sageuk and lets hope we don’t waste too much screentime on his non acting no matter how pretty he is. That said, this drama does look like a hot mess which just makes me feel bad for Lee Jae Wook. Both him and Lee Do Hyun need to start picking better scripts because their potential is getting buried.
People ask why idols keep getting cast in dramas as leads and this is exactly the reason. The ones at fault are the producers who want to use their clout to promote the drama and in this case blowing her role way out of proportion just to get her fans on board. Tired of seeing idols being blamed for taking on lead roles or any role for that matter when productions are literally using them for their fame and then leaving them out to dry when the feedback is negative. Most of these idols are barely in their mid 20s and have spent the entirety of their teen years training day and night under harsh just to have a chance at debuting. It’s meaningless to hate on them for getting cast in dramas for their individual or group popularity. Be the idols or the veterans none of them are at fault for the cast billing the blame lies solely with the production houses and its them who should face the heat and get hated on.
More surprised to see Joo Sang Wook so low in terms of placement though than Arin.
Maybe he’s playing a special role. Otherwise, it will be like the baffling billing of Park Sung-woong in Snowdrop all over again.
It’s a youth drama. You know he might be playing important elder role so.
School 2021 had a lot of production issues and was bad…
My issue with the change of main actress is the age. I love Jung So-Min but the characters were described as young and she’s in her 30’s. So did they change to script just for her? It doesn’t make sense, it’s not like they weren’t any good actressess in their 20’s.
Why did they wait for this announce so long?
Actors are expected to portray any characters even someone totally opposite than their real selves.
Yes and no.
At one moment, your age is visible by the apparence but the energy and aura too.
Joo sang wook not the lead????? O.O
Hong sisters dramas been a hot mess for some time now
Hmm I guess Hong Sisters will be back to their flop era again. They are always hit or miss.
the reason why people are upset about what happened to Arin is because we(as in Miracles,OMG fandom) felt that we were deceived and Arin was used for clout. when the drama casting news first came out, the production team kept using Arin’s name in the news articles,her name was put first, leading us that she is part of the main leads. Arin let go of reprising a main role for this drama, had to juggle a busy schedule of group promotion, MC jobs and filming this drama all that the same time since last year. and now we found out that she is nowhere to be seen in the official news. so yes, we are upset.
I’m excited for this drama as the female lead is my favorite korean actress #JungSoMin though she is in her 30’s she looks younger than her age, so she is very suitable for the leading role as she is a very good and versatile actress.
Wasn’t Park Hye Eun that one rookie actress who was criticized for her acting before? Probably good she stepped out of such a big name drama then..
How come they sure it is a hot mess? I don’t care about these idols. I read the synopsis, it is pretty promising. I’m glad to see Lee Jae Wook still first spot in cast. He is so young and so talented. Hope he has many screentime.
Wonder if some investor had been meddling with the production.
Fund raising could have been the reason but not necessary investors meddling with it. Productions company usually issue a press release to test the waters either reaction from the market and from investors. The result may have been undesirable.
i’ll sit through anything by the hong sisters and I like jung so min, but the kicking out of the younger actress could have been kept quiet, it just leaves such a bad taste in the mouth. whoever handled publicity for this show should have been scolded. the director does have a good track record though