Kim Hye Yoon and Joy in Talks as Two of the Three Female Leads in Webtoon Adapted K-drama The Year We Turned 29
So this drama sounds exactly like an aged down Thirty-Nine two years ago about three girlfriends nearing the cusp of 40 and their life and loves. The webtoon The Year We Turned 29 will be adapted into a drama and offers are out to Kim Hye Yoon and Joy as two of the three female leads. It’s about three besties who all share the same name Woo Ri with different last names and their friendship as they navigate work, romance, and interpersonal relationships. I like the Kim Hye Yoon is striking while the iron is hot after Lovely Runner and this sounds like a great project for her if she accepts, and while Joy isn’t the strongest actress she’s been improving and has decent onscreen presence.
This actually sounds super boring to me.
Kim Hye Yoon was phenomenal in Lovely Runner! Hope she’s getting lots of script offers and landing another hit for us viewers to enjoy.
she is so incredibly beautiful and talented. hoping only the best for her from here on out. let lovely runner be only the beginning of your rise!
@mimi from your keyboard to god’s ears!! 🙏
This was offered to Kim Hye Yoon two years ago but the production fell through because of investment issues. MBC really wants her in this so they re-offered it to her after they picked this back up this year broadcast schedule. Two years ago, I’d say go for it. But now I hope she either chooses a film or does a project as solo lead. I am also not a big fan of the scriptwriters for this.
Agreed. It is from the scriptwriter of her Royal Inspector and Joy drama which was so mid. If she takes this after LR’s success, it may impede her momentum similar to the Snowdrop fiasco.
I have read little bit of this webtoon and the character offered to Joy is the most charming one tbh.
Best to wait and hold out for a better script. It has only been two weeks since the drama ended. I am sure she is in demand after LR. She carried it acting wise.
what is it with that writer and hiring mediocre idols for leads? (Taecyeon there, Joy here, frankly ‘mediocre’ is too generous a term).
I don’t want this drama to do to Kim Hye Yoon’s momentum after Lovely Runner what Today’s Webtoon did to Kim Sejeong’s after Business Proposal. She’s better than this and I hope she doesn’t take it out of some misguided loyalty or whatever.
and oh my god the Snowdrop fiasco.
Bad enough KHY wasn’t the first lead and did the small role out of loyalty to her Sky Castle writer, but to be billed behind that lisping BlackPink girl was bad enough, being co-lead with a washed up idol who’s bad at acting and in a script from that crappy writer? Even worse imo.
No hate with Joy, but don’t they have lots of actresses not working at the moment? Oh well, RV isn’t active in music nowadays too so SM must be signing them up for work.
I think her fans don’t want her to join this production plus she joined AC, hopefully she choose something else.
I think fans want her to choose a different production. Hopefully with joining AC, she chooses something better.
KHY is great actress,she probably will have to carry the whole drama alone cuz Joe cant act
This will be a disaster, I don’t think that’s the right follow up project for her.
Agree with majority of replies here particularly @Gem and @Han. After the success of Lovely Runner this would be taking a big step back for her. The plot sounds average and KHY has arguably the least interesting character from the synopsis. Also she would be co-lead not lead. It’s OK sharing lead if she was alongside two equally talented top young actresses (think Search WWW or Be Melodramatic) but she deserves better than sharing lead billing with an idol who is not known for god acting (no offence to Joy who seems like a nice person. I’m just speaking from an acting perspective). @Han said this was from the writer of the underwhelming ‘Secret Royal Inspector’ which makes this even less appealing.
Two years ago her career had lost its way due to poor management from her agency so this project seemed promising but she has huge momentum now after Lovely Runner. She is surely getting a lot more offers now and better ones than this.
ACOM were quick to release a statement that it’s just one of scripts she was reviewing and nothing was confirmed so I am inclined to think think they will reject this. It wouldn’t be a good look for their hottest new actress first project with them to be a two year old offer from when she was under another agency. They surely have more exciting roles on the table for her for her next project.
@Sunny late but this is a good point, if KHY’s agency is invested in managing her career at all they should be advising her against this. A two year old offer, mediocre scriptwriter and on top of it, she won’t even clearly be publicised as the main female lead and will have some idol name leeching off her as ‘co-lead’?
ugh please I hope Kim Hye Yoon doesn’t take this, she deserves better than to have YET ANOTHER mediocre idol piggybacking off her talent to try and make a name for themselves in acting especially after Lovely Runner.
And make no mistake, that’s exactly what this would be if she took it – Joy can’t act, has weird lispy speech which idk if it’s natural or caused by cosmetic procedures but it’s still irritating to listen to, and basically needs the bar placed on the floor for her kpop stans to say she’s ok while for KHY the bar will be placed in the stratosphere. Oh yeah and all her dramas are a flop so they can’t even argue that she brings ‘stans’ enough to make a difference to viewership (as if you need her when KHY is in the picture). Looks like her agency learned exactly nothing from that drama where Moon Gayoung was the second female lead and showed her up on every front from acting to visuals to chemistry with the male lead.
I hope KHY has better offers than this after Lovely Runner, I don’t want some bad webtoon adaptation with an idol to throw cold water on the career boost she worked so hard to earn. Scriptwriters don’t look good either.
Completely agree. I hope KHY and her agency has sense. This is the time to capitalize on all the goodwill earned from LR.
I read an article on naver that all top drama, OTT scripts are now going to BWS first. I am sure a significant number are also going to KHY. The production companies for sure are not completely blind to talent.
@Han I sincerely hope you are right and good scriptwriters are starting to look at KHY as an option too, she’s more than proven herself and deserves better options for future projects. She has the looks, the talent, the buzz…..if her agency had any sense they should be trying to get her a more elevated level of work.
(as LR shows, she can always be trusted to hard carry a drama but the results are much much better when her costars at least try to meet her at her level instead of her being used to prop up someone who has repeatedly shown they suck at acting)
No they actually aren’t going to her because the industry doesn’t see her meeting the beauty standards. The majority of scripts for 20s and 30s female lead roles go to Park Eunbin, Han Sohee, Suzy and IU. After that it’s rising stars like Go Youngjung and Shin Yeun (in fact Yeun was almost written off but The Glory saved her career big time). Former child actresses like Moon Gayoung, Kim Sohyun and Kim Youjung get the remaining top actress lead roles for 20s female leads. Whatever goes to Kim Hyeyoon will be what’s leftover but she’ll have to compete with trendy actresses like Noh Yeonseo and Noh Jeongi who are quickly becoming popular with the public for their beauty.
Industry insiders have already said the top female actress to get all the good scripts are PEB and HSH. Suzy and IU get all the big budget dramas because they have so many endorsements and it brings in huge sales. Most actresses don’t bring in revenue and nobody will give you a good script unless you can fund the drama. Only male actors bring in huge money even rising male actors make more than some veterans. Also if you’re thinking about 20s actresses then the wall is KSH and KYJ. You’ll never be able to beat these two in terms of national recognition. That’s the only reason they keep getting cast despite their dramas underperforming. And looking at their most recent drama casting news they are both heading into tentpole drama territory. KHY is lucky to even have any scripts being offered to her but she’ll have to take smaller roles opposite bigger stars if she wants good projects because she doesn’t have the ability to bring in investment.
how up to date are these claims, because did we all forget HSH put a significant dent in her image with that whole mess over her dating life (I’m sympathetic to her btw but she lost multiple endorsements since including one that explicitly named her conduct as the reason why they ended their contract with her, her image may recover and she could get back to her CF queen/’gets the pick of the lot’ status if her ig audience holds and she keeps her fashion queen image… but the damage was done and it is significant for now). Go Yoonjung is the same age as Kim Hyeyoon and so is Moon Gayoung, and Noh Jungeui, Noh Yeonseo etc have yet to deliver a single hit as female leads.
HSH may have lost some endorsements but none of the impact will be long lasting. Her scripts are always focused on the female lead being sexy and badass. The audience it’s intended for doesn’t care about the dating scandal or her conduct. Especially Netflix will remain unbothered since they love the bad girl types. GYJ is the hottest young actress right now in the 20s and her endorsements out number even IU. She’s definitely getting the majority of the scripts out there. PEB may not be getting as many scripts as she’s not trendy but she’ll be getting good scripts with A+ writers and directors only. The wall is still Suzy and IU who everyone loves and they can be as choosy and they want with their scripts. Whatever gets leftover and rejected by these women then gets passed to others which means they are essentially choosing low tier projects to begin with since all the top tier ones have already been taken.
Hmm I don’t think KHY moved to her new agency to take on webtoon roles still, please pass on this and take something more serious girl! One where she can properly show her acting chops and isn’t hardcarrying the acting for everyone else, just like in every role she’s been in. Plus Joy? I llike her in varieties but she’s a terrible actress. This script doesn’t sound interesting either, really hope KHY doesnt take this.
@Anne I’m just surprised by how badly SidusHQ managed her career, after Snowdrop it was like they didn’t even try. Until the 2010s it was known as a good agency that produced a lot of buzzy young actors but that reputation clearly didn’t hold.
She’s worked as an extra in Park Ji Eun, Kim Eun Sook and Park Hye Ryun dramas back when she didn’t even have an agency, I would hope she gets an offer to be lead for one of them someday.
P.S. I’m aware KES has a drama currently in production and PJE takes years between dramas+only just finished her latest so I’m not hoping for any immediate results, I just hope KHY’s name is in the conversation when it comes to these writers even if it’s ‘for future consideration’.
I like Joy now, Once Upon A Small Town was really a cute drama, I wish they do more dramas like that.
For KHY, I think it will be good to see her in a very different style like she did in the Bulldozer movie but in drama. People seems to forget she really stood out in Sky Castle as the icy queen. I love her bubbly energy but Lovely Runner was enough for that.
Same sentiments. I like Joy as a person but not as an actress. The webtoon, and screenwriter both on the not promising spectrum. I thk in socialmedia her fans are mostly saying no please pick sth else.