Kim Ji Won in Talks for SBS Medical Drama Doctor X: Age of the White Mafia
This year 2025 might see a full reversal of last year’s K-netizen dislike of the medical profession and medical dramas getting delayed airing or fewer made. With the success of The Trauma Code: Heroes on Call and the soon to air Resident Playbook with the same production team behind Hospital Playlist, it’s no wonder SBS is getting on the medical genre wagon again. It used to produce sooooo many doctor dramas in those heyday times, good memories for me for sure. This week K-ent is reporting that Kim Ji Won has been offered the lead role in an upcoming SBS medical drama tentatively titled Doctor X: Age of the White Mafia. She plays a genius surgeon with a dark past that uses her top skills to combat an unfair world. So, like, a modern day Black Jack, if so I dig it, especially if they give her a snarky wiseass little sidekick. Her agency confirmed she’s received the offer and is considering it.
I said last year after Queen of Tears that Kim Jiwon’s pattern of projects is always that she follows up a romance drama with one that isn’t so focused on romance and it looks like this story has no love line and will be carried by her character so I’m feeling quite vindicated haha, she challenges herself and that’s what I love about her as an actress
(and medical dramas don’t need love lines, e.g. Trauma Code has none and is still a huge hit)
She mention a few times last year in wanting to do a thriller. Usually she gives hint like before LITC she mentioned before trilogy and before MLN mentioned Chungking Express.
Maybe just me but the premise of every medical kdrama is almost the same – genius doc who fights with the system with his skills
Looking fwd to seeing jiwon in his first billed era though
It sounds like a good role except for the fact that I have no idea who the writer is… and that’s always the biggest factor for me when deciding if I’m excited for a drama or skeptical.
Anyways, good to see medical dramas making a comeback. Hyperknife is another big one coming next month.
the skill of the writer is the most important thing in a drama, but Kim Jiwon has done projects by new/less high profile writers in the past (her breakout hit Fight My Way was like that, so was Lovestruck in the City).
Anyway I hope this medical drama actually stands out and doesn’t just disappear into the trend, I’m excited for her first drama with her name being first on the cast list!
Would be a hoot if YYS plays a villain opposite KJW in this drama. Just giving enough dangerous sexy tension to tease viewers like their horror thriller movie. Koala had covered their dating rumours way back in 2015/2016. Would be a casting coup if it happens. Both are riding high on their recent success. Would tune in to this regardless of ML.
He oredi signed up for a legal fantasy drama with Esom.
Read that this KJW drama would be on SBS. YYS new drama also on SBS. Not to mention Whenever Possible also on SBS and stars guesting promoting their drama there.
So, expect to see KJW and YYS reunion on WP and SBS Drama Awards?
Lol, my reply went down below.
It also depends when they air. Yys drama starts filming soon but her drama is not till second half of the year so who knows if there will be a reunion or not haha.
Sbs released their drama schedule for 2025 last week. Yys’ ghost law drama is left out and Kjw hasn’t confirmed this one so no WP guesting or reunion at Sbs award show this year.
This is a remake of a Japanese series and there isn’t a main male lead in that one. It is more of a female centric drama so I’m more interested to see who will be her female counterpart than her male counterpart
When u have a great story, u don’t need love line. Trauma Code is a prime example & just up great chemistry and character drivin. At the end no antagonist character either
She’s not new to the writer being unknown, in her first lead role the fight for my way writer was basically a rookie. Good that she’s taking a risk, the last 2 writers she worked with was big names hence the show was bound to do well.
I finally started to watch My Liberation Notes per good reviews from many here a while ago. To my surprise, I like the drama A LOT cuz the synopsis appears very depressing and the genre is supposedly not up my street. I really appreciate the acting in MLN. I already thought KJW a decent actress in Queen of Tears even though I didn’t like the series when watching it. Now my fondness of KJW is elevated to another level given MLN. Never been a fan of medical dramas unless lead actors are appealing to me. So this is one for me to pay attention to. Please keep us posted. Thanks.
You should try to watch her even other works even just snippets because she has this ability to digest variety of characters like how the chaotic Aera is very different to introvert Mijeong and sassy chaebol Hong Hae in when in reality she is really shy and quiet. But I fell in love first with her military LT Yoon Myeong Ju in Descendants.
I watched MLN because of the writer.
Surprisingly, I don’t like it and I find it very boring. Not that I don’t have a stomach for that genre since My Ajusshi is my all time fave. But maybe I can’t stop comparing MLN to My Ajusshi and find MLN to be underwhelming.
MLN is a slice of shitty life. Who would want to be reminded how tough life is off heck work? LOL. But I was really surprised to find the story had charm in certain ways very unexpectedly. Yet to watch My Ajusshi. But I hesitate thanks to late LSK. It’s hard for me to enjoy the works of someone who passed that way.
MLN might sound depressing on paper, but it’s actually very uplifting. Glad you gave it a go! It’s a comfort watch for me lol. I love the performances of the main cast too, for me their acting are very realistic, like I can actually imagine meeting these people in real life
I’m currently taking turns to watch several dramas (both C and K, old and new as well), depending on my mood LOL. MLN is my favorite right now among all I’m currently watching. I usually watch an ok drama by just going with the ride to get myself wind down a bit after a long day from work. But for MLN, I watch it with the same level of focus as playing Chopin. LOL. I want to absorb each single detail of the narratives and don’t want to miss a bit. Excellent script! Excellent directing! Excellent acting! I don’t know if MLN won any awards. But this drama is award worthy IMO.
The genre is medical noir, and the title says White Mafia so Im not sure if its a remake like everyone is getting excited about but happy for Jiwon getting what she wants, she has been repeating in her fanmeets and endless magazine interviews that she would like to take a cool charismatic heroine role in a thriller or action genre so this seem to have a mistery crime feel and her top billing herself too. Because she is a master of romance, I won’t be surprised if there will still be a subtle romantic interest but since she is top billing it, so whoever will play it isnt important. She is someone who has strong chemistry to ALL her male leads anyway including Arthadal where she had love square chemistry with two Jongki and Yangcha lol.
Nugu writer? I trust Jiwon’s choice, especially being someone who had the most hype last year, most Knetz will be looking forward to her next work and it also took her almost a year to announce so I’m sure she put a thought about it.
YYS’ SBS law drama will start filming end of this month/beginning Mar, finishing end of July/early Aug. It’s been scheduled for 2nd half of year premiere slot. He squeezed in 4 projects last year – Hedwig, WP, WTPR & Park Chan Wook’s No Other Choice. It will be a breeze for him to handle 2 projects this year. He’s competing with JJH and JCW to see who can film more projects, lol. Anyways, to see YYS, KJW, PHS, LJH, HJM, JSM, CWS, etc in one room for SBS Drama Awards Show 2025 is drama heaven. Can’t wait.
This is meant to be a reply to @Alexa above, lol. Yes, to have KJW guesting in WP will be such fun. Last year LR’s Kim Hye Yoon guested and it was so cute to see her interacting with YYS and YJS. All three born in the year of the rat therefore workaholic energizer bunnies who can’t sit still. Lol.
Jiwon is so winning the baeksang next year!! It will be sweet and will make up for all the snubs she got for hong Haein when she hard carried qot imo.
The script must surely be amazing bec the ffmw writer was also a nugu at the time and we all know how he is one of the most sought after now. She has an eye for good scripts irrespective of the writer.
And who can fault the pd? Revenant was a masterpiece and so was vip sure shot winner.
Sbs is known for their strong female characters and good production of medical dramas , combine that with the release date being in Jan/feb next year makes her the PERFECT candidate for baeksang 2026. I CANT WAIT
You sound so DESPERATE, are we jumping the gun a bit here? There’s barely a synopsis and you’re talking about winning the Baeksang? Even Kim Tae Ri was not nominated for the Revenant. I read Kim Ji Won is the least accomplished among actresses born in the 90-95 group and it appears to be true. 15 years in the industry and not a single acting award.
@Tangerine take your lying hater comments elsewhere, thanks
“not a single acting award” for Kim Jiwon? the audacity to say that when she won Excellence awards for her acting in Descendants of the Sun (in a supporting role at that) and Fight for My Way at the KBS drama awards on top of her being a Baeksang nominee
*Yawns* It’s harder to name an actor who has NOT won a network award, those are a dime a dozen. And she didn’t even win the top excellence. Even Suzy who used to get criticized a lot for her acting has won Blue Dragon best actress. Talk when she even gets nominated at a major award show and not the “there-are-three-awards-for-each-category-so-everyone-gets-one network awards.
@Tangerine
An acting award is an acting award at the end of the day, regardless of where it’s from. And KJW has a Baeksang nomination for MLN and I think most considers a Baeksang nomination more valuable that a win in any other award function unless the award is a Daesang. She also does fewer dramas vs her peers so there’s that to consider. She’s a good actress and it’s a good time for her to take on the challenge of leading a woman centric drama. As for Suzy, she has been acting as a lead for much longer and won the Blue Dragon for a drama where no one expected her to do well. She absolutely outdid herself. It was also a drama solely focused on her character. KJW’s time will come, as let’s be honest – she’s still the better actress by far amongst the two.
I do however completely agree that its premature to be talking about her winning Baeksang or being the perfect candidate. She hasn’t even signed up for this one and is just considering it. Who knows? She might pass it on for something better. But more so, anyone who says KJW “hard carried” QOT is clearly just a troll. Or they don’t know what “hard carried” actually mean. Quite literally every single actor in that drama was incredible, let alone her costar who did actually get nominated for his role at the Baeksangs. That’s the sort of comment that just makes me laugh (on both sides btw) because of how incredibly stupid it is. QOT had everything going for it in the acting department. It’s one of the biggest success factors of the drama.
@Butterfly, I have nothing against the actress but her fandom is freaking annoying, whining all year about not getting nominated for any awards when there were so many actresses that put out phenomenal performances last year. Kim Tae Ri and Park Bo Young were also not nominated at Baeksang but you don’t see their fans act like an award was snatched under their nose. They even attacked IU, who was first choice for Hong Haein.
@ tangerine, she’s a great actress. Not having a lot of awards do not mean she can’t act and having awards do not mean that person is really good in acting either. Who knows what’s behind the scenes ? Maybe some stars have money and a strong company behind to bribe awards
@haeinfan
I don’t like it when some fans are saying KJW or KSH carried QOT, neither when they saying “Main leads carried that drama”, “drama become popular only thanks to main leads”.
Many another dramas with great actors didn’t become so popular, even KSH and KJW previous dramas MLN and IOTNTBO weren’t so popular, so I think it’s time for toxic fans to stop pretending as main leads alone can make drama a hit. Many people worked hard on that drama, all cast made a good job, support cast was good as well. I read a lot of posts from staff, director’s interview who worked on QOT. Cast themselves praises staff a lot of times and said how great atmosphere was on the set.
Some watchers didn’t like QOT, but every good scene in QOT, everything people liked, from shooting scenes, decorations, lighting, operator’s work, styling etc, weren’t made by main leads alone.
So advise to all toxic fans of all actors/actresses: stop saying she/he carried a drama, you downgrading hard work of a lot of people such way.
This Tangerine is the same psycho who wrote many crazy comments under articles about KSR (Koala revealed all their nicknames under article about KSR)
@Olesya1
Again. No, this is not the same Tangerine.
If I use the name “Olesya1”, it doesn’t make me and yoh the same commenter. Please, use common sense as I already requested of you in the KSR article. This Tangerine has different icon as the KJW PSYCHO fan who in fact used multiple names to try and hate on her unnie’s costar for very obvious reasons. Using “tangerine” doesn’t make them the same person, just like using “Doe” doesn’t make you Doe and therefore a KJW hater.
Common Sense Please. It’s not that complicated.
@apple, great logic, make sure you remember to credit yourself when/if the great actress Kim Ji Won wins a major acting award one day.
That Jiwon fan was just hyping her up but you were that pressed to ignore it and really showed the true colors of being a Jiwon hater, actually a lot of you here in Koala are the same breed, but also a lot of you are a fan of some actor so I somehow guessed who you are lol
Jiwon only did 5 lead roles so far lol, FFMW, Arthadal, MLN, LITC, and QOT not because she cant, but because she is someone who isnt profilic and really take LONG Break and dissappear to live her private life lol. Her peers have done double or triple because they keep on working, so the chances they can get whatever awards are higher. To be fair she had a Baeksang nomination and also Knetz regard her as one of their best actresses in their 30s so I think she will get it one day regardless of just having one project every 2-3 years lol
@Tangerine you have a problem with people liking and hyping an actress who (unlike others who got opportunities handed to them) worked her way up from supporting roles to earn opportunities for lead roles and is now widely considered talented by people in her home country+ works with top writers and directors. And you hate that her fans hyped her in the past for her dramas so you run into the comments about her signing a new drama to leave comments. Hater logic at its finest, you really showed us!
SBS has Dr Romantic 1,2 and 3. It’s not like they have to make their choices depending on other channels.
I like really like how she chooses very different characters and tries new things, even if her characters are not the typical lovely FL. I’m excited to watch her in her next drama!
Finally! Have been looking forward to hear what her next project is as she usually picks interesting projects. Personally, I’m not really a medical drama fan but i’m interested in the part about her character’s mystery past.