Disney+ Officially Pauses Filming for K-drama Knock Off Indefinitely in the Wake of Male Lead Kim Soo Hyun’s Scandal for Allegedly Dating Underage Kim Sae Ron
The quagmire of reveals and counter-reveals and even completely irrelevant reveals in the Kim Soo Hyun scandal for allegedly dating then underage K-actress Kim Sae Ron when she was underage at 15 years old until she was 21 has made it rather moot to cover the latest details. Until now, when it’s been confirmed that Disney+ has officially paused the filming for K-drama Knock Off which was its big 2025 tentpole K-drama and starred Kim Soo Hyun along with a huge cast of big name and familiar face supporting stars. The drama was scheduled to be a two-parter release with 18 total episodes and part 1 with the first 9 episodes was scheduled to be released in April (like right now) but delayed after Kim Soo Hyun’s scandal broke last month. The drama had a lot filmed but still needed material filming to continue, and while it was initially stated that filming would continue now it’s not happening. Disney+ has confirmed that it has indefinitely paused filming and the entire cast and crew that was on standby has the greenlight to move on to other projects. Insiders are saying Kim Soo Hyun and his agency Gold Medalist would be on the hook for at least $8M USD in penalties for the cancellation of this project alone which is an astronomical sum. Disney+ abandoning Knock Off would seem to be the nail in the coffin for Kim Soo Hyun hoping to throw enough mud into the allegations of his pedophilia and stave off a career ending scandal.
I wonder if they will cast and film with a new male lead or if they’ll just totally abandon the project.
Sounds likely they’re abandoning the whole project. They may come back at some point with a new lead. The project is linked to his name which they might want to wait some time to distance from
Wow I feel bad for the scriptwriters and every other person that had put in a lot of hard work. Imagine your hard work not seeing the light of day cos of some random A-hole
It probably means it’s abandoned. There’s little chance that everyone on the project would have the opportunity to resynch all their schedules again to finish filming to the end. And they can’t just release part 1 if part 2 isn’t finished. To film the whole thing again with a new male lead would be too costly. Best to cut their losses and recoup whatever they can by suing him. He’s stuck in limbo right now with court cases. Those can take more than a year to sort out. In the meantime, he can’t film anything.
@Pilgrim, I am confused if this is really abandon. I saw a screenshot on X saying Disney did not abandon this. They said their stance is still the same as before and they are just putting this on hold until his case is done through the court. But, this screen shot came from his fans and they are saying the article was from naver so I also take it with a grain of salt since his fans made a lot of lies.
No western company will risk a drama linked with a actor who dated a minor, Disney is a family entertainment Brand. They have their own scandals already. Such risk, they will not take. It does no help, Kim Soo Hyun’s news have been on main media stream international Press. Even BBC posted about it. It is not just a news that is localised.
In South Korea even thru Kim Soo Hyun did not legally do anything wrong…but not in the eyes of the West. 16yrs old is underage…
I am curious if Disney will sue for compensation? That is what interest me more. $8millon is alot but Kim Soo Hyun is a wealthy man, his huge fandom is so strong. I bet they can raise that sum easily…especially the rich aunties.
Typo… $8million is not alot…even his fans can donate to raise that amount.
@hl has Disney work with other scandalous actors ? I forgot if Disney still worked with Johnny Depp after his scandal. Maybe my memory is wrong
Nope. They did end up dropping Jonny Depp which is why he can’t reprise his role as Captain Jack Sparrow.
Disney’s scandals are more behind scenes and top management abuse scandals like Michael Laney and many others . Child abuse crimes involving Disney’s staffs were big news in mid 2010s. But it was mostly in the past, now they have been very careful.
Just 8 million USD? Wasn’t the penalty estimated to be up to about 120 million USD? That is an ACTUAL astronomical amount and I won’t be surprised if it ends up bankrupting Gold Medalist.
I did wonder about the amount…
I also read its in the $120+ million. And since Gold Medalist is also owned by him, I do wonder if it would mean his personal wealth is also at stake.
Knock Off is most likely KO. I don’t feel I’ve lost or will miss anything. LOL
Since I’m not getting a lot of good recommendations from blogs alone, I’ve been browsing the Baeksang lists through years and found quite a few interesting dramas to watch. For fans not fixating only on melo or rom com, I highly recommend D.P., something impactful and memorable to watch.
If it is drama this year, Love Scout and Heavenly Ever After are good ones so far. I like When Life gives you tangerine only when Park Bo Gum and IU are together. When they move to the older generation, I lost interest.
Too bad, Love Scout doesn’t work on me. I may check out Heavenly Ever After since I like the ML thanks to his super performance in My Liberation Note. Son Suk Ku was also impressive in D.P. whenever he’s present although his supporting role is minimal with very limited screen time. This is one actor whose works I’m interested in bcuz of his acting.
I’m also waiting for Hong Rang to premiere in May.
As long as the other actors and crew got paid for the work they have done and what they are due under their contract, this is not a bad thing. Hopefully, Disney would not be like many Korean production companies that leave the workers hanging when they could not recoup their costs.
The second female lead—a newbie cast as his partner-in-crime—would now have to wait for her big break though.
It’s a bad thing at least for screenwriter who’s hard work, who knows how much time they spent to write the script, can go in a vain. I can’t even imagine what they’re feeling now
I read an article previously discussing this issue, and unfortunately staff payments are impacted. They said that cases where a film or drama is shelved and will not be shown, actors (likely main to supporting actors) will have their full payment. But drama and film staffs will likely not get their full salary, as theirs is hinged on the drama release and likely success. So months or years or work, and maybe they only get a small amount not commensurate to the time and hard work given to the drama.
Did you guys see another article that his fans even sent threat messages to Korean reporters demanding they change headlines on KSH? His fandom is just so toxic. On top of that, they are called out for smearing KSR. One of his fan bases on X even tried to hack into KSR’s IG.
One big DESERVED!!! Bye turd.