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Lee Jun Ki Considering tvN Legal Drama Lawless Lawyer — 62 Comments

  1. Happy Valentine’s Day❤ Y’all!!!!

    Behold!!!One of the three “Nation’s drama actor work horses” dubbed by me lol.The other two being Jang Hyuk and Ji Sung.Whether their projects pann out or not.We can always expect at least a drama or even two per year.That kind of work ethic I respect.To me, it shows that they act because they are passionate about what they do and they enjoy it so much.Not just for fame or money though both are not bad things to want.I can see Park Seo Joon and Yoo Seung Ho inheriting those position well too.

    Two, talking about the topic at hand.Its not a remake or adaptation..Phew!!!Therefore no comparisons with the originals.Its at TVN.Another sigh of relief.SBS makes good legal dramas but that mess with “Return” drama.Its best to stay away for now.

    Three TBDW PD reunion is perfect.That drama was badass and part of the credit goes to the PD for that.Now I wish the writer was the gal who did “two weeks”.But anyways, I hope this writer writes an interesting script for ALL the cast.

    I just read Seo Ye Ji is being tapped for the female lead role.I hear she was in OCN drama “Save Me”.I am not very familiar with her? is she good?In any case Lee Jun Ki is always welcome on my screen and am keeping my fingers crossed that everything work out fine.

    • Seo Ye Ji is good in Save Me, and she is ok in Hwarang. She has a pleasant face, her deep voice won’t fair well in a cutesy role… Her voice & style kinda remind me of a younger Soo Ae. I think SYJ will be a good match in a legal drama with LJK 🙂

      • Actually her negative role in nightwatchmans journal was really good. I was impressed by her bitch character portrayal there. She overshadowed all the female and male leads in terms of expressions there.she really looked like a obsessed lover. Im looking forward to her acting here

      • Actually she is a good actress her performance in nightwatchmans journal was very good.she actually gave the weibs of a silent and classy but possessive girl. Her bitchy expressions were very impressive. She overshadowed the leads in that drama. Time to get a good lead role girl

      • Ah then thats good.From her character’s , I dont think they are aiming for cutesy role.Here is the summary for the female lead character description:

        “If Seo Ye Ji accept the offer, she will portray Hae Jae Yi who lived a “self-directed life” since she was a kindergartner.She becomes a great lawyer who fights for justice but gets demoted after attacking a judge and become a paralegal.Following her demotion, she meets the male character and they get tied together.”

        I also read she was offered a supporting role for Nam Joo Hyuk and Suzy drama.I wish her all the best with the decision she makes and if they both sign up for this.It will be interesting to see her performance.

      • I hope she will take this lead role over a supporting role for two talentless persons. She will outshine them, but it will be a waste of her time…

    • Soe ye ji is good. Her performance of a classy and obsessed high class lady in night watchman journal was admirable. She overshadowed the leads there. Time to get a good lead role girl

    • I did not like her in “Hwarang” but with a solid PD…she definitely can pull an impressive performance.. I have watched her in “The Throne” where she is good and memorable but it’s her performance in “Rescue Me” that blew me away. As a legit LJK’s fangirl, I am totally supporting this pairing.

    • These three surely are drama work horses. They even don’t care about having a popular female co-star and are ready to suffer from a rating flop. I hope this time it’s a good project for Lee Jun Ki. He desreves one after years of hard work. Waiting for announcement of Ji Sung’s new drama too. Jang Hyuk is already looking for new work too.

  2. My Lee Jun Ki possibly teaming up with Seo Ye Ji…. What a lovely Valentine’s gift ?.

    She is a good young actress (and pretty too) and I am super impressed by her acting in “Rescue Me”.

    I pray to drama gods to please let this be a great drama worthy of his enarmous talent.

    I am super excited and I can’t wait for this drama to finally come and meet us.

  3. Lee Jun ki deserve a rating hit drama and i hope this is it.this PD is encouraging with a solid leading actress,all hé needs now is for mother luck to be On his side.

  4. PD Kim is good n TBDW is one of LJK’s great dramas.

    The writer is the one penning Remember:War of The Sons. I don’t quite like his works but still ok and legal theme seems to be his forte.

    Seo Yea Ji is a promising actress and I am all game with her joining LJK.

    Overall and as much as I want him to break free from action genre, I still hope he will take this drama. I can’t wait to have him back on my tv screen. LJK is just plain ❤️

  5. Seo Ye Ji is awesome in Save Me. She is one tough cookie and a promising actress. She is fluent in Spainish too not that it matters for this drama haha.

    I am looking forward to this pairing! Hope both will be confirmed while I can’t wait for May to come.

  6. Wow finally.. his casting news is out. I hope he takes it.. Hope this is much much much better than his last one,of course if he confirmed it.

  7. He can only accept the drama that was offered to him. He is no longer an actor capable of choosing his own script.
    this character is similar to his old ones which are sad as I expecting a Melo or romcom after that snorefest aka Criminal mind and many of his dramas before that.
    Kdrama already flooded with lawyers and prosecutors and I have dropped so many so probably I’ll skip this one as well.

    • I don’t think he gets offered only ONE script but maybe they are all of the similar genre. It does seem weird how he has openly said he wanted a romcom, but has been taking up crime/action dramas since then.
      Really hope that this drama will be a huge hit so he gets more opportunities.

      • He said he wants to do rom-com but the script must be good or at least better than My Girl. He said that it is not that he is receiving rom-com but there is always one script that stands out that happens to be not in a rom-com genre. The regular rom-com dramas are good for newer actors anyway because it’s budget is usually not as big as the other genres. If LJG takes up rom-com, we would expect a newbie actress, newbie pd, newbie writer, newbie supporting casts.

        His last two dramas were actually good-Moon Lovers & Criminal Minds. He moved away from typical kdrama while doing these two projects. I look forward to this one.

        There is this one big budget spy drama. I hope he will do that do that too. He is a good fit for that one.

    • As much as it hurts to read this (being a LJK fan), I agree that he does not have much choices. Offers mostly extended to younger and current “IT” like PBG, PSJ, PHS. He sure does wants to do rom-com but I think he does not get such offer. As much as I want LJK to do a light hearted drama and stay away from that action hero image (for now), my utmost wish right now is for him to get casted in a quality drama that is worthy of his talent. He is long overdue for a really good drama.

    • To be honest, looking at the quality and ratings performance of melos and rom coms last year.He is really missing out on nothing by not doing one.I mean look at how poorly Manhole, 20 century boy and girl, I am not a robot, secret romance, Tomorrow with You, Chicago Typewriter, Revolutionary Love etc.. did. Or mediocre ratings like Suspicious Partner, The King Loves, Seven Day Queen and many more.

      Of course they were hits like fight my way, goblin, strong woman dong soon, Go Back Couple..those are the ones I can think of…those were largely carried by the acting of the cast not because the scripts were earth shattering.Even Black Knight was overtaken by Return.Now compare with Defendant, Secret Forest, Mystery Queen, Voice, Witch’s Court etc..

      Also I notice in korean dramaland.Actors get offers in the genres or roles where they have a track record of excelling in.Thats how we have rom com queens like JJS and GHJ.Melo Kings like JIS, SJS.Action Stars etc..So I see know problem with him sticking in his niche if that is where he gets the best offers.If he gets a good rom com or melo offer one day, he will do it.

  8. I love me some LJK but can he stop losing weight already?! However, I just love SYJ’s raspy and sultry voice! Yes, she is good in Save Me and she’s the reason I’m even watching it. I would watch this! It has to be better than the last one (Criminal Minds). What an utter disappointment

    • THIS I don’t understand does he not realise how awful he is looking. But i see he is so adamant in maintaining this weight so there better be a good reason

      • And I’m a guy who watched asian shows for more than 20 years now starting from when hur jun aired in my country so Lee joon ki or park bo gum both are kiddos to me. But i can definitely tell you from experience that low ratings don’t mean flop. It depends on actor and genre and the audience it is targeted to. Even if park bo gum has a ratings dud 3 years from now i would never call it a flop.low rating simply means people are not watching it right now they will watch later. any Dramas true success is calculated 2 to 3 years after it’s release. That is when the value of actor is decided. Well if you don’t want to believe I don’t have anything to say. Wether its park bo gum or lee joon ki or jo jung suk low ratings dont mean flop ratings do surely help in promoting the drama but it’s not as important. Because the real profits real income is decided not by advertisement during ratings but by no of dvd sales that start months after or sometimes years after the drama is released. And the best publicity is not high ratings which boosts immediately but by slow mouth to mouth word of praise. These are the areas where jang kyung go Lee joon gi,ji sung and jang hyuk excel and I wish kang ha Neul and park park bo gum to continue on that ha Neul is definitely on that track

      • But you have to realize that ratings is only at the perspective of the TV station not the who production itself. Even total performance of internally produced dramas are calculated independently as the entity who is producing the drama is not the station itself but by its subsidiary.

        Why producers aim for good rating? (1) good domestic revenue as they have % share on the advertisements too. (2) It determines the price per episode for it’s succeeding sales esp for its export. So while rating is important but it’s not the only important factor in considering the success or failure of a drama.

  9. In an interview within the last year, he was asked about choosing a script. He said something along the lines of, “I didn’t turn down DOTS or Goblin so I guess it’s fine.” I take from this that he’s doing the best he can with the opportunities that come his way.

    The writer did Remember: Sons War which did quite well in the ratings but it was hardcore Melo and I skipped. The complaint from Park Min Young fans is that he doesn’t write female characters well or doesn’t give them much to do. I feel this is also true with the K2/Yong Pal writer as well at least in regards to romance (because the antagonist in K2 was great or maybe the actress made the most of it).

    Drama success takes a solid writer, PD and actors and then luck. Crossing fingers because while I was happy with the international success of Moon Lovers for LJG, I’d like to see his home country give him some love.

    • Interesting.But the same writer also wrote “The Attorney”(2013) starring Song Kang Ho and “Confidential Assignment(2017)” starring Hyun Bin.Both did well in the box office.Just some tidbit, he actually named Yoona’s character(idol actress) in confidential assignment;Park Min Young.He must have liked PMY very much.This movie was also the project that gave the last acting award to the late Kim Joo Hyuk before he passed.When I think of it, I can see why and how this offer ended up at Namoo Actors desk and why they are tapping him.Who knows if this drama does well, this writer could be his door back to korean movieland.

      Lets hope if Seo Ye Ji takes this, they write her a strong and interesting script and well directed so her acting skill is showcased well.Criminal Minds totally failed to utilise Moon Chae Won to the fullest of her abilities.Both script and directing.

    • Even in his movies, the female characters are practically non-existent or serve as accessories/comic relief. So yeah, bad news for Seo Yeji. But at least LJG can be assured he writes his male leads well.

      • lets be positive.They say Seo Ye Ji is a good actress and the PD is good.Sometimes good acting and good directing cover up writing flaws.Thats how KES and Hong Sisters have been successful for so long.SYJ was meant to be in Nam Joo Hyuk and Suzy drama as a supporting character on MBC.As @candycane said above me.This is a much better option.

  10. I don’t understand some Lee Joon Gi fans are so obssessed with rom-com. This genre is for newcomers. Looking at his track record, he is done with rom-com. 12-15 years ago was his rom-com era

    • 1. Because he himself said he want a rom-com role. Not sure if he changed his mind since then, seeing how rom-coms have flopped left and right.
      2. Apart from a second lead role in My Girl, he hasn’t done a rom-com (unless you count Arang a rom-com?)
      3. Rom-coms are not only for newcomers. Does Gong Hyojin or Jo Jungsuk look like a newcomer to you?

      I find it more puzzling why LJG fans (I’m not one, btw) are against him trying out a rom com role because it will flop. 80% of his dramas are flopping anyway, so why not try something new? But oh well, LJG’s choice is ultimately his.

      • We get it you don’t like Lee joon gi but setting aside the huge critical and definitely commericial success of his movies from which he is banned by the way. The only flops he had in his career were hero, scholar and criminal minds. And criminal minds is the only one project which dint do well commercially the way it was made totally it deserved to be flop.by the way I’m pretty sure it’s earning is more than breakeven point but no profits from it . hero and scholar did very well financially. So definitely they would not be called 80% flops. Ji sung, jang hyuk,lee joon gi, jung kyung ho and some others all have farely well shares of ratings duds but they rarely have commercial duds. Lee joon gi definitely is a commercial magnet seeing how almost every alternate drama is a high budget million dollar project. Ironically the new actors successful romcoms don’t bring as much revenue as mediocre rating but good dramas of these actors. Because most of the time young girls from other countries watch them on illegal sites. That is why you hear the news that jang hyuk bought a 8.5 million dollar commercial building but not park bo gum bought it. Good ratings in korea don’t give much profits Unles it’s craze is like goblin or DOTS. There are two ways for actors or actresses to draw high ratings it is evident if you observe. ironically both the options are closed for lee joon gi.

      • If the dramas are consistently flopping, then there is something to be said about the actor rather than scripts. Some actors just don’t click with viewers no matter how good they are. On the flip side, some will draw in viewers even with subpar scripts or costars.

      • I’ve never said I don’t like him. I just said I’m not a fan because I don’t follow all his projects.
        You sound like one huge delusional fan, so I’m not gonna reply to your lengthy post because it just screams BIAS. No one is doubting his international appeal here; but regardless of how much those dramas earn overseas, it doesn’t change the fact it’s not well-received domestically.

        And smh at that random comparison between Jang Hyuk and Park Bogum when Jang Hyuk debuted way earlier than Park Bogum and had massive hits like Chuno and Successful Story of a Bright Girl.

      • @another abc
        The problem is I doubt it has anything with LJK not clicking with the audiences… Starting from Scholar, his follow up dramas were really bad in term of writing and directing. Joseon Gunman may not have had the best rating but almost all dramas in 2014 doing badly in ratings. The only thing I agree is LJK seems to have a problem picking good projects as well as lacking the luck.

      • Like someone said above, he’s no longer in the top tier where he gets first dibs at “good” projects, whatever that is. As an entertainer, being able to click with the audience is a huge factor in their success. Take a look at Gong Hyo Jin, she is well liked among the SK audience even though her looks are far from the standard of pretty in SK. Her acting isn’t particularly good either, always acting the same regardless of role. Producers had a crappy script and even changed director midway, but it still managed to reach 17% ratings.

      • @kiara I’m a massive fan of hang hyuk as well as Lee joon gi and jangkyung go and jo jung suk. Even Lee joon gi had super massive hits like king and the clown and time between dog and wolf and iljimae just like hang hyuk my girl was rom com but it’s not about Lee joon gi . Yes I’ve developed little sympathy for lee joon gi after learning his career was butchered. That does not mean I’m biased. Even jjs last two dramas dint do well ratings wise . But he is not a flop. Lee joon gi is an action star if he has to change his style that should be at least what suits his age now he cannot do general rom com scripts. If he will act cheesy and cutesy at his age people will puke. It would have been good if he did at right age. And dramas success does not depends on ratings hang hyuk, jang Kyung ho they are all my faves and all had a good amount of ratings duds but those projects are definitely not flops.

      • Also Im not biased to PBG. Infact it is admirable how good park bo gum is at his career planning. Seeing the hype around him his next drama would surely click the ratings but he has brains and knows that even if he did two more dramas or romcoms he will get delusional shippers and publicised ratings wars nothing else but doing a good movie will be much more beneficial. Do you really think gong yoo and song jong ki Don’t get decent scripts despite rating killers. No their agencies are waiting for the total sales as they have recently gone crazy popular so that they can announce their worth for next drama offered. Its how the Industry works. As someone much older I have explained it’s up to you to believe or not.

      • Flopping? Are you serious? Overall success of drama is not limited to a rating. Domestic revenue is only a portion of the total drama financial performance.

        What’s the point of having high rating when an actor can hardly get on to the next project. Besides there’s a big chance that high rated drama are due to marketing and promo which costs tons of money by the way.

        Ex. DOTS production costs $675,000 per episode but it only generated $250,000 per episode from the China market. If KBS paid approx another $250k per episode. See the figure?

        I don’t understand why viewers have to be obssessed with rating. TV stations just love to hyped up so they can generate better revenue but really it’s not the viewers business nor the fans.

      • Now I remember Fated to Love You had single digit rating in Korea but it was sold out at $125000 per episode to China at the time most expansive drama sold out to China so even though it was not a rating success for Jang Hyyk but it was commercial success. Same way Beautiful Mind was a rating dud but it was sold out to Japan snd other countries to recover it’s cost. Thst’s why some actors keep getting projects after projects even though they seemingly had many flops.

      • International fans like you all are sure useful when Lee Junki got snubbed by drama awards and given only a “hallyu” award.
        I still remember the hilarious moment when LJG fans claim that he is more famous than IU, only to be rendered speechless when gallup ranking came out and he is nowhere to be found. But it doesn’t matter because his dramas rank high on the CPI chart or sell for a high price overseas right?

        Its okay. I understand as fans, you all might not want to face the reality.
        I’m out before these delulus come attack me with “hallyu success!!!!!” or “lee junki loves acting so it doesn’t matter!!!!”

      • @delujkfans As a singer, of course,IU is more famous as an idol or singer. However, we are talking about acting which a totally different category. Both artists have different forte and have totally different fans demographics.

        Pardon my ignorance? What is Gallup by the way? Is it the same as SNS votings sites or some random data collectors for promo & advertisements? Well Lee Joon Gi is not a commercial ads model. He is an actor. He does promote products from time to time but I don’t think he does it on a long term and exclusive basis except Lotte Duty Free.

        FYI, even without the hype Lee Joon Gi generates attractive revenue due to his amazing acting ability and stable fan base. Example fan meeting. I only knew recently that he has been holding fan meetings outside Korea since 2008 and that on a yearly basis. Post military or from 2012, even, he held fan meetings in Japan, China and Korea consistently on a yearly basis but it was not too publicized. I wonder if these 3 countries are heavy social media users or maybe they are using different portals. After Moon Lovers-Scarlet Heart he gained more fans from South East Asian region where fans in these places are more active on Twitter/IG/Facebook so hear him getting compared young idols which is very funny.

        Anyway, my post is too long and too hard to proofread what I have written. In addition, I have only been a fan of Lee Joon Gi after watching ML-SH. I was blown away by his performance in this drama. I am currently watching Criminal Minds which is a 360 degrees different genre than ML-SH.

        Btw, actors don’t rely on hype as they stay for a long haul. Which is unlike singers/idols are marked with hype as MOST of them have expiry dates.

    • I also don’t understand why some people are saying negatively about his two recent dramas. Those two drama may not be the typical kdramas but I believe they are better quality drama compared to his old dramas and other kdramas around. Other than his two recent dramas, I’ve only watch Two Week which I don’t understand why some people are saying that it was better than CM. Really? I don’t mean that it was bad but Nah I don’t find it to be better than CM. With Moon Lovers, it still the best kdramas I’ve see-Lee Joon Gi’s performance and production value-wise. These two factors are the ones that made the drama superior than any kdramas. Those Moon Lovers weaknesses are too minor to be nitpick about.

      • @xyz I get you are being sarcastic but really to international fans I don’t get why they are a big deal other than wanting a drama or an actor to get their due.

        LJG’s hallyu status helps him because the production company can sell the licensing rights overseas.

        I’ve been surprised at the amount of pressure lead actors feel when ratings aren’t good because regardless of quality of the production or the scripts, they are supposed to get eyeballs watching the show.

      • FYI, Moon Lovers performed better than many dramas. It had better CPI rating than it’s competitor but it didn’t compete much when it comes to traditional rating measurement. Blamed SBS for that. How stupid can they get when they allow Dominos to be a sponsor of the drama? Have SBS realized that having the face of the main lead of its competitor was as good as an indirect promotion of the drama airing at the same time? Well overseas revenue, it’s definitely a massive hit.

        For CM, it wasn’t a huge hit but it did pretty well in the rating. Whoever brought the negativity on the drama were contributing factors for that – even some of LJG fans and guilty of that or maybe they were pretentious fans.

      • @xyz yes ratings dont define sucess of drama. This is the case not just for lee jun ki but to ANY other actor or actress.last time people were fighting over ratings of hwayugi and i was surprised. you can’t say it’s average based on ratings. If the ratings are not high means people are watching something else and they will watch this later when it’s aired 2nd time or 3rd time. Most of the times romance based dramas specially fantasy do rating wise well because ladies specially young girls are the one in controll of remote after school. Different genre targeted to different audience. Guess what they take interest in drama when they see good kiss scene my daughter’s do that too. That is why The general pattern sudden rise in ratings while 1st kiss LoL. The real success is not dtermined by ratings but when dvd are released and sold after one year. That time you see real sucess of dtamas. There is a reason dvd set boxes are released after 1 or 1.5 year. Another 10 years in drama land and you will see it for yourself. This is from a guy much older and in this drama world for more than 20 years

      • @international fan, since ratings don’t matter, don’t bother defending so vigorously why your fave isn’t getting them. It matters to the rest of SK entertainment, including your fave and is the biggest measure of success of a drama, which other LJG fans are so hoping for.

      • Who said that rating does not matter? It does matter but it’s not a sole indication of success. Lee Joon Gi dramas post military may not have been a superhits in Korea but all of his dramas did decently rating-wise which something to be considered profitable in the business sense.

        FYI, while actors are grateful for their drama to rate well but I believe it’s not their first priority. I am pretty Lee Joon Gi knows that other than him, there are other contributing factors to the dramas’ success and failure. Although Lee Joon Gi sounds like who always try to please his fans and felt disappointed when his fans get disappointed but he knows that he has to chooce projects that will make him stay in the industry for a long time. That is why he gives 200% of his efforts in everything he does. That is why projects consistently keeps coming his way. Please note that Scarlet Heart and Criminal Minds were two of the most well-budgeted kdrama. Considering that he is being offered with another drama by TvN, it means CM must have been profitable for them.

        Also note, Lee Joon Gi has good track record with his dramas fetching attractive per episode revenue. Like Arang and the Magistrate for instance, it fetched $200k per episode from one of the Japanese original broadcasters. Imagine it was even from way back in 2012 and yet drama has earned much at that rate. Then another record breaking Scarlet Heart that earned $400k per episode from China Youku Streaming company. In addition, most of his dramas even his 10 year old dramas are still being broadcasted in some countries.

      • @xyz I don’t know if you were responding to me or not, but I never said that ratings don’t matter. There are a lot of unpaid actors out there because the ratings affected ad revenue to the point that the production is underwater. I just see a lot of angst from international fans over ratings in Korea, not just for LJG but for, say, I Am Not A Robot or Seven Day Queen etc from international fans because they like an actor or a drama and they want better for them or the production.

        I don’t do this with stuff I watch from Britain, China or anywhere else so I don’t know why I should concern myself with it in Korea. It is my opinion – just me – that since I can’t personally effect ratings in Korea, I just can’t get too excited about it. I get that other fans get more angsty about it and care more about it hence my comment “…I don’t get why they (ratings) are a big deal (to international fans) other than wanting a drama or an actor to get their due”.

        Just as a side note, I was so sad when the lead of I Am Not A Robot said he couldn’t meet his PD’s eye when the ratings came out because they were so low. I think this is a ridiculous amount of pressure on an actor who is doing his job so all I really ask of any actor is they finish their project well because most k-dramas aren’t ruined because of bad acting but rather poor writing/production issues.

  11. Best news ever! LJG in a new drama. I love him do much I can’t wait for it! Hope everything goes well, he deserves the best!!!

    • Oh hey! *waves* I didn’t see you here before.
      I think I’ll change my name to Kiara(1) since you seem to be here before me haha.

      • Nah keep it. I don’t post as much anyways and it’s not the first time I’ve changed my name.

  12. LJK is an ADONIS that has a faithful following around the globe and for those of us who get news of any potential drama casting with his name attached then regardless if it’s a ratings hit or not we will just watch it for the sheer fact that it is LJK!! He could be a tree and it wouldn’t make a difference to me. Now that coupled with Seo Ye Ji well I’m definitely converted -providing that they both accept. Let’s just say fasten your seatbelts cos this is gonna be one helluva of ride! This news is one of the highlights of my drama year! Rock on May 2018 ?

    • I don’t know what you mean but his dramas are really good. I have started with Moon Lovers few months ago, then followed by Criminal minds then Two Weeks and now I am watching Scholar Who Walks The Night. These list of dramas are better than many kdramas around even those with good rating. These are not the typical light rom-com but these kind of dramas will definitely last a long time.

      I don’t really care much about Korean rating as I don’t understand why many them rated well. Most of them are projects that I don’t want to watch again, once is enough.

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