Dae Jang Geum watch: Lee Young-ae declines, MBC presses forward
by javabeans
In a move that has shocked exactly zero people, Lee Young-ae has officially turned down the lead role in MBC’s much hoped-for Dae Jang Geum 2.
It’s a role she has been asked (pestered, even) to reprise practically since the original drama went off the air in 2004, which is understandable since you can’t call a sequel Dae Jang Geum 2 and then not cast Jang-geum. But her reluctance to take on a sequel is equally understandable, and Lee Young-ae has always been very circumspect about the possibility of a return, sounding hesitant every time the production talks resumed.
The chances did look better this time than in previous rounds, when MBC took a very aggressive line about broadcasting a sequel later this fall (at the expense of other shows that fell by the wayside to make room for it, such as the much-touted action sageuk series Unprecedented). Lee seemed to be considering the return and MBC pushed for strongly for it (as we saw with all those news stories hitting the press), but ultimately Lee has decided against the show.
Never one to give up on a decade-long obsession, MBC is reportedly looking into other ways to continue the franchise without Lee Young-ae. They have launched into Plan B mode, and are considering going with another actress as one possibility, or going for a remake instead of a sequel. Erm. Okay. Well, everybody deals with grief differently, right? Maybe we’ll just let them cling to those ideas for a little longer.
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Tags: Dae Jang Geum, Lee Young-ae, sequels
![[Beanie Recs] Dramas about fangirling](https://d263ao8qih4miy.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/BeanieRecs.jpg)
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1 (name hidden by author)
May 19, 2014 at 4:10 AM
This quest to reanimate Zom Jang Geum is so weird I'll respond with an equally weird comment:
If you cast Song Jae Rim as Dae Jang Geum, I will DEFINITELY watch this, MBC.
Definitely. Give me 54 episodes of that. Yes.
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(name also hidden by author)
May 19, 2014 at 5:51 AM
maybe both of us can partner up and direct a remake with Song Jae Rim in it? :D
who shall be in the role of Min Jung Ho?
wait or maybe Song Jae Rim can also be Min Jung Ho.
the whole Dae Jang Geum 2: The Rise of the Rim can just be chockful of Jae Rim oppa. i dont mind.
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(name also hidden by author)
May 19, 2014 at 5:58 AM
This shall be the best RIMake ever
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tokkioncrack
May 19, 2014 at 7:10 AM
Hey are you the girls over from myri's?
In my mind as soon as I read these comments I imagined a tiny little mary sneakily looking around in a darkened room in front of her computer and rubbing her hands together , grinning evilly while typing this out. And of course there's a cop/ serial killer/ stalker wall covered with Song Jae Rim
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(name hidden by author)
May 19, 2014 at 10:35 AM
How..? You..?!
*looks around basement room*
(name hidden by author)
May 19, 2014 at 8:17 AM
*giggling at RIMake*
I heart you, (name also hidden by author)!
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Manin
May 19, 2014 at 6:14 AM
... Mary, is this you?
Also I would watch this drama version...
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Waiting
May 19, 2014 at 7:26 AM
I so miss MO... *sigh*
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mary
May 19, 2014 at 8:59 AM
Which one?
There's an awful lot of name-hiding authors up there. It scares me, how plenty they are. O_____O
Unless they're just one person???
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kooriyuki
May 19, 2014 at 9:14 AM
Mary, you must be the craziest SJR fangirl we ever know =D It can only be you!!! Hehe
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mary
May 19, 2014 at 10:10 AM
You've obviously never visited the Song Jae Rim side of tumblr. O________O
Where there are these AMAZINGLY AWESO--- *cough* I mean, weird people, y'know? Just weird people posting Rim pics every hour.
Those crazy fangirls... *shakes head*
*right-click, save pics to computer*
Yenlinh69
May 19, 2014 at 11:19 AM
Me too.
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Gidget
May 20, 2014 at 10:33 AM
What's weird about you comment? LOL
Though, wouldn't Lee Joon Gi (Lee Jun Ki) look a little more like Lee Young-Ae?
For the sake of fan service, maybe he and SJR could just alternate scenes. Or if the producers really want to create a spectacle, maybe they could use a different idol actor for each episode.
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Gidget
May 20, 2014 at 10:37 AM
Can you even imagine the fan wars about which idol was the best DJG?
...servers...
...melting...
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mary
May 20, 2014 at 7:27 PM
Everyone will be like:
Your (idol) wore the wig wrong!
No, he was perfect! Yours was flat-chested!
You don't need moobs to wear a hanbok!
Yeah, but you need to shave your face at least.
No. Court ladies with goatees are HOT! It's an artistic representation of how Jang Geum refuses to yield to social convention and chooses to pave the way for other mustachioed court ladies in the future.
... etc etc.
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2 maddragonqueen
May 19, 2014 at 4:24 AM
Following Dae Jang Geum is like a multi-car pile up on the freeway - you can't help but stare as the situation keeps getting worse.
But really, I thought Unprecedented sounded pretty interesting and it's sad that it's gotten pushed aside for this circus. *fume*
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mystisith
May 19, 2014 at 4:54 AM
Don't worry: They will have to shoot Unprecedented once DJG2 is definitely impossible to reanimate and they have an empty time slot. *Passes the pop corn around*.
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Kiara
May 19, 2014 at 6:27 AM
I kind of understand why "Unprecedented" was pushed back. KBS beat MBC to it with "Jung Do-jeon." Same hero, same era etc. It would've been like The Great King Sejong and Tree With Deep Roots airing at the same time.
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3 aristokat
May 19, 2014 at 4:26 AM
lol MBC, you need to let it go.
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4 kanz
May 19, 2014 at 4:38 AM
Poor MBC who can't move on from DJG2. I believe there are still tons of sageuk hero waiting to be made a drama.
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5 bulette_95
May 19, 2014 at 4:39 AM
Maybe MBC should listen to Elsa's Let It Go. Make way for other shows.
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6 fab
May 19, 2014 at 5:09 AM
Finally! Gosh I am glad LYA has declined.
By now they could've produced a great different drama with her as the lead- MBC sucks really.
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Kiara
May 19, 2014 at 6:17 AM
Not sure why it took her so long to say no. It doesn't take a rocket scientists to figure out that it's not going to be as good as the original even if every actors, director writer etc returns.
Oh well we knew it was coming, except for MBC.
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bjharm
May 19, 2014 at 6:34 AM
there could be many reason the most basic money or on a higher level she still felt she owned MBC something so didnt wish to just refuse outright, it is hardly her fault MBC took such an aggressive approach to marketing something not even on paper yet.
That said...what other actress bar a newbie would want to take on such a role? My answer..The Son of Dae Jang Geum!
that way there no need for a search any actress at all..I so clever i should be on the board of MBC!
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Kiara
May 19, 2014 at 7:36 AM
Not faulting her, just saying. This has been going on for many years and it was no surprise to her that she would be asked to return.
Her story has been done and over with. Fact is she was a historical figure who became the first and last royal female physician in a male dominating society. That was a big part of why her story was appealing to many. She was no Cinderella, she earned her way to the top.
No fake son or daughter of hers has any appeal to me at all and it doesn't make sense to call it DJG2 without Jang Geum.
I'd love to see Lee Young-ae make a come back as Queen Seosono. We need more sageuk with strong female heroine.
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avonmarissa
May 19, 2014 at 9:27 AM
Queen Soseono? Brilliant idea; that is a drama I will definitely watch. MBC just needs to drop this DJG remake and pick up your idea.
fab
May 19, 2014 at 9:33 AM
Perhaps we'll never know why she hasn't declined this from the very beginning, but one can only applaud her for doing so now.
Yeah I am pretty sure there a lot of strong female figures in the history of Korea, MBC only needs to find a different writer/scenario.
j2hr
May 19, 2014 at 10:10 AM
while there are many strong female figures in korean history. DJG is the rare one who can advance korean culture to the world
mudaepo
May 19, 2014 at 10:13 AM
Speaking of Queen Seosono, wasn't MBC planning to do a sageuk about her sons Onjo and Biryu at some point?
That was supposed to be the next big thing after QSD, but I haven't heard about it for a long time.
Kiara
May 19, 2014 at 1:19 PM
@mudaepo
I heard about it 4yrs ago lol. I think Queen Soseono alone is more appealing than the men of her time. She was nation builder way before QSD came along.
You know, Queen Soseono is more than worthy of the title “Unprecedented.” So there you go MBC. Keep the title and change the story lol.
Alonso
May 24, 2014 at 3:16 AM
Perhaps she took some time to read the script and figured out from there that it wasnt good enough for her to make a sequel/comeback with and thus declined? That seems to be the more practical assumption to me.
7 ahsaem
May 19, 2014 at 5:15 AM
I NEED that hanbok! Seriously, Lee young ae looks amazing in Hanboks, especially in this pictorial!
http://netizenbuzz.blogspot.com/2014/02/actress-lee-young-ae-shows-beauty-of.html
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DayDreamer
May 19, 2014 at 5:51 AM
Wow, she looks amazing. And yeah, her hanboks look lovely.
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gg
May 19, 2014 at 9:29 PM
Wow, those hanboks are lovely. And LYA looks like a beautiful goddess in every pic!
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8 Rovi
May 19, 2014 at 5:20 AM
*YAWN*
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9 sue
May 19, 2014 at 5:26 AM
Wise to decline. I don't think MBC genuinely wants her to be the main cast as she has been away from the drama scene for almost 10 years. My take is that MBC is just treating her like a cash cow as her name alone brings in $$$$$. MBC may just let her sit through the 30 odd episodes doing nothing and the money still flows in with just her name. And worse still, MBC may just slot in a few idol actors/actresses for her to babysit or promote as she will be playing mother in S2. MBC just sucks.
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10 themugen123
May 19, 2014 at 5:56 AM
Move on MBC, , move on.
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11 (name also hidden by author)
May 19, 2014 at 6:00 AM
i want a RIMake
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12 tadaaflo
May 19, 2014 at 6:01 AM
MBC is having a second lead syndrome.. lee young ae said no dammit... move on already!
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13 pe'ah
May 19, 2014 at 6:11 AM
Really MBC, u need some serious closure -_-
I have the feeling that this will not end well.
P/s: btw javabeans, I can't access the menu in the mobile version. It's been like this since forever n I thought it would be fixed during the whole web redesign phase thing. Just wanna let u guys know
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pastmidnite
May 19, 2014 at 7:56 AM
Yep, same here! About the menu thingy.
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14 crazedlu
May 19, 2014 at 7:20 AM
Puahahahahahahah. Nice. Ha.
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15 lemondoodle
May 19, 2014 at 8:36 AM
MBC can you leave her alone now. She's been saying no for years.
Without Lee Young-ae I don't think they'll get the funding to do the drama. So, can we finally say this is the end. For real this time? Probably not.
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16 Stephanie
May 19, 2014 at 11:27 AM
I'd actually like dramaland to have remakes like the theatre industry. It's always interesting to see the interpretations of different directors and/or scriptwriters. Especially if a script was good. Or the plot and characters were good but the character motivations not executed properly.
I mean I'd definitely want a remake of heirs.
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17 mudaepo
May 19, 2014 at 11:36 AM
A remake of Heirs, why would you wish to unleash that upon us?
A lot of dramas can already considered remakes anyway. They are only so many ways to tell a cinderella/chaebol story.
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18 BOBAE
May 19, 2014 at 1:34 PM
SHE IS TILL SO BEAUTIFUL!
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19 HANI
May 19, 2014 at 6:08 PM
MBC,
Let it go, let it go~
Can't hold it back anymore
Let it go, let it go~
Turn away and slam the door
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20 Sajen
May 19, 2014 at 10:08 PM
Does anyone have a couple billion won I could borrow, so I can buy MBC and make them give up already?
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