Lineup confirmed for weekend underdog drama Legendary Witch

19 September 16, 2014September 16, 2014

Lineup confirmed for weekend underdog drama Legendary Witch

by javabeans

The lineup is complete for MBC’s upcoming Legendary Witch, and while it’s pretty much the lineup that had been previously mentioned, we now have a more complete picture of the “witches” of the title. That refers to the four women who serve prison time together for various crimes, who then set up a bakery together upon their release and find their business pitted against the tyranny of a large-scale corporation.

Han Ji-hye (I Summon You, Gold) has confirmed taking the lead role, and will be paired up with Ha Suk-jin (Thrice Married Woman) in the main loveline. Han’s character is a former orphan who married into a chaebol family, Shinhwa Group, that runs a bakery corporation. However, when her husband (and Shinhwa Group’s first son) dies, she is sent to the slammer via the machinations of the chairman. (The description doesn’t tell us what crime she is convicted of, but by process of elimination it looks like she’ll be nailed for manipulation of stock pricing.)

Ha Suk-jin plays a hotel chef who’s raising a daughter on his own after his wife dies. At his father-in-law’s suggestion, he starts giving baking lessons to the convicts at a prison, which is where he meets the heroine.

The three other “witches” will be played by Go Doo-shim (You’re the Best, Lee Soon-shin), Oh Hyun-kyung (King’s Family), and Ha Yeon-soo (Potato Star 2013QR3). The eldest of the bunch, Go Doo-shim is sent to prison after being wrongfully accused of killing her husband and son. She’s a kind, tender-hearted character who quietly helps the other convicts in prison.

Oh Hyun-kyung is the one convicted for fraud and is described as a walking time bomb with a foul mouth, a tough character with no fear and a brash manner. And last but not least, Ha Yeon-soo will play the maknae who’s there on attempted murder charges. She also has a tie to Shinhwa Group, having been the girlfriend to the second son back when she was a newbie model, before she got caught up in that attempted murder case.

The title has a couple different readings, the most obvious one being that shinhwa means legend, there are four witches, hence witches of legend. But the drama has made it a point to clarify that the “legend” of the title has a second reading, using hanja to make it read “witches of vindication” as well, since they’ll be redeeming their names and making new lives for themselves.

Yes, the writer and director pair did do the weekend makjang-fest Hundred Year Inheritance, but I find the character descriptions and setup to be promising, and if the drama can maintain an entertaining tone (without getting too shrill or crazy), I could see it living up to the “heartwarming, cheerful, and refreshing” description. Legendary Witches will premiere at the end of October.

Via Osen

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1 kanz

September 16, 2014 at 3:39 PM

After reading the writer-PD pair did Hundred Years of Inheritance, my interest automatically drop for this drama...

I like Han Ji Hye and Ha Suk Jin, the other casts also solid, the story also seems refreshing but the connection with HYI makes me hesitant.

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TS

September 17, 2014 at 6:14 PM

They're going to have to bring in some pretty young boys and some seriously cute kids to make this tolerable.

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2 museofmanymasks

September 16, 2014 at 3:47 PM

The writers scare me a bit but I'm hopeful. I wish this was on JTBC though, then it could be the next Yoo-na's Street. Also it'd be more interesting if they were all actually guilty of their crimes, because A: something different B:chance for more depth C: I'm not looking forward to the overly used convoluted machinations to get them wrongly convicted, not to mention the resolution of their vindication, D:it's a cheap shot. I think I like the cast though.
And in other news: man, I forgot how attractive Ha Suk-jin is.

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lovepark

September 16, 2014 at 6:54 PM

I agree that it would have been more interesting if they were actually guilty though the character description provided here seem to lean towards wrongfully convicted as you mentioned. It would have been cool to see a Korean drama actually be about ex-convicts and re-integration into society, focusing on the prejudices and social injustices they face.

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3 eunchans

September 16, 2014 at 5:26 PM

I remember that Hundred Year Inheritance was described early on as heartwarming family drama about a woman taking over the family noodle business or something. And then we got.... whatever the hell that crazy mess was.

So yeah, not exactly excited, unfortunately. This writer is banned from my drama watching life. :(

I'm sad because it does sound pretty cool (and is female centric to boot, which is always a plus).

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4 chesquared

September 16, 2014 at 5:34 PM

Han Ji Hye never rests, doesn't she? She does one weekend drama after another. There were very few weekend dramas I've loved. I still hope I can find a rare gem. My guilty pleasures consisted of Smile You, and Kimcheed Radish Cubes. I rather have a fluffy makjang than a heavy melo makjang. Weekend dramas are best for marathoning on the weekend. :') Hoping this one wins me over!

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sunnyl

September 17, 2014 at 4:17 AM

Exactly what I thought about Han JiHye. Wonder how she can keep up her married life with all these weekend shows she is doing. Good for her! I enjoy some weekend dramas - currently Mama, and even Jang Bori. Hope this one is good.

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mwg

September 17, 2014 at 8:22 AM

I usually hate weekend dramas but Jang Bori has been pretty good. A little more melo than I like, but the villain and the bad mother and the exboyfriend and the adopted mom are doing a bangup job.

I love how woman-centric it is too. It has some of that whole weekend drama issue of being pretty conservative and preachy, but I love that it's about a completely woman-run business, with women as artists, villains, saviors, and everything in between.

And I just love halmoni. I lvoe that she's a complicated character; a basically good character who can sometimes be the villain when it comes to weighing personal connections with business and artistic needs. A great artist who is not afraid of giving smack-down when someone's trying to manipulate her. No cutesy grandma or evil grandma CEO here. She's everythign.

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5 KDaddict

September 16, 2014 at 5:55 PM

Thanks for the heads up re 100 years of Inheritance. Enough said!

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6 LindeB

September 16, 2014 at 6:15 PM

l don't understand. So what if the writer and director did HYI. This is a different drama, a different story, different actors and actresses and they are good. So give it a chance people.

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7 crazedlu

September 16, 2014 at 6:16 PM

Sooooo checking this out thanks to the character descriptions!

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8 Miley

September 16, 2014 at 6:44 PM

I'll definitely watch this. Love Han Ji Hye!

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9 gina

September 16, 2014 at 6:58 PM

Hey guys....how can we change back to mobile version of Dramabeans...by mistake i changed to desktop view and now i'm not able to change it back...there is no option on the site :-(

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10 rome_jyap

September 16, 2014 at 7:03 PM

Already looking forward to this drama.

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11 whitewire

September 16, 2014 at 8:17 PM

Writer AND PD of HYI???
Writer AND, AND, AND PD of HYI?!?!

If I lower my expectations, maybe it's going to be better.

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12 sher

September 17, 2014 at 1:26 AM

Getting tired of han ji hye

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13 fab

September 17, 2014 at 2:45 AM

I just hope this lives up to the expectations that Hundred Year Inheritance never accomplished... Once in a while weekend dramas turn up great like Wonderful Days.

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14 john

September 17, 2014 at 5:40 AM

Han Ji Hye did a good job in Beyond the Clouds, it's a shame it didn't have better ratings. Haven't seen HYI, so I won't hold it against the writer & PD.

I'll give it a shot.

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15 Tara

September 18, 2014 at 8:45 PM

I was intrigued by the plot (kinda out of the ordinary, having four ex-con women as the basis of the drama)...until I saw the dreaded words A Hundred Years' Inheritance. NOOOO 0.0 Oh lordy.

But I still might tune in, if only to see Ha Suk-jin play a good male lead this time around (absolutely HATED his character in Thrice Married Woman).

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