tvN’s Liar Game remake confirms and adds to cast
by javabeans
Cha Soo-yeon, Lee Shi-hoo
The main lineup for tvN’s remake of the Japanese drama Liar Game has been settled, with Lee Sang-yoon, Kim So-eun, and Shin Sung-rok signing on (which we’d heard about when the actors were still in the consideration stage). Now the show has confirmed several more members who are joining its supporting cast; let’s take a look at the additions:
First up is Cha Soo-yeon (My Love Madam Butterfly, A Thousand Kisses), who’ll play the PD directing the show-within-the-show, which is also titled Liar Game. That’s the survival reality game in which our heroine, Kim So-eun, gets finagled into participating—she’s given a huge sum of money and told to trick her opponent out of his. When she ends up conned instead, she appeals to a master swindler (played by Lee Sang-yoon) to help her win the game.
Overseeing this whole process is our young, energetic PD, who weathers some public criticism for the sensationalist nature of the show. But she soldiers on, keeping her ambitious eye squarely on the ratings prize. Oh, I do hope the show manages to skewer the TV industry and its ratings obsession, just a little.
Meanwhile, rookie actor Lee Shi-hoo (who had small roles in I Hear Your Voice and High School: Love On) has been cast as a “pretty boy hacker.” Although in dramaland these days, pretty is just par for the course, isn’t it? He’s basically just a hacker. Other roles will be filled by Lee El (Gwanghae, the Man Who Became King) and and familiar supporting actor Jo Jae-yoon (Empress Ki, Monstar), although we haven’t been given details on what their characters will be.
Initially, Liar Game had stated that it would be a 10-episode drama, but now it looks like the count is up to 12. The series will follow My Secret Hotel and premieres on October 20.
Lee El, Jo Jae-yoon
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Tags: Cha Soo-yeon, Lee El, Liar Game, remakes
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1 kanz
September 17, 2014 at 8:34 AM
Lee Shi Hoo is on IHYV? I don't remember him.
On another note, when I look up at the headline, i thought he was Yoo Seung Ho.
Must be Can't Wait for YSH syndrome. LOL
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Zogzog
September 17, 2014 at 12:35 PM
I know right, I just read in the soompi Yoo seung ho is already considering a role prior to army discharge and it gave me goosebumps. lol (YSH biased here)
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2 Lil
September 17, 2014 at 8:53 AM
Woohoo Liar Game.. Although I'm still unsure with Lee Sang Yoon as Akiyama..
But what's with PD directing the show-within-the-show and hacker? I don't think thats show up in anime or J-dorama.. Korea's addition?
Hope it's good and enough with 12 episodes...
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3 kimchikay
September 17, 2014 at 8:59 AM
Lee Sang Yoon totally doesn't fit as Akiyama - he's definitely much younger, lankier and has this sort of bad boy feel...LSY is like handsome ajhusshi next door... I think this might have been a good role for TOP (from Big Bang, with longer hair he'd totally look the part) or Lee Joon
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MsB
September 17, 2014 at 9:47 AM
Me neither but one thing for sure, LSY is a good actor. This will definitely define his acting ability if it can satisfactorily pull this off.
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ana
September 17, 2014 at 2:35 PM
I've never thought of that, but yeah Lee Joon would have been a good Akiyama!
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moochie
September 18, 2014 at 8:41 AM
"he’s definitely much younger, lankier and has this sort of bad boy feel…LSY is like handsome ajhusshi next door…"
my thoughts exactly. though i haven't actually seen him in any drama, i can see from his photos around the web that he's a smiley guy... Akiyama is a rather dark character, jaded because of the injustice that happened to him and his family. He's also rather devious and smirky... I think TOP would've emulated the smirking deviousness better, he does it all the time anyway. Though I might be a bit biased when it comes to TOP. haha!
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4 Mrs. Jang guem suk
September 17, 2014 at 9:08 AM
The LIESSSSSSSSSS I thght it was my Yoo Sueng Ho ? I miss him so.......... *wipes away tears* Well it does look like a intriguing show I guess I'll check it out ( off to watch I miss you ?)
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5 samsooki
September 17, 2014 at 9:23 AM
October 20? Marking it down....
I'm in.
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6 Rou
September 17, 2014 at 9:29 AM
No ones (as NO ONE) can be as good as Matsuda Shota in Akiyama's role. That aside, I will watch to see what Koreans will make of one of my favourite dramas.
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Hanami
September 17, 2014 at 9:03 PM
I second that!
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7 MsB
September 17, 2014 at 9:45 AM
I can see Cha Soo-yeon as the PD. Never heard of the other one. I agree, it will not exceed the Jversion but the cast, I'm looking favorably on.
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8 whimsyful
September 17, 2014 at 10:01 AM
So I'm guessing they're trying to justify (the frankly rather unbelievable) setup of the Liar Game by making it a reality show? Not sure how that's going to work since the Liar Game is supposed to be very shifty/borderline illegal: a lot of the players are participating only out of fear. Making it a reality show completely sanitizes that aspect, plus it makes Nao and Akiyama's original motivations for continuing in the Game kind of moot.
Lee El and Jo Jae-yoon look like they might be Fukunaga and Yokoya?
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robin
September 17, 2014 at 12:13 PM
my thoughts exactly. make liar game a reality show?! it's supposed to be an illegal/underground game which uses scams and coercion to get its players, and the games get their edge due to the psychological pressures of virtual imprisonment in the game more than from the puzzles.
it's a game where you do anything to survive, like a hunger games/battle royale on an intellectual and psychological footing. How the hell are they going to show this within a gameshow, and with a PD and team shooting on the sides to boot, unless they make it in an alternate unethical society?
Perhaps they'll mix some fictional elements from liar game with the setting of The Genius? (a real korean reality game show inspired by Liar Game)
Hmm this could turn out either way, and it's unlikely that the liberties taken thus will satisfy fans of Liar Game :S
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canxi
September 17, 2014 at 8:49 PM
Maybe it'll be a secret? No one knows they are being filmed.
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9 ujsid
September 17, 2014 at 11:10 AM
I actually don't know how I feel about this remake...romcoms are easy to redo because you can add your own flavor of fluff to distract the audience, example FTLY....I was pleasantly distracted, so no complains ♡ but dramas like "Liar game" are imo trickier to remake. Plus I think among the asian dramas, each country has its forte..Korea is definitely down with melo and romance and Japan is perfect when it comes to manga adaptations, slice of life and mystery/adventure type. Not saying I haven't enjoyed Japanese romance dramas, but Korea does them better imo...however the only good thing I can say about this production is that thankfully it's picked up by a cable channel..they can hopefully make it work...I am slightly optimistic over this fact.
Anyways best of luck to the cast and drama team...I will tune in to it when it airs^^
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10 agustina
September 17, 2014 at 11:25 AM
kim so eun Fighting..!!!!
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11 Hugepuffball
September 17, 2014 at 11:42 AM
I can't say I'm really a fan if the whole reality survival show thing. I can totally see how that works, but the Liar Game was cool when it was dark and secretive and in abandoned warehouses! I'm imagining it with a completely different feel being broadcast so freely and with the motivation being ratings and not, well, revealing the greed and ugliness of human nature...
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12 onemorelight
September 17, 2014 at 12:37 PM
They're making Liar Game a reality TV show? I can't help but wonder what other changes that will make to the drama. Having the TV aspect sort of lessens the threat of failure that hangs over the Liar Game contestants.
But, if the Kdrama adaptation goes the way of The Quiz Show (also an excellent Jdrama! check out either the original or remake), this could be a very solid drama.
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13 panshel
September 17, 2014 at 6:08 PM
What? Liar Game is a TV show and not real life? The point of Liar Game is losers must pay back their debts that the LGT Office will collect "by any means possible." And winners are practically forced to continue because in order to drop out, they must give up half of their winnings. Changing the tournament into a game show completely loses the consequences of Liar Game. Why would losers need to fear living in debt if a television network will never come to collect their money? Does tvN have to get Kaitani Shinobu to green-light this remake after drastically changing the plot?
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14 Gwinna
September 17, 2014 at 7:49 PM
How the heck is the Liar Game going to work as a reality tv show?? In the manga, very few people actually want to participate in the Liar Game (those who do are swindlers), and only do it because they are in debt from previous rounds of the game, and the Liar Game is run by some shady group that will kidnap people and sell them into slavery if they can't pay their debt. I mean, the only reason Nao got involved in the game in the first place was that they sent her an unmarked box with a card in it saying that opening the box constituted consent to participating in the game, and she was naive enough to believe it rather than go to the police. People's lives on the line in this game, it's not just a matter of winning money or going home with nothing, and that's why Nao and Akiyama keep playing in order to save the other players. I have no idea how they can reframe this into something innocent enough to be shown on national television and still have any kind of meaning to it. Unless the producers send the stuff to the players pretending to be some shady illegal group and then film them in secret so that they think they're in danger when they're really not? I still don't see how that would work though...
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15 bd5
September 17, 2014 at 9:05 PM
That's a good-looking female cast.
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16 April
September 17, 2014 at 11:47 PM
Second all the comments above about how turning Liar Game into a game show will completely take the edge off. Also I loved Matsuda Shota's lanky Akiyama, BUT... I also adore tvN, so I'll give it the benefit of the doubt for a few episodes.
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17 Tara
September 18, 2014 at 8:49 PM
Having never seen the original...I don't know what to expect. I like the casting of the main three (Kim So-eun, Shin Sung-rok and Lee Sang-yoon) and the addition of Jo Jae-yoon (forever Golta to me now) and Lee El (still remember her as that psycho in White Christmas)...has the potential.
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18 meh
September 19, 2014 at 5:18 AM
I don't know if they can topped the Japanese version, especially Matsuda Shota's portrayal of Akiyama. If you haven't watch Liar Game, you should. It's a refreshing version of survival game.
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19 iamlatika
September 19, 2014 at 7:11 PM
i'm a fan of the japanese version of this kind of series soo i'm looking forward for this show..... i love how shota matsuda and erika toda did there part in this drama.... i hope they give justice in bringing the show more thrilled....
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20 Oliviasyl
September 25, 2014 at 12:50 AM
Liar Game is my favourite manga which I've read over and over again. As much as I trust tvN (since most of their dramas are pretty good quality) but I doubt having Liar Game as a reality show would be a good idea.
I really hope to see great story plot and mind-blowing strategies just like the ones in the manga. I did try watching the japanese drama but I still find the manga being the best.
Hope this would turn out to be a great and successful adaptation!
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