News bites: July 11, 2022

by stroopwafel

Ji Chang-wook

• KBS is being too stingy with character stills for their upcoming drama If You Say Your Wish, but I’m happy even when we’re just getting crumbs. In the first character still for Ji Chang-wook (The Sound of Magic), though he looks intense (and don’t think I missed that peek of a tattoo sleeve), appearances can be deceiving. The drama is set at a hospice and focuses on the people who devote their time to fulfilling the last wishes of children and teens in their care. It’s pretty heavy subject matter, but the show is billed as a healing drama, so it’ll be bittersweet tears a la Chocolate instead of just straight up pain. Ji Chang-wook’s character has seen the dark side of life, having grown up in an orphanage, and then spent time in juvenile detention before ending up in prison. He lives only for the present, but when he ends up volunteering at the hospice, he rediscovers his will to live. Co-starring Sooyoung (Move to Heaven) and Sung Dong-il (Ghost Doctor), If You Say Your Wish will air in the Wednesday-Thursday time slot on KBS this August. [OSEN]

• There can never be too much Pretty in your life, and In the Soop: Friendcation is proof of that. Featuring Park Seo-joon (Itaewon Class), Choi Woo-shik (Our Beloved Summer), Park Hyung-shik (Happiness), V of BTS and rapper-songwriter Peakboy, the variety show will follow the friends as they recharge and enjoy some downtime together. The teaser and poster gives us the tiniest hint of the location and vibes (seaside in the winter, laid-back) and it sounds like the perfect show to relax-watch. It will premiere on JTBC and Disney+ on July 22. The only bad news? It’s only four episodes long. [Sports Kyunghyang]

• Filming for the second season of the hit drama Work Later, Drink Now is underway, and we have a cute photo of the reunited main cast from the first day of filming. Our main players are back for more friendship and romantic adventures: Lee Sun-bin (Team Bulldog: Off-duty Investigation), Han Sun-hwa (Why Her?), Jung Eun-ji (Untouchable), and Choi Siwon (My Fellow Citizens). The first season was notable for its realistic (and hilarious) portrayal of the perils of adulting centered around the lives of three best friends. Work Later, Drink Now 2 is scheduled to be released later this year on TVING. [IMBC]

• The official show posters are out for Stock Struck (formerly Ants are Burning). Displaying the joy and despair that comes along with investing in the stock market, it’s a pretty apt way to get across the drama’s storyline. Five “ants” (which is the term Korea uses for retail investors) join a peculiar gathering specifically for small-time investors and end up getting life lessons as they attempt to make sense of the stock market. Hong Jong-hyun (My Absolute Boyfriend) is making his post-army comeback here, and his fellow investors will be played by Han Ji-eun (Bad and Crazy), Jung Moon-sung (The Veil), Kim Sun-young (The Silent Sea), and Jang Gwang (Moonshine). Directed by Choi Ji-young (The All-Round Wife) and written by Im Yeon-soo, the drama will air on TVING starting August 12. [YTN]

• TVING seems to have as many dramas in production as there are days in the week (I’m loving it!), and their latest addition to dramaland is Dear X Who Doesn’t Love Me. Adapted from a webtoon and set on a college campus, an aspiring songwriter stumbles across a mysterious notebook full of lyrics that have the power to make people fall in love. Though the notebook turns her from a wallflower into someone who has men declaring their love for her, each man’s love only lasts a month. All the while, the one constant in her life is her best friend (played by NCT’s Doyoung). This sounds like the sort of light romance I would normally love, but the cast is giving me the tiniest bit of pause as it’s made up entirely of rookies. Female lead Han Ji-hyo (Tomorrow) and costar Doyoung have the most broadcast experience, but this will be Doyoung’s first acting role. For the other members of the cast — Kwon Ah-reum, Bang Jae-min, Sohn Hyun-woo, and Kim Ji-hoon — the show will be their first acting credit. Luckily we won’t have to wait long to watch and judge for ourselves, as Dear X Who Doesn’t Love Me premieres July 14 on TVING. [KBS]

• The newest trailer is out for Alienoid, and I really hope this will get a global release like some of the other summer blockbusters coming out of Korea this year. The film’s story unfolds in 2022 and the last gasps of the Goryeo dynasty, in 1391. In the Goryeo timeline, Taoist wizards chase after a powerful sword, while in the present timeline, aliens wreak havoc after landing on Earth. In the midst of all this chaos, a door opens across time and several of 2022’s alien warriors land in a very different Korea. Leading the Goryeo roster we have Ryu Joon-yeol (Human Disqualification, Kim Tae-ri (Twenty Five, Twenty One), Yeom Jung-ah (Cleaning Up), and Jo Woo-jin (Happiness). In the alien-ridden present we have Kim Woo-bin (Our Blues), So Ji-sub (Doctor Lawyer), and Honey Lee (One the Woman). I still can’t quite believe the cast lineup and though you can’t rely on casting alone to predict a movie’s quality, it can’t hurt to have so many great actors in one project, right? Directed and written by Choi Dong-hoon (Assassination, The Thieves), the action-fantasy-sci-fi adventure will be released in two parts with Part 1 opening on July 20. [Star News]

 
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