I know Ji-soo (Bad Guys: City of Evil, Strong Woman Do Bong-soon) has already graduated to adult bad boy roles, but I’ll always love his Angry Mom baby bad boy character best, which is why I’m glad that he’s still up for youth dramas. There’s a new coming-of-age campus drama in the works called First Time at First Love, which is reportedly in talks to stream on Netflix, and the leading role has been offered to Ji-soo. (It looks like his real-life buddy Nam Joo-hyuk was offered the same role earlier, but he must have passed on it.)
The drama comes from former SBS PD Oh Jin-seok of Yong-pal, My Sassy Girl, and Modern Farmer, and tells the story of twenty-year-olds navigating their first baby steps into adulthood. It’ll take place on a college campus and focus on youths who have just barely shed their high school uniforms learning how to dream, make true friends, and fall in love for the first time.
Ji-soo is up for the role of business student Yoon Tae-oh, a handsome young man from a top university and a wealthy family. He seems perfect on the outside, but his precarious family relationships have led to a lifetime of alienation. One day, his friend Han Song-yi suddenly ends up living in his house, and he’ll develop romantic feelings for her, confusing the hell out of him.
It sounds like an adorable friends-to-lovers setup with a simple, relatable story at the core, which is exactly my kind of youth drama. I’ll dream big and hope for a dash of Age of Youth and a sprinkling of Because This Life Is Our First for thematic purposes. Bonus points for a fresh-faced ensemble of talented rookies to join him.
First Time at First Love is currently in talks to air on Netflix.