Kim Mu-yeol
I’m still kind of upset that Kang Haneul had to drop out of what would’ve been his last drama project before his enlistment, but I’m happy for Bad Guys: City of Evil that they have a potential replacement so soon. Kim Mu-yeol (Warriors of the Dawn) has been approached to take the part of the corrupt prosecutor role, and join Park Joong-hoon (My Dear Desperado), Joo Jin-mo (Woman With a Suitcase), and Ji-soo (Strong Woman Do Bong-soon) in the show where the bad guys go catch the badder guys.
I was looking forward to Kang Haneul and Ji-soo reuniting for some more onscreen bromance, but Kim Mu-yeol is definitely not a shabby replacement. He’s primarily a film actor, and his last drama project was 2015’s My Beautiful Bride, which was coincidentally also an OCN show. I remember watching him in War of the Arrows, and I really want him to come back to television with a meaty role, like the one he’s being offered in Bad Guys 2. The prosecutor is “corrupt” in the sense that he’s willing to bend the rules in order to catch the really bad guys, which doesn’t seem that far out there considering the traumatic incident he suffered when he witnessed his mentor being murdered right in front of him.
Meanwhile, actor Yang Ik-joon has confirmed joining the Bad Guys 2 cast in an unspecified role. Although Yang is a pretty prolific actor, both in film and television, I’m more familiar with his drama roles in shows like Nice Guy, It’s Okay, It’s Love, and most recently, Mystery Queen. If his previous roles are anything to go by, we can expect him to take a criminal role in Bad Guys 2, whether that be one of the titular bad guys who are propositioned by the prosecutors, or one of their targets. It really could go either way: Some of his portrayals have been downright terrifying with a dose of crazy (see: It’s Okay, It’s Love), but he’s also made some of them almost sympathetic and human, like in Nice Guy. Either way, he’s a great addition to the cast, and I look forward to seeing him in the show.
With all the last-minute changes to its lineup, I hope this round of castings stick for Bad Guys: City of Evil. The crime thriller is gearing up for production and is slated to premiere in November in OCN’s Saturday-Sunday slot.
Yang Ik-joon