Well, he’s no Jang Hyuk—though to be fair, Jang Hyuk is one of a kind—but it’s good to hear that OCN’s gritty police procedural Voice is gearing up for its second season by courting Lee Jin-wook (Return) to step in as the new leading man.
The first season, which premiered in January 2017, starred Jang Hyuk as a police detective and Lee Hana as a voice profiler working together to solve crimes within the “golden time” that follows a crime’s reporting to emergency services, which also featured Kim Jae-wook in a chilling performance as a villain. Plans for a follow-up season were announced last November, and while Lee Hana has been in talks to return the show, Jang Hyuk turned down the chance to return, saying that he didn’t feel he’d be able to bring something new to the character, which seemed like it would be more of the same from the first season.
Lee Jin-wook is up to play a new character, a detective and temporary team leader of the Golden Time team. He’s sharp and discerning, able to size up a crime scene in a glance, stating the criminal’s actions, motives, and clues in an emotionless voice. Lee should be at home playing a detective, which is what his character is in the current SBS drama Return. Earlier, Kim Dong-wook (Radiant Office) was said to be considering a lead male role for this drama, but I don’t see his name in the recent reports so it’s possible he declined the role Lee is currently considering.
Voice 2 is slated to be a weekend OCN drama following Mistress, which follows the currently airing crime drama Children of a Lesser God.