It’s not every day that you come across anything in dramaland that you could consider novel, which is why I’m pretty excited to read about the upcoming drama City of Stars, which has recently announced Byun Yo-han (Mr. Sunshine) as one of its stars. Aside from the show’s interesting premise, I’m down for anything with Byun Yo-han in it, so now I’m just waiting to see if the drama can live up to my high expectations.
City of Stars will follow the story of two men who have always dreamed of the skies since they were young, and what happens after they are both chosen to be part of an astronaut program. The articles are touting the drama as the first to use space travel as its setting, and I’m not particularly surprised, given the relative dearth of Korean astronauts in real life (two, to be exact) and the young history of Korea’s space program (its space agency is less than 30 years old).
Byun Yo-han has been presumably cast to play one of the aforementioned two men, who is inducted into the astronaut program within the show. His character description at this point only describes his occupation, which is that of an aircraft mechanic, but I can only imagine that Byun Yo-han will imbue his character with his trademark good-natured charm. Now if only they can cast other actors with similar levels of charisma, I will be one happy camper.
Another point of interest is that Jang Jin will be in the director’s chair for City of Stars. Director Jang has had a rather scattered but fascinating career, having dabbled in acting, directing, writing, producing, and variety shows, and he’s much more well-known for his films in the directing sphere, with credits like We Are Brothers and Good Morning, President under his belt. I actually think this might be his first ever, full-length drama as a director, so here’s to hoping his dramaland directorial debut is a successful one!
City of Stars has yet to find a broadcaster or an air date, but production is slated to start in March.