Both prisoners and prison guards alike get their mug shots taken in the latest posters for tvN’s Smart Prison Living. Featuring Park Hae-soo (Legend of the Blue Sea) as a star baseball player who turns into a convict overnight, and Jung Kyung-ho (Missing 9) as an elite prison guard, this black comedy follows Park into prison and tells the stories of his diverse fellow inmates.
Twenty-four individual character posters have been released, with prisoner Park Hae-soo grimacing at his fate and Jung Kyung-ho squinting intensely. To Jung’s character, Park Hae-soo is a special prisoner. Maybe it’s related to Park Hae-soo’s superstar sports career, but Jung Kyung-ho knows all about him and gets excited whenever his name is mentioned. Ooh, a bromance already in the making!
Krystal (Bride of the Water God 2017) plays the most important female character, a traditional Oriental medicine student. She has a hotblooded, bright personality, and can be impulsive at times. The other female character in the posters below is Park Hae-soo’s younger sister in the drama, played by Im Hwa-young (Chief Kim).
Our cast of prisoners already seem like a hoot. WINNER’s Kang Seung-yoon (We Broke Up) is playing a recidivist klepto nicknamed “Jang Bal-jang” (Korean pronunciation of Jean Valjean). Lee Kyu-hyung from Forest of Secrets will also play a repeat offender, but his vice is drugs, and his prison name is “Second-generation Chaebol.” Choi Sung-won, who I’m happy to see back in dramaland after his most recent bout of leukemia, will be reuniting with the Answer Me 1988 production team for Smart Prison Living. He won’t be the lovable old-faced maknae this time, though, but a prisoner nicknamed “Spot.”
Let’s not forget the veterans of this cast: Sung Dong-il (Hwarang), who is playing an experienced prison guard chief who is able to quickly and flexibly resolve many of the incidents that occur in the prison, smiles warmly in his poster. Whereas assistant chief prison guard Paeng, played by Jung Woong-in (My Sassy Girl), shows his fiery personality, and prisoner Choi Moo-sung (Lookout) looks similarly menacing.
Others in our cast shown below include:
With PD Shin Won-ho and his Answer Me production team at the helm, I have great expectations for this show—so hurrah that it’ll be premiering soon. Wednesday-Thursday drama Smart Prison Living begins on November 22.
