Cha Seung-won, Oh Yeon-seo, Lee Hong-ki
This casting lineup for tvN’s next fantasy romance Hwayugi is shaping up to be awesome. Recently, a slew of offers have gone out, and have returned with many confirmations. The first three to have officially signed on include Cha Seung-won (Hwajeong), Oh Yeon-seo (My Sassy Girl), and Lee Hong-ki (Modern Farmer)—whom I can already imagine as an amazing comedic trio.
Based on the epic Chinese novel Journey to the West, this drama tells the tale of a great odyssey, undertaken by a virtuous monk and his four companions to seek out scriptures in the West. For this modern retelling, Oh Yeon-seo plays the monk character, who was born with the fate to exorcise demons but works as a real-estate CEO who resells houses with notoriously bad luck. The offer to play Sun Wukong, the mischief-making Monkey King, is still out to Lee Seung-gi (You’re All Surrounded). He and Oh Yeon-seo’s character are supposed to become entangled in a love triangle with Cha Seung-won’s character, the Bull Demon King/entertainment CEO for the drama.
Lee Seung-gi, Lee Se-young
If Lee Seung-gi decides to make Hwayugi his army comeback project, it’ll be his second time working on a fantasy rom-com with the Hong sisters (the first being My Girlfriend Is a Gumiho), but I think I’m most looking forward to the reunion between the Hong sisters and Lee Hong-ki. To this day, You’re Beautiful’s lovable Jeremy remains one of the most memorable characters for me, and from his character synopsis in Hwayugi, I’m already feeling Jeremy vibes.
Lee Hong-ki’s new character is a top idol star (just like Jeremy) named PK, who’s based off the Zhu Bajie character (aka Pig) who was one of the monk’s four protectors in the novel. His two greatest vices are gluttony and lustfulness, and as you may suspect in the drama, Lee Hong-ki will be constantly fawned over by girls as the nation’s hottest flower boy celebrity.
ONE, Choo Ja-hyun
Additionally, Sha Wujing (aka Friar Sand), the third and ugliest companion to the monk, will be played by Jang Gwang (Thief-nom, Thief-nim) who is a wealthy real estate chaebol in Hwayugi. Among the non-confirmed characters, Lee Se-young (The Best Hit) is considering a role as an idol group trainee Bong-soon, and Chu Ja-hyun (A Man Called God) has been offered an unspecified role that wasn’t in the original synopsis or myth. Furthermore, YG solo rapper ONE (Show Me the Money Season 5) is up to play a mysterious youth.
But I’ve been saving perhaps the best news of the day: Lee El (Black) has joined the cast! Step aside Oh Yeon-seo, Lee El is here to be Cha Seung-won’s right-hand woman. Her character is described as his secretary and number one follower, and I can’t wait to see their chemistry together. I almost don’t want there to be a Cha Seung-won/Oh Yeon-seo/Lee Seung-gi love triangle anymore. Can we get a parallel love line, pretty please?
It looks like Hwayugi is headed to filming soon, having already had its first script read, with all the main cast except Lee Seung-gi, on October 18. Saturday-Sunday tvN drama Hwayugi is set to begin airing in December.
Lee El, Jang Gwang