Oh I would love to see Choi Ji-woo (Woman With a Suitcase) in this remake. Star writer Noh Hee-kyung is remaking her very first drama, The Most Beautiful Goodbye in the World, 21 years after the original aired in 1996. The 4-episode MBC mini-drama has since been novelized and made into a stage play and a movie, and is now getting a new life on tvN this winter, just in time for the holidays.
The heartwarming family drama is about a self-sacrificing mother who receives a terminal cancer diagnosis and prepares to say goodbye to her family, and was written by Noh as a tribute to her own mother two years after her death. I know, prepare ALL of the tissues. It was the work that made Noh Hee-kyung famous, and earned her a Baeksang with her debut television series.
The drama was originally being planned for a revival on MBC, but the strike brought it over to tvN, where it will now be helmed by Dear My Friends’ PD Hong Jong-chan. That can only mean good things… as long as you enjoy being emotionally gutted and drained of all your tears. But hey, that’s what we’re signing up for with this series, right?
Won Mi-kyung (All’s Well With a Happy Home) will play the leading role of the thankless, devoted mother who was never appreciated by her family (played by Na Mun-hee in the original). She gets a late-stage cancer diagnosis, bringing her ungrateful kids, husband, and mother-in-law together in support of her at the very end of her life. Kim Young-ok (Dear My Friends) will reprise her role from the original series as the mother-in-law with Alzheimer’s, and Choi Ji-woo is considering an offer to costar as the daughter (played by Lee Min-young in the original). The production team and cast for the remake is lining up to be pretty amazing, and I’m hoping that since it’s a short series, Choi Ji-woo won’t hesitate to sign on.
The Most Beautiful Goodbye in the World will follow Saturday-Sunday drama Revolutionary Love this December.