I would be thrilled to see Park Bo-young (Strong Woman Do Bong-soon) back in dramaland right away. It’s a very real possibility, as she’s considering an offer to headline a drama adaptation of the webtoon Will You Have Dinner With Me, a romance story about two people who bond over food. The webtoon by Park Shi-in ran from 2013 to 2014, and was in development for a drama adaptation back in 2015, with Shin Mina attached as a potential leading lady. That version fell through, but maybe this time they’ll make it happen.
The webtoon is about a young woman going through a rough breakup with a longtime boyfriend she’s still in love with, and a young man who’s a serial dater and kind of tired of relationships. The both like to eat out but dislike having to go to nice restaurants alone, and they happen to meet while waiting to be seated at a restaurant, each of them alone. The hostess mistakes them for a couple and offers them a couples special, which prompts them to sit together. That’s how they strike up an unusual friendship where they get together just to eat out, and over multiple dinners, they open up to each other about their relationship troubles and grow closer.
The webtoon features food porn in every episode, so that’ll likely be a huge feature of the drama as well. The basic premise has a lot in common with the first season of Let’s Eat, which also had a heroine who hated eating alone but loved food so much that she endured the company of her annoying next-door neighbors just to eat out. The drama adaptation of Will You Have Dinner With Me plans to add more dimension to the characters’ work lives as well, to tell a realistic story about characters in their twenties and thirties who struggle with employment, dating, and marriage.
Park Bo-young has been offered the leading role, a character described as uncalculating who always gives her best, but always comes up shortchanged. All she dreams of is becoming a full-time salaried employee someday. The character sounds pretty standard on paper, but Park Bo-young makes any character lovable and uniquely her own, so I’m sure she’d turn her into an adorable peanut with the appetite of King Kong if she signs on. Basically if you get Park Bo-young, I’m there.
The drama doesn’t have a director yet, but writing is Lee Yoon-jong, one of the writers of underdog success story Ad Genius Lee Tae-baek, and writer Park Jae-bum of Chief Kim, Blood, Good Doctor is attached as the creator. The broadcaster and air date have yet to be determined.
