On December 2, 2024, Kakao Entertainment confirmed to the public that IU and Byeon Woo Seok are confirmed to star in a new romance drama—and no, we can't hide our feelings about this anymore.
As we all know, IU is a singer-actress in her own right. She is known for her songs, Good Day, Blueming, Celebrity, Love Wins All, and more. Recently, IU just wrapped up her world tour concert titled, HEREH, and released her latest album called, The Winning. IU's last K-drama, Hotel Del Luna aired ages ago in 2019. Since then, the celebrity has focused more on her craft as a musician. In 2025 though, she's set to make her grand comeback as an actress with back-to-back K-dramas lined up for her. ICYDK, IU's drama with Park Bo Gum, When Live Gives You Tangerines, is also slated for a 2025 release.
And then there's Byeon Woo Seok who's finally announced his next project after his global hit series, Lovely Runner. The actor gained prominence for his Lovely Runner stint, bagging several endorsements in a span of six months since the drama's finale. In an episode of the variety show, Yoo Quiz on the Block, Woo Seok admitted that after Lovely Runner, calls for him to be the next male lead in about 20 to 30 scripts poured in. Hence, the anticipation for the actor's new work was indeed high.
Before the announcement of his new series with IU, Woo Seok also embarked on his first-ever Asia fan meeting tour where he visited eight countries including the Philippines!
Now that the two are set to appear in their comeback K-dramas soon, fans are brimming with excitement over the announcement. Obviously, Uaenas (IU's fans) and Tongtongs (Woo Seok's fans) have been waiting for quite some time already. Along with everyone else, we're also rejoicing this recent development. So, without further ado, below we're sharing everything we've discovered about IU and Byeon Woo Seok's upcoming K-drama
Everything About IU and Byeon Woo Seok's Upcoming Romance Drama
1. The plot makes it more exciting.
As of writing, the working title for this drama is Wife of a 21st Century Prince. The drama revolves around the plot of a fictional South Korea where a constitutional monarchy is in place. According to Soompi's report, Wife of a 21st Century Prince will be a romance drama that will revolve around the story of a chaebol commoner and a prince with nothing but royal status.
In fact, in a December 2024 interview with Billboard, IU hinted about her upcoming drama. Although she did not mention the title, she confirmed that she will be filming it soon and that it will have a completely different vibe from her earlier dramas, specifically When Life Give You Tangerines (which will by the way air on Netflix).
"I'll also be filming a new drama with a completely different vibe—glamorous and fun," IU illustrated in the interview. The singer-actress also detailed that she will be focusing more on acting for the most part of 2025.
2. IU as the chaebol commoner, Sung Hee Joo.
ICYDK, chaebol basically indicates an extremely wealthy status in South Korea. Her character, Sung Hee Joo was described as a competitive second daughter of one of the richest families in Korea. However, despite her economic status in life, her social status remains to be a commoner in the modern monarchy they're living in. With the hopes of breaking free from her commoner status, her life gets entangled with Byeon Woo Seok's prince role, Lee Ahn.
3. Byeon Woo Seok as Royal Prince Lee Ahn
Byeon Woo Seok will portray the role of Prince Lee Ahn, the King's second son who chose to hide his identity for most of his life. Despite his royal status, he has nothing. Korean media outlets have distinguished the drama's plot as a "love story that transcends social status."
4. The story of Wife of a 21st Century Prince won a scriptwriting contest.
In 2022, this drama was written and submitted for MBC's scriptwriting contest. South Korean media outlets reported that the script actually bested 997 scripts, and it was written by a female writer named Yoo Ah In.
An article summarized the judges' comments on the drama's script back in 2022. It was reported that writer Yoo's story caught the judges' attention by successfully detailing progressive and passionate characters. Moreover, it has a clear storyline and direction as to how a constitutional monarchy must work, even in an alternate South Korean setting.
5. Wife of a 21st Century Prince's release date
Some fans speculate that it'll be a Friday to Saturday drama that'll air in September 2025—but we're still waiting for an official confirmation from the production houses on this. What we can confirm for now is that Wife of a 21st Century Prince is slated to air in the latter half of 2025, as South Korean news outlets reported. The drama is also confirmed as part of the rich list of upcoming dramas by Korea's public channel, MBC, and it will be co-produced together with Kakao Entertainment.
*This story originally appeared on Cosmo.ph. Minor edits have been made by the Preview.ph editors.
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