GMA's Sparkle Artist Center just announced K-pop act Nancy McDonie as the newest addition to its roster of talents. The 23-year-old is best known for being the maknae of the girl group MOMOLAND before their disbandment last 2023. Previously, she was under MLD Entertainment, which signed a partnership with ABS-CBN Entertainment in October 2019.
Nancy was originally slated to appear on Philippine TV screens earlier. In fact, she was already cast in a teleserye alongside our very own James Reid last 2020!
James Reid and Nancy McDonie Reported to Star in "The Soulmate Project" in 2020
In late 2019, Nancy was paired up with James for The Soulmate Project, a TV show that was supposed to be produced by Dreamscape Entertainment. At the helm of things was director Antoinette Jadaone, who described the series as K-drama-like in structure. "It's not like how we do teleseryes [in the Philippines] where you do it per script every day, with a weekly script,” she was quoted saying.
Initially, the plot revolved around two individuals who were matched together by a newly enacted law. In February 2020, the production company shared a snippet of James and Nancy undergoing an acting workshop.
Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic occurred a month after, causing production to halt. Direk Antoinette was adamant about filming the series as traditionally as possible, expresssing, "The Soulmate Project is not set in a pandemic. It’s not meant to be shot during the pandemic na 70 people lang iyong puwede sa set. Ayoko siyang i-revise, i-scale down just to fit the safety protocols. Feeling ko magiging iba iyong kalalabasan kapag ipilit natin sa ganun.”
Come February 2021, about a year since the teleserye was first announced, James announced his departure from the project. On a KUMU Live feed, he stated, "I won't be doing Soulmate." Many fans speculated that this had something to do with his relationship with former girlfriend and love team partner Nadine Lustre.
The two broke up in November 2019 but only made the public announcement in January 2020, which was around the same time James and Nancy began working together.
Since then, there have been no updates on whether or not The Soulmate Project will push through with a new set of actors. Notably, Nancy made a cameo in the music video for James' song "Hello 2.0," which also featured the likes of Nadine, Liza Soberano, Mimiyuuuh, Vaness Wu, and Jay Park.
In a recent interview, Nancy revealed that she was set to make an appearance in Running Man Philippines Season 2 and was interested in taking part in other teleseryes.
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