Despite Ban, Lee Min-ho Ready To Rule Hallyu


Lee Min-ho is a true Cancer man. His persistence and determination is visibly evident in the fact that both he and his team are gung-ho about their upcoming Korean drama Legend of the Blue Sea— despite China’s ban.

The shooting has already begun for the Legend of the Blue Sea, in which Lee Min-ho plays dual role. The drama also stars legendary actress Jun Ji-hyun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8tZC5NFR7Y

However, challenges will continue to persist after the drama goes live. Although both stars are talented, the Hallyu ban will continue to affect these superstars. Even if the new plot surpasses Descendants of the Sun, the recently concluded super-hit K-drama, only time will tell if it will enjoy the same success as the military romance starring Song Joong-ki and Song Hye-kyo. The Descendants of the Sun had a huge backing from China, where it had more viewership.

According to an earlier report by Inquisitr, the drama was receiving enormous attention from Chinese video platforms. A Chinese video streaming service platform had offered to bid $500,000 per episode, according to Variety. This was almost double the sum paid by iQiyi for this year’s megahit Descendants of the Sun.

While both dramas have an exemplary cast and crew, Legend of the Blue Sea may lose a fair portion of its audience due to the Hallyu ban imposed by China. This is true of all upcoming Korean dramas and movies, which will suffer the same fate — losing Chinese viewership.

However, not losing hope, the optimistic cast and crew of Legend of the Blue Sea have already begun shooting. According to a report by Soompi, Jun Ji Hyun and Lee Min Ho are headed to Palau and Spain to film coastal scenes!

On August 12, an insider revealed that the duo will go overseas for shooting.

“The two of them are going to Palau and Spain for overseas filming of SBS’s new Wednesday-Thursday drama Legend of the Blue Sea. They will leave for Palau late August and go to Spain in September. Since the content of the drama involves exotic coasts and the title itself includes blue sea, they are going to film the drama overseas.”

The Hallyu ban has not deterred the producers of the Blue Sea drama from spending big. Fully aware of the fact that the drama may not be welcome in China, the cast and crew are still being meticulous at every step to dole out the best of locations to its viewers.

The plot rumors so far reveal that Jun Ji-hyun will play a mermaid who has come to Seoul. Lee Min Ho plays a cold-blooded con artist who falls in love with the mermaid.

Renowned K-drama writer Park Ji Eun, who wrote the script for My Love From the Star, is working on this drama. Likewise, director Jin Hyuk of City Hunter will be helming the project.

“The scriptwriter has thought Jun and Lee Min-ho would be the perfect combination from the very beginning, and designed the characters for them. The actors also trusted the writer and the director so much that they confirmed their participation immediately,” said Culture Depot, according to a report by Variety.

Fans too are curious to see Lee Min-ho in the new drama, as fantasy theme has not been seen for quite sometime in the K-drama world.

Legend of the Blue Sea will air in November, after the conclusion of Incarnation of Envy.

This SBS TV series would be Lee Min-ho’s last drama before he leaves for mandatory military duty. The Legend of The Blue Sea, which will air on SBS on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 10 p.m, has the possibility of gaining success across Asia as well as globally.

[Photo by Kin Cheung/AP Photo]

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