‘Joseon F4’ is taking over the small screen.

Channel A‘s new Saturday-Sunday drama ‘Check In Hanyang’, which depicts the passionate growth and romance of the four handsome Joseon men while working at an inn, will premiere at 9:10 p.m. on the 21st. Actors Bae In-hyuk, Jung Gun-joo, and DKZ’s Jae-chan, who have secured their positions as rising stars with their sculptural looks and solid acting skills, and Kim Ji-eun, who plays the role of a ‘cross-dressing woman’, a hit element in historical dramas, will unfold a ‘Joseon version of Youth Over Flowers’.

The four youths who take control of Hanyang in the drama are confident of box office success with their extraordinary passion in real life as well. Bae In-hyuk, Kim Ji-eun, Jung Gun-joo, and Jae-chan confidently declared their ambitions at a production conference held at the Eliena Hotel in Gangnam-gu, Seoul on the 17th, saying, “We will continue the legacy of the four pretty boys of ‘Boys Over Flowers.’”

○Bae In-hyuk and Jung Gun-joo: “A completely different historical drama”

Bae In-hyuk, who plays Prince Lee Eun, who goes undercover as a new employee at the ultra-luxurious inn Yongcheonru to save the royal family, and Jung Gun-joo, who plays the inn’s successor Cheon Jun-hwa, are known as the “sageuk seniors” among the four.

Bae In-hyuk played the role of a short-lived ill-fated crown prince in tvN‘s ‘Shoop’ in 2022, and then went back and forth between Joseon and present-day MBC’s ‘Marriage Contract Story of the Chaste Lady Park’, which ended in January. He said, “It‘s three historical dramas in a row, but this is the first time I’ve done a historical drama that follows one story from beginning to end,” and predicted, “Instead of my previous calm and upright image, I‘ll show a cute and silly side of myself.”

Jung Gun-joo, who played a romance set in the same Joseon period as this drama in SBS’s ‘Flower Scholar: Love Affair’ in 2023, emphasized, “Some of the settings may seem similar, but the charm of the character Cheon Jun-hwa that I played was unique.” He expressed his confidence, saying, “I wasn‘t too nervous about doing one historical drama after another.”

○Kim Ji-eun and Jae-chan, “We shook off the burden of historical dramas”

‘Check In Hanyang’ is Kim Ji-eun and Jae-chan’s first historical drama. They play Hong Jae-on, who enters Yongcheonru disguised as a man, and Go Soo-ra, a confident ‘Joseon MZ’, respectively. They unanimously said, “Although the summer filming was hot, we were happy to be able to capture the beautiful scenery all over the country.”

Jae-chan, who has already released three works this year and is considered a ‘prolific actor’, was cast unanimously by the production team. He said, “I was worried whether I could do well in a historical drama,” but “Director Myung Hyun-woo told me, ‘Since we’re MZ in Joseon, we don‘t have to worry too much about the historical drama tone,’ so I was able to shake off my burden.”

Kim Ji-eun, who is at the center of a love triangle in the drama, confessed, “Of course, I felt a lot of burden,” about taking on the role of a woman disguised as a man in a historical drama, following Park Min-young in ‘Sungkyunkwan Scandal’ and Park Eun-bin in ‘Yeonmo.’ She said that Bae In-hyeok, Jung Gun-joo, and Jae-chan were her ‘supports,’ and laughed, saying, “The fun of our recklessness when we‘re together is clear. We’re also aiming for 10% in viewership ratings.”



Reporter Yoo Ji-hye yjh0304@donga.com