Fresh faces for School 2017’s classroomby [size=1.4]tipsymocha
Han Seung-ri, Park Se-wan, Kim Hee-chan, Seo Ji-hoonSchool 2017 is the latest entry in KBS’s long-running franchise known for taking new faces and turning them into stars, and the recent slew of names added to its cast appropriately leans toward young, fresh rookies. Park Se-wan (Radiant Office), Ha Seung-ri (Chief Kim), Seo Ji-hoon (Solomon’s Perjury), and Kim Hee-chan (Radiant Office) will join as students for the upcoming high school drama. Out of the four, Ha Seung-ri has the longest list of credits by far, having debuted as a child actor in 1999. Since her debut, she’s steadily received small supporting roles, the most memorable of which were her guest appearance as a convenience store temp in Chief Kim, and as a young Choi Ji-woo in Twenty Again. Coincidentally, Kim Hee-chan also appeared in the tvN show as a young Lee Sang-yoon, making this one of several reunions among the cast of School 2017. Kim Hee-chan is also part of another drama reunion with Park Se-wan, whose full-length drama debut was Radiant Office, and Han Sun-hwa, who has since confirmed her role as a detective assigned to the high school. I also look forward to Seo Ji-hoon joining Jang Dong-yoon because they were both so good in Solomon’s Perjury. Seo Ji-hoon debuted in Signal prior to Solomon’s Perjury, and was also in the drama special Legendary Shuttle. Their School characters are pretty diverse, which should make for some interesting classroom dynamics: Ha Seung-ri will play a school bully who will meet her match in Han Sun-hwa’s police character. Her troublemaking has forced her to transfer schools multiple times and she’ll start out the show having taken a year off because of her actions. Park Se-wan, on the other hand, will play a bright, outgoing student who is best friends with lead Kim Se-jung of Gugudan, and although she has a cute outer appearance, she’s described as an ajusshi at heart. Love her already.
Seo Ji-hoon will play a free-spirited musician with little interest in his fellow students, and school in general, and likes singing wherever and whenever. Hah, he sounds a little like he lives in his own world. Whereas Seo ji-hoon’s character is completely disinterested in academics, Kim Hee-chan’s will care a little too much. He attends expensive after-school tutoring sessions in order to get the grades to satisfy his prosecutor father’s high expectations. His story isn’t anything new, but it still hurts my heart when I see high school students like him run themselves ragged to meet their parents’ unrealistic standards. I can tell Kim Hee-chan is going to steal some of my tears in this show. I’m really liking the young cast so far and I hope that some, if not all, will give breakout performances so that the show is a jumping-off point for successful careers, as their predecessors did. School 2017 will follow Fight My Way and premiere in July in the Monday-Tuesday slot.
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