Before Lee Se-young, another actress with “school bullying scandal” was cast to play Seong Deok-im in hit drama “The Red Sleeve”

After MBC’s drama “The Red Sleeve” ended successfully, the story of how the main character actors were cast is being brought up and discussed.

“The Red Sleeve” depicts the sad romance between a king, who prioritizes his country over love, and a court lady, who wants to protect the life she has chosen. Actress Lee Se-young played the role of the court lady Seong Deok-im (Uibin Seong) and Lee Jun-ho played King Jeongjo Yi San.

However, the two actors, Lee Se-young and Lee Jun-ho, were not cast from the beginning. In fact, Park Hye-soo was cast for Seong Deok-im and Kim Kyung-nam as Yi San. However, the casting was canceled due to Park Hye-soo’s school bullying scandal that broke out last year. Later, Kim Kyung-nam also stepped back and dropped out of the cast.

After that, the roles naturally went into the hands of Lee Se-young and Lee Jun-ho. Lee Se-young, who used to appear in various historical dramas, such as “Dae Jang Geum”, “King’s Dream”, and “The Crowned Clown”, accepted the offer to play Deok-im. Known to have read the original novel himself, Lee Jun-ho also confirmed his appearance in “The Red Sleeve”.

“The Red Sleeve” ended with the 17th episode on January 1st. With an average viewership exceeding 15% (based on Nielsen Korea’s data), it surpassed other TV programs with the same broadcasting time to top the rating chart.