Aramintai

Read a below comment today from SK tabloid Naver. They are firm about this.

So what are your bets for Naksu's body:
1. Og body "on ice" stashed somewhere?
2. Og body recreated from scratch by the powers of the ice stone?
3. ???

Hey, you're not alone. I too find this plot twist weird to begin with, because it's not a book and showrunners shoud know that the audience gets attached to actors faces when they play their characters on screen.
For me it will diminish rewatchability of part 1 to a certain level, because I hate rewatching plots where a favorite character dies. Sure, you may say that Naksu as a character will live, but I've no attachement to og actress. I hope she'll do just as well as JSM, otherwise part 2 will be ruined for me as well.

I hope they won't move the schedule, December is pretty early. But would be great, I hate waiting for sequels.

I wonder how that tabloid confirmed it, when it's all under wraps and showrunners aren't spilling the beans. Where they stalking the set or smth?

But whatever, I was prepared for this already. My only hope the plot will justify it well and swapped actress will play Naksu on the same level of quality as JSM.

1. There actually is no Mu-Deok. Just Naksu in Bu-Yeon's body.
2. He likes Naksu, but she's already taken.
3. Marrying Bu-Yeon will not be allowed by the Jin clan, because he's a prince and has a kingdom to rule. They need somebody who'll stay within their clan.

No, it's gonna be a sequel.

Yea, second episode left a better impression than the first. I'm glad they didn't drag their misunderstadings and FL is already working with ML.

Yea, cliffhanger ending is a given. But I hope they'll clear up the rumor in part 1 without dragging it to part 2.

Yea, reporter and prosecutor don't have any regard for their lives it seems, I don't really like their part of the plot, they keep blindly running from one trap to another without any sort of coherent plan. Though I do like NIS guys - they're tough pros. And though reporter got herself in real trouble now, prosecutor still thinks he's invincible after barely surviving two bomb explosions. That's some thick plot armor on him.
And I agree about killer girl rookie actress being subpar to JSM, thank goodness AoS showrunners made that last minute swap for FL. Overall, they have a stellar cast there.

It's not exactly a season 2, it's called part 2. 10 more episodes that they're finishing filming right now. It will air in December the earliest.

I was rewatching some episodes and I think the first third of the show was way funnier than the rest, when it was pure "master & pupil against the world" plot. Episodes 5 and 6 were the best in this regard, some scenes were simply hilarious. I recall these early episodes' teasers what got me interested in watching AoS in the first place.
But then it got more serious and complicated, especially with that draggy "fake Bu-Yeon" plot we still see no end of, rarely any funny and lighthearted stuff happens now.

Whether they planned to swap actresses for part 2 or not is not known yet. And them actors being rookies or veterans has nothing to with what they planned for the plot or their plans for part 2. It could have been a cast full of veterans if they wanted to and still it would have made no difference for the plot or their plans for part 2.

Also, The Four Seasons are all rookies and nobody's switching them for part 2 - it' s something that's been confirmed already. And all of them are well loved in spite being rookies. Same goes for FL - the main lead. Whomever her actress would have been, swapping her for another actress would have still been a very controversial topic.

So you trying to shoehorn the rumor to initial FL actress being a rookie to be replaced by another rookie, just because they're both rookies that nobody will care about is pointless and some weird reach of logic. It's FL we're talking about here, not some minor side character - initial rookie's acting skills were subpar to what was required hence she was swapped for someone who's skillful and readily available, could have been some other talented rookie if they could have found it as fast. And that's it, there's nothing more to it and again, has nothing to do with what was planned for the plot of both parts.

Yea, I won't find it now. But it is mentioned in this article:
https://www.kdramastars.com/articles/125806/20220712/jung-so-min-not-reprise-role-alchemy-of-souls-part-2-why.htm

Quote:
"The actress appeased fans through her agency, Blossom Entertainment, and said "I'm not leaving. We are discussing appearing in Part 2.""

And in this one was another quote from her then agency:
https://zapzee.net/2022/07/12/go-youn-jung-is-leading-alchemy-of-souls-part-2-instead-of-jung-so-min/
Quote:
"Regarding this, Jung So Min’s agency Blossom Entertainment responded, “She’s not leaving the show. She originally signed the contract to only appear in part 1.”"
and quote:
"Soon after the news hit the wire, the Alchemy of Souls production team stated, “Any information regarding part 2 could act as a spoiler for part 1, which is still on air, so we can’t confirm or deny the report.”"

These are tabloids, so take anything they write with a big grain of salt. But that og JSM's reply was out there, I've seen it.

In any case, whatever it is they decided is still not known. She stays as FL/ stays as Bu-Yeon/ leaves - all up in the air until part 1 is finished.

Nothing is confirmed yet, wait until part 1 ends. Also, why rookie was hastily replaced with none other than JSM may very well have something to do with her being director's close acquaintance. There was not enough time to do recasting from scratch, so they asked a familiar actress. Other than that, you can't assume anything about who's out or not just by being a rookie or a veteran - all young characters, aside from recast FL, are played by rookie actors, og Naksu included. Means absolutely nothing.
Also, at the time of the rumor leak there was JSM's tweet reply saying she's still in and in the talks for part 2, how that ended up we will now soon enough. Hold your horses.

He may have had a rough plan coming in, but he couldn't have known what sort of people he will encounter in the house. Him finding a way to entice them to work with him and subsequently finding out about Ms. Kwon's secret is all about his quick wits. And since then his plan surely has already been altered. He's a mastermind type of character.

I like how Woo Shin came to the villain's house empty handed with nothing but his wits about him and now he already got several key characters to work with him and threw a giant wrench into Mr. Kwon's and Ms. Kwon's seemingly unshakable relationship 🤣 Maybe he won't even need to dirty his hands, maybe that crazy family will just kill each other off in the end?

Exactly. They gonna do some crazy twist at the end to keep us guessing - cliffhanger incoming. I'm betting on it being bad. But you guys stay positive, people need it here.

There are some like that. Crash Landing on You or Graceful Family, for example. But the latter is over the top makjang, not for those who want to keep their blood pressure on normal levels.
Also, I've seen a big argument about how it doesn't work well for FL being a rich bitch instead of ML in It's Okay To Not Be Okay comment section. Like, when a woman is acting bossy, 4-dimensional and is rich, while ML is a timid hardworking guy it's somehow very offputting and unattractive. Like, it's not a typical role for a woman or something. Maybe it is for conservative SK, since there are not a lot of kdramas I can recall with such a role reversal. 🙄

Actors playing evil guys are doing a very fine job, I see. Jin Mu, So-i, shaman Choi - all need to be punished soooo badly, I hate them 👿
Also, Jin Mu was so hilarious when FL thought into whom to soul shift. Personally I think his was the funniest representation.