akagechan

But this is not a remake, it wasn't fixed and presented as a whole new thing. This is a sequel, it had to have continuity. Obviously the new actors cannot have the exact same look, but had to have some resemblance.

I mean, when I look at Saya, I see several other roles of LJK, but not even a hint of Saya. And that's bad.

Maybe you are right.

On the other hand why should they look Korean, when this is a fantasy story, taking place on an imaginary continent, and half of the main characters are not even human. I liked how the firs season was unlike other sageuks and had a unique feel to it. And calling it a Game of Thrones copy was totally baseless.

With these changes they are just messing up continuity. And with the actor changes added to the mix, it's hard to see these characters as the same when they look nothing how they did in the first season.

Now that I think about it, Eunseom does have wavy hair on his firs promo picture, just like in some of the scenes during his teaser. So it seems like they couldn't even decide what they want.

By "rest of characters" I meant Tanya and Eunseom. They both have darker and straighter hair, just like Saya.

Aren't LJG's Saya suppose to be the same person as SJK´s Saya, only slightly older? They shouldn't have different hair colours.

I'm sorry I will never get used to this Saya look, it's too much of a step back compared to his first season looks.

I'm sorry, but what happened to Saya?! He doesn't resemble himself in the slightest. And the wig even looks ugly and cheap. How can they expect me to see LJG as Saya, when he looks like Kim Seong-Yeol's evil counterpart from The Scholar who Walks the Night.

The same problem rises with the rest of the characters played by new actors. There are changes in their appearance that cannot be explained with the passing of time. Wouldn't have it been wiser to style the new actors similarly to their predecessors to make it easier for the audience to connect them. It's like they didn't care about continuity at al.

Well during the script reading the part LJG read for Saya was about him declaring his intentions to kill Eunseom. On the other hand he seemed more determined than enthusiastic about it. Like he needs to kill him purely to win the war, and not because of personal hate. We will see how it will play out.

Hmm... well maybe using the term antagonist would have been better. Tagon is certainly too well written and complex to be simply called a villain. Nevertheless I think he will play the role of the villain in the end. He started out more like an anti-villain, but as the story progressed his reasons became less and less understandable. His road is a tragic ascend to villainity.

Saya is definitely a twisted boy Rapunzel. He even has the hair for it. XD

Eunseom is the hero, an innocent, pure hearted young man, who wants to save his people enslaved by Arthdal. Saya is his slightly sociopathic twin brother, who was kidnapped as a baby and raised by the villain. They both have a crush on Tanya. And as Lee Joong-Gi will be playing both of them, he will indeed be playing the main lead.

We will see. It's still weird how he is treated. And nothing can explain the voice-over in the Eunseom teaser.

Am I the only one who finds it weird how Saya was completely omitted from the promotion so far? He was a main character in the first season, one of the children from the prophecy who’s suppose to play a major role in the endgame. Yet he is barely mentioned in the promotion of the second season. No character teaser. No poster. Nothing. How come?

What if they are keeping him under the lid, because revealing his storyline would be a spoiler. What if the Eunseom teaser is actually a Saya teaser. The animated prologue they released right after the first season, promised the twins to trade places. Maybe this switch happens early on the season and Saya will be the one leading an army against Athdal and aiming to became Aramun Haesulla. Now that Tagon has a real son of his own blood, Saya surely lost his position as an heir (I wouldn’t put past Tagon to even try to get rid of him), but with Aramun’s sword and the Ago army he can still have a chance to rule Arthdal.
The voice we can hear in the teaser also supports this. It’s definitely not the tone LJG used for Eunseom during the script reading. Before he starts shouting, he sounds soft, quiet and breathy, just like Saya. His expressions, especially in the later part when he fights in the rain, again look more like Saya than Eunseom.

So what of Eunseom? He probably gets stranded in Arthdal in Saya’s place. Maybe he is the one Tanya talks to in her teaser (the hair kind of looks like him trying and failing to imitate Saya’s hairstyle). It would make sense for her to scold him for starting a war and causing more misery. Of course revealing anything from this would sell out the switch between the twins, thus we have no Saya teaser.

Saying they refused or declined the role without further explanation suggest they just abandoned the project. Saying they weren't available suggest something prevented them from reprising their roles. It's simply sounds better. Everybody would assume the best from their favourites and wouldn't say anything that puts them in a bad light even the slightest.

That’s not how life works. That’s not how contracts work. Sometimes you just can’t help it. Now I don’t really follow SJG, but Reborn Rich was quite a buzz last December when AC2 was already filming. If he has a contract to do this project by the time AC production approached him, he had no choice but to refuse the role.

To make it clear, I’m not fan of any of the previous actors. A haven’t seen anything with KJW besides AC. I have seen SJG in Space Sweepers, which was a fun but not really memorable movie. On the other hand, I like LJG. I have watched several of his dramas, and still plan to watch more. I’m not some butthurt fangirl here, I just think everybody deserves the benefit of the doubt. If we can assume the new actors can be worthwhile successors, we should also assume the previous actors had their reasons which prevented them from reprising their roles.

I found several english language articles claiming they left because of scheduling conflicts. I don’t know how accountable these articles were, but it’s a believable answer considering they were filming for 9 months. That’s why I’m answering this when people asking.

We don't know for sure which twin is which object. Eunseom being the sword and Saya the mirror was only Mubaek's theory. Let's not forget that Eunseom has the ability to copy everything just by seeing it once. Just like a mirror.

I also expect them to switch places. That was what the animated prologue promised us after all.

Scheduling conflict was the explanation we got. They had other projects they were already committed to do, and the filming of this season probably couldn't be postponed any more.

That's what I'm talking about. Character development is a process. I need to see the process itself, not just the results. Eunseom went through all kind of traumas during the first season, still he ended up with his pure hearth intact in the end. If he is changed, I'm actually interested in seeing what made him do so.

I'm not against time jumps in general, just off-screen character developments. Pre time jump Tagon was already a strategist and a cold blooded killer, he hasn't changed much during those 10 years, just became more experienced... and sexier. XD

This whole debate is completely pointless, since we doesn't even know how much Eunseom changed during the time jump. Let us agree that we would like to see different things.

No, I think it is Saya. From what I can hear, the way he talks (before he starts yelling) is the same tone LJG used for Saya during the script reading. Of course Eunseom can imitate Saya's way of talking, but doing so while he is declaring his identity would be pointless. In addition the smug expression he is examining the sword with is also more like Saya than Eunseom. But this is just my theory. I could be totally wrong. ^^'

Personality is much more complex than just memories. Also I never mentioned any actors.

But his character growth during S1 wasn't about him loosing his innocence and pure heart. If he comes back in S2 as a cool headed strategist, who knows how to leave back comrades, that would mean he changed off-screen between S1 and S2. If he had to loose his innocence, then I at least want to see how.

Is it just me, or the person we can hear in the Eunseom teaser is actually not Eunseom but Saya? I mean I was so pleased with the tone of voice LJG used for Eunseom during the script reading, and was disappointed when I didn't hear it in the teaser. But during my second watch it hit me: it is the voice he used for Saya.

I understand you perfectly. Eunseoms's innocent, pure hearth was a very important part of his personality. Also character development is nice and good, but is shouldn't happen off-screen. Especially not accompanied with an actor change, that would just leave us with a new character.