It will not happen for a drama, because big names like that usually don't play in web dramas and gay/bl focused…
BL/Yaoi comics seem to have a niche popularity in Korea but this has not carried over to other forms of media.
Korea is still pretty conservative, especially for middle age people and up, and I can not see them putting BL dramas on prime time television. Korea also, unlike Thailand, has a large Christian population who obviously are usually against same sex relationships. I am sure there would be an outcry against it honestly if they did air a BL drama.
I also don't see older Korean Media executives signing off on BL projects for two reasons: the latter argument just made and also they prob don't think there is a market for it. There is a market, but I'm sure they aren't very aware or familiar with it. To be fair though, I am also not sure exactly how big the market is either for BL in Korea, like I said it has niche popularity in comics but I am not sure that would translate into a large the audience in relation to actual ratings a BL drama would get.
Lastly, I just can not see too many higher profile male actors signing on for a BL drama. Once again for the two reasons mentioned earlier. Would the project be successful? Would they get backlash? Would there careers be under threat? I mean there are a few obviously queer Korean celebrities who still have not dared to explicitly come out as Gay+ even though they without a doubt are. Anything tied to homosexuality still seems to be a possible career death sentence in South Korea and successful actors are not going to take that risk especially if there is little to no gain. They only actors I have seen do explicitly queer films were either not popular at the time or are still relatively unknown actors. Method might be an exception though.
Anyway sorry for the essay but this is my take . We might get a public or cable higher profile BL drama one day but not anytime soon. TL;DR The drama industry and Korean public at large in S Korea doesn't seem ready or interested in a high profile BL drama yet.
Korea starting to make Mainstream BL is just great. I will look forward to the day where an already well known…
Idk if we will -ever- get to that point, my hope is just that we get dramas with more eps and longer eps.
But if you're imagining a full BL drama with 16-20 eps 1hr+ a pop on a prime time drama slot on SBS or KBS or even TVN you are dreaming, it's just not going to happen.
(From Kpop Map): "Raemongraein Production (who produced "The Zombie Detective", "When I Was Most Beautiful", "Extraordinary You", etc) is in charge of the web drama adaptation. They are planning to complete the production in the first half of 2021 and air the web drama this year. No actors were cast yet."
Well since it's a slightly more well know/better connected company this might get a larger budget so we could end up with a BL web drama that is 12 eps @ 15 mins a pop instead of 8 eps @ 10 mins a pop lol
Korea is still pretty conservative, especially for middle age people and up, and I can not see them putting BL dramas on prime time television. Korea also, unlike Thailand, has a large Christian population who obviously are usually against same sex relationships. I am sure there would be an outcry against it honestly if they did air a BL drama.
I also don't see older Korean Media executives signing off on BL projects for two reasons: the latter argument just made and also they prob don't think there is a market for it. There is a market, but I'm sure they aren't very aware or familiar with it. To be fair though, I am also not sure exactly how big the market is either for BL in Korea, like I said it has niche popularity in comics but I am not sure that would translate into a large the audience in relation to actual ratings a BL drama would get.
Lastly, I just can not see too many higher profile male actors signing on for a BL drama. Once again for the two reasons mentioned earlier. Would the project be successful? Would they get backlash? Would there careers be under threat? I mean there are a few obviously queer Korean celebrities who still have not dared to explicitly come out as Gay+ even though they without a doubt are. Anything tied to homosexuality still seems to be a possible career death sentence in South Korea and successful actors are not going to take that risk especially if there is little to no gain. They only actors I have seen do explicitly queer films were either not popular at the time or are still relatively unknown actors. Method might be an exception though.
Anyway sorry for the essay but this is my take . We might get a public or cable higher profile BL drama one day but not anytime soon. TL;DR The drama industry and Korean public at large in S Korea doesn't seem ready or interested in a high profile BL drama yet.
But if you're imagining a full BL drama with 16-20 eps 1hr+ a pop on a prime time drama slot on SBS or KBS or even TVN you are dreaming, it's just not going to happen.
Kingdoms eps were about this length and only had 6 eps per season. :)
I want the full 16-20 ep 1 hr+ ep treatment for BJ alex too I'm greedy in my fantasy land.
Well since it's a slightly more well know/better connected company this might get a larger budget so we could end up with a BL web drama that is 12 eps @ 15 mins a pop instead of 8 eps @ 10 mins a pop lol