Ha Ji Won is one of those Korean actresses that I have known about from my earliest days of getting introduced to Korean entertainment, as her romantic comedy movie 100 Days With Mr. Arrogant with Kim Jae Won came in my view when I started my extensive search for more and more K-movies after watching My Little Bride and I needed as much cuteness as I could get. The movie was cute for sure and that adjective also goes for Ha Ji Won. After my cognizance regarding dramaland increased, I came to know that she is one of the most popular and among the top stars of South Korea. I love that she has almost equal number of dramas and movies in her filmography and is successful in both the fields. The King 2 Hearts is the only drama I have seen her in and she was simply amazing in her role, showing perfect balance between being badass and vulnerable.

She is back with her latest drama on the small screen and guess what….it’s a sageuk!!!! I mean didn’t we have enough historical dramas for 2013? And that too on MBC, which started with Gu Family Book, passing the baton to Goddess Of Fire Jung-yi and that will be followed by this latest show, titled Hwatu. It will be about Empress Ki, who is born in Goryeo and is taken to be the concubine of Yuan emperor. She later plays a major role in the coup against the Mongol state. The sageuk will focus on her tumultuous life that involves becoming a concubine, then empress, falling in love and getting involved in politics.

There is a 50-50 chance of me getting interested in this show. The good thing about it is the female lead of course and it will be written by the team behind Giant, History of the Salaryman, and Incarnation of Money. That almost was a wow factor, until I read that it’s by the PD who directed Dr. Jin (do I even need to cite any reason for it being a downhill factor) and Personal Taste (which I couldn’t complete after watching 4-5 episodes as it was really uninteresting and humdrum.) Also, there are other factors: it’s gonna have about 60 episodes and historical dramas are not particularly my favorites. I like Ha Ji Won, but I’m not a huge fan to tune into this drama just because of her. Especially when the direction record is so bad.

I think may be the leading man against her will decide it for me. With that comes so many guesses and opinions as to who should be cast with her. I have my own choices and let’s wait for more casting news. Hwatu is planning an October premiere.