Inside Men Webtoon Live Action Series Reshuffles Its Cast

The live action series based on the webtoon Inside Men is going through a notable shake up before it even gets rolling. According to the Korean outlet Xports News on October 16, a representative from production company Hive Media Corp confirmed that actor Sungmin Lee is in talks to join, while director Wanil Mo and actor Kyohwan Koo have stepped away from the project.

Inside Men comes from the unfinished webtoon by Taeho Yoon, the creator behind works like Yahoo and Misaeng: Incomplete Life. The story was already turned into a hit 2015 film of the same name, and this new series sets out to reimagine it a decade later with a fresh cast and direction.

At its heart is a tangle of powerful people, including a presidential candidate, a corporate tycoon, and a media strategist, all caught up in deep political corruption. When a fund scheme is exposed, one man is left broken and hungry for revenge. At the same time, an ambitious prosecutor with no connections lands a rare shot at the country’s biggest corruption ring, only to watch his investigation get derailed. Their paths eventually collide in a dangerous struggle over politics, money, and the media.

On casting, Kangho Song, originally set to play power broker Kanghee Lee, has left over scheduling conflicts, and the role has now been offered to Sungmin Lee. Jihoon Ju has been approached to step in for Kyohwan Koo as Sanggu Ahn, the gangster turned whistleblower, and his agency says he is “reviewing the offer.”

There are structural changes too. The series was first planned as a two season project but will now be made as a single 12 episode season, and broadcast talks with JTBC are reportedly underway.

My take: Reshuffles this early can be nerve wracking, but Inside Men has strong source material and a proven story, so I am hopeful the new lineup can do it justice once the dust settles.