This first week of June has been a super busy and exciting week for us kdrama-fans, especially after this one news about the upcoming, high-budget, high-profile MBC drama “East of Eden” starring Song Seung Hun, the Mr. Hallyu Hottie. And just yesterday, we got the news about the final casting of EOE leading lady, Lee Da Hae (My Girl, Hello! Miss, Robbers), today we got another additional cast, Miss Lee Yun Hee, who just finished working with Song Seung Hun and Park Yong Ha in a music video, and U-turn with So Ji Sub.  Quite a lucky gal I must say… she got to work with Korea most finest and hottest men :D

East of Eden will be broadcasted somewhere in August-September this year, and this drama has been on our high-watch ever since Mr. Hottie got casted. Of course, WITH S2 will tackle the subbing part, but after all of this news, what makes me more excited than ever is the amazing casts for this aim-to-be huge drama AND the storyline (I’ll cover the latter after the jump).

So far, we got name list on the roster like this: 송승헌 (Song Seung Hun), 이다해 (Lee Da Hae), 연정훈 (Yoon Jung Hoon), 최정원 (Choi Jung Won), 박해진 (Park Hae Jin), 이연희 (Lee Yoon Hee), 조민기 (Jo Min Gi), 유동근 (Yoo Dong Gun), 이미숙 (Lee Mi Sook), 심혜진 (Shim Hye Jin), 나현희 (Na Hyun Hee), and 김범 (Kim Bum).

WOW. That’s all I can say, and heck I hope they got a darn great writer to produce high quality script!

Let’s see who’ll be responsible leading this HUGE ship:

PD: Kim Jin-man [김진만]

Really Really Like You (2006, MBC), Beating Heart (2005, MBC), Ireland (2004, MBC), Country Princess (2003, MBC)

*I can’t say much asince I’ve only seen “Really really like you”, but “Beating Heart” was pretty good, and Ireland, well it won tons of awards and made both big names out of Hyun Bin and Kim Min Joon*

SCRIPT: Na Yeon-sook [나연숙]
Ordinary People

*No idea what “Ordinary People” is…  so probably I should dig more info of her and her script. A project this big, if the casts are all extraordinaire, if the script is flat, then it could and may go downhill.*

And here’s the most detailed translation about this upcoming megabillion drama, East of Eden.

Original Korean Article: Newsen 2008-02-14 17:37:10
English Translation by dramaok @ soompi.com

Is the 25 billion won grand production ‘East of Eden’ starring Song Seung-Heon the ‘Hour Glass’ of the 21st century?
[02-14-2008]

‘East of Eden (Script: Na Yeon-Sook/ PD Kim Ji-Man)’ with hallyu star Song Seung-Heon as main cast is a megadrama with 25 bilion won (~ $25 million usd) invested in production cost. ‘East of Eden’ is the 2008 project of ambition for Chorokbaem Media, which also produced ‘Jumong’ and ‘Unstoppable Highkick’, and upon casting Song Seung-Heon in starring role, and actors like Yoo Dong-Geun as main cast ensemble, the drama will go into production in March.

The producers plan to film throughout Asia, including Hong Kong, Macao, China, Japan, as they paint an unconventional modern history of Korea from the timeline of 1960s to 2000s. ‘East of Eden’ draws on the story of two men, who were born on the same day at the same time at the same hospital, and their crossed destiny and revenge.

This story will go back to the 1960s, the era of major student protesting activities. Lee Ki-Cheol (Lee Jong-Won), a front-runner of the student protests is thrown into guilt when his lover’s older brother dies instead of him, and he arrives at the coal-minining region of Kang-Won provence. There he tries to stop the evil-acts of Shin Tae-Hwan (Yoo Dong-Geun Jo Min-Ki) of the TaeBaek coal mining station, by organizing a labor union but he is eradicated at the hands of Shin Tae-Hwan. Lee Ki-Cheol’s eldest son, Lee Dong-Cheol (Song Seung-Heon) witnesses the event and vows to seek revenge.

Meanwhile, a nurse at TaeBaek hospital, Miae, who suffered violation from Shin Tae-Hwan switches Shin’s newborn son with Lee Ki-Cheol’s son. Thus, Lee Ki-Cheol’s son grows up as Shin Tae-Hwan’s son Shin Myeong-Hoon (Park Hae-Jin), while Shin Tae-Hwan’s son grows up as Lee Ki-Cheol’s son Lee Dong-Wook (Yeon Jeong-Hoon).

Lee Dong-Wook is recruited into his older brother Lee Dong-Cheol’s revenge plan over their father’s death, and Dong-Wook enrolls in law school at the Seoul University, and becomes a prosecutor. Meanwhile, Shin Myeong-Hoon is raised as heir of a conglomerate, and Lee Dong-Cheol goes over to Hong Kong to begin a new life as the right-hand man of a Korean casino godfather (Yoo Dong-Geun). This is the intense epic centered around these characters who realize their fates have been switched, and the events of modern history intertwined with their lives.

On the account of prosecutor, organized hooligans, and conglomerate storyline, ‘East of Eden’ seems similar to the most popular drama of the 90s, ‘Hour Glass,’ the Kim Jong-Hak and Song Jina combo work. However, if ‘Hour Glass’ centered on the pains of an era, ‘East of Eden’ roots itself on the blood ties that are peculiar to Koreans.

Producers reveal this drama is a work of humanism with its basis set on the love and devotion of family, the sticky blood ties, and the sentiments that are peculiar to Koreans. It is set to air through MBC this June.

[written by Jo Eun-Byeol reporter @ newsen]

East of Eden will be a long drama (about 50 episodes), and it’ll replace Lee Dong Gun – Kim Sun Ah’s “Every Night” which will start in about 2 weeks from now.  I’m not so sure if I can stand the 50 episodes, but darn, the cast looks SO GOOD.  So, cross my fingers and hope this will not disappoint, as it could be the highlight of the end of Summer drama for this year, as Beethoven Virus is now pushed back a little later.