Ahn Bo Hyun Had “Several” Character Options For “My Name”, And Here’s How He Ended Up As The Male Lead

Ahn Bo Hyun captured viewers’ hearts as Jeon Pildo in the K-Drama My Name, but he could have been an entirely different character.

Ahn Bo Hyun recently sat down for a commentary interview with Netflix Korea alongside his co-stars Han So Hee and Park Hee Soon, as well as the K-Drama’s writer (Kim Ba Da) and director (Kim Jin Min).

As the cast and crew talked, Ahn Bo Hyun revealed that he was actually given “several options” to choose his final character from.

Ultimately, he told the director he wanted to be the “main character of course.” 

Although he’s been acting since 2014, many K-Drama fans associate Ahn Bo Hyun with his role as Jang Geun Hon in Itaewon Class. Jang Geun Hon was a bully and the son of the K-Drama’s main villain, CEO Jang.

While many fans remembered him in one of his most villainous roles, Ahn Bo Hyun’s explored his softer side in other K-Dramas, like Her Private Life. In this K-Drama, he played Nam Eun Ki, the second male lead who has a crush on his lifelong friend Sung Deok Mi (Park Min Young).

He’s currently showing a softer side of himself on Yumi’s Cells, too. In this K-Drama, he plays the male lead, Goo Woong. Goo Woong meets Kim Yumi (Kim Go Eun) on a blind date and becomes her boyfriend.

While Pildo was a more intense role than Ahn Bo Hyun’s characters from his romantic comedies, he was definitely a less villainous role than his Itaewon Class role.

Director Kim Jin Min revealed that he asked around about Ahn Bo Hyun before casting him as Pildo to find out the “overall impression” Ahn Bo Hyun made on the people who’d worked with him. He found that people in the K-Drama industry had different impressions of him than the impression he made as Jang Geun Hon in Itaewon Class.

Kim Jin Min was sold on Ahn Bo Hyun as Pildo after he visited a narcotics unit in preparation for filming. During his visit, he saw a police officer who looked just like Ahn Bo Hyun. Considering Pildo works in the narcotics unit, running into an officer who looked like Ahn Bo Hyun was a huge sign that he would be perfect for the role!

Kim Jin Min also said Ahn Bo Hyun’s personality is more suited to heroic roles than villainous roles, and he wanted to bring out Ahn Bo Hyun’s true personality a bit more.

See the full commentary video below.