“Squid Game” Star Flamed After Viewers Get First Look at Controversial K-Drama Lead Couple Posing Together
Despite the immense backlash, it’s still happening: tvN‘s new upcoming K-Drama, Nice To Not Meet You (previously known by the Korean original title Petty Love), released photos from its first script reading session on August 1, 2025 (KST).
New tvN Rom-Com’s Full Cast Line-Up Revealed—Viewers Still Not Convinced
Lead actors Lee Jung Jae of Squid Game and Lim Ji Yeon of The Glory posed together, holding up their scripts. While the Korean press reported that the script reading session went well, K-Drama fans are now even more turned off by seeing the two side-by-side.
One tweet went mega-viral, pointing out the leads’ age difference:
이정재가 20살이었을 때 임지연은 2살이었는데
둘이 로코물 찍는다는 게 진짜 진짜 구라같다…. pic.twitter.com/rcoA8autH8— 루키 (@o3o_rookie) August 1, 2025
When Lee Jung Jae turned 20 years old, Lim Ji Yeon was only 2. The fact that the two of them are doing a rom-com together honestly feels like a sick joke…
— @o3o_rookie/X
Online communities, like theqoo, flamed Lee Jung Jae’s appearance in the photo, compared to Lim Ji Yeon. Some simply noted the lack of chemistry for there to be any romance budding, while others blatantly slammed the actor for looking too old and ugly.
- “They look like father and daughter.”
- “Is the age gap between the characters supposed to be huge too?”
- “Ew.”
- “Oh wow…”
- “The age gap does show… But did people react like this to the Jung Woo Sung x Shin Hyun Bin drama too?”
- “This would have been a maybe even if Lee Jung Jae looked super young and ridiculously handsome…”
- “…”
- “Because they look alike, it feels even more like a father-daughter pairing.”
- “Honestly, putting everything else aside, the age gap doesn’t make sense with the rest of the cast either.”
- “It’s a rom-com, can they at least cast people in the same age range? Even Oh Yeon Seo, who’s playing his first love, is over 10 years younger than him.”
- “He’s not even like an uncle. He’s old enough to be her dad, for real…”
- “Well, they’re in the same agency so I guess they did what they wanted.”
- “Lee Jung Jae is the CEO of the agency, and Lim Ji Yeon is one of his managing actors… If he had any sense, he should’ve said someone else would be more appropriate.”
- “I mean, I think Lim Ji Yeon looks kind of mature for her age. Even then… this still doesn’t feel right. They should’ve done a different genre instead.”
- “I seriously can’t watch this. Why don’t they ever consider how the viewers feel?”
Many pointed out the fact that Lee Jung Jae seems out of place, especially in the group photo with the three other “younger” cast members.
- “Ugh, I really hate this.”
- “No matter how I look at it, he looks like he’s playing her dad.”
- “Whatever… I’m not going to watch it, so I’m like, ‘Do whatever the hell you want.'”
- “Honestly, it’s disgusting.”
- “Isn’t he literally old enough to be her dad? How big is their age gap supposed to be anyway??”
- “What is even going on with this age gap?”
- “Ew.”
- “Eww.”
- “Even with all that retouching done on the photo, he still… They just look too different.”
- “Seriously… They smoothed out his entire face, and he still looks like a dad figure.”
Nice To Not Meet You is scheduled to air in the second half of this year. Will you be tuning in?
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