From romances to thrillers, every month brings a new selection of K-Dramas for viewers to enjoy.
February’s lineup includes Our Blooming Youth, Love to Hate You, The Heavenly Idol, and Island 2 — just to name a few. One special K-Drama, however, still has not been released four years after it was announced in August 2019.
At a press conference, HYBE founder Bang Si Hyuk shared the agency’s upcoming plans. This included a Korean drama inspired by BTS‘s fictional universe. The K-Drama, YOUTH, was originally slated to air in 2020.
We are working with a famous Korean drama production company to produce a drama where the theme is based off of BTS’s outlook of the world, and the drama is expected to be revealed in the second half of 2020.
— Bang Si Hyuk
The BTS Universe, a time-traveling friendship story, began with BTS’s music videos and later expanded into other media, including the BTS Universe Story game…
…and the Save Me webtoon. In in, Seokjin (Jin‘s fictional character) tries to save his six friends over and over again by going back in time. Unfortunately, this doesn’t go according to plan, and the same can be said for YOUTH‘s production.
In the summer of 2020, casting began for YOUTH (originally titled Blue Sky). Seven young actors were selected to play BTS’s alter egos, including World of the Married‘s Jeon Jin Seo as Jungkook.
In October that year, fans expressed concerns about YOUTH using the BTS members’ real names for the characters. Since the BTS Universe contains violent storylines, including V‘s character committing murder, some ARMYs worried that the fictional BTS would subject the real BTS to groundless rumors.
The new BTS drama, which contains sensitive and problematic subjects, will use BTS' real names. We urge @BigHitEnt to change them to fictitious, as it may cause misunderstanding with the public that are not familiar with the nature of the content and issues with the boys' images
— Golden Time (@goldentimejjk) October 19, 2020
As a result, co-producers Chorokbaem Media and Big Hit Music halted production in December of 2020 and resumed filming in January. The characters’ names were changed and scenes were reshot as needed. Finally, in November of 2021, Chorokbaem Media announced that filming had wrapped and post-production had begun.
While many hoped to watch YOUTH in 2022, it wasn’t to be. Radio silence ensued, leaving fans with more questions than answers.
LIKE WTF HAPPENED WITH THE BTS BU KDRAMA CALLED “ YOUTH “ LIKE IVE BEEN TOO EXCITED FOR TOO LONG RELEASE THIS RN
— Kayl@⁷ FAN ACCOUNT (@mikayla_north) January 8, 2023
What happened to that bts kdrama that was supposed to release
— 𝘕𝘢𝘣𝘪⁷🐸 (@RMikrokosmos) February 5, 2023
What happened to Youth, the kdrama about the BTS universe? It’s been radio silent for a while, anyone know anything?
— Applegopum⁷ (@applegopum) December 31, 2022
wait what happened to that bts universe inspired kdrama that was being made in 2020 that had a confirmed cast??? it’s been over 2 years 😭😭
— S. ʚïɞ⁷ | VarioUS 🖤 (@chubbyoonies) January 12, 2023
For now, one thing is certain. Interest in YOUTH is still high, and ARMYs will be ready to travel back in time to The Most Beautiful Moment In Life at a moment’s notice.
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