Casting offers extended for WHALE STAR: THE GYEONGSEONG MERMAID drama adaptation

We may have found the live-action cast of Whale Star: The Gyeongseong Mermaid.

According to Naver, casting for the live-action adaptation of the webcomic Whale Star has begun, with offers extended to Moon Ga-young, Choi Woo-shik, and Heo Nam-jun. Moon has been offered the lead role of Su-a and is currently reviewing the offer. Choi has been offered the role of Kang Uihyeon, an independence activist saved by Su-a. Heo has been offered the role of Song Hae-su, another activist and Uihyeon’s brother-in-arms. None of the three actors’ agencies have confirmed whether they have accepted the offers.

Moon began her career as a child actress and model, but her role as Jung-hyun in the 2011 drama Heartstrings brought her wider recognition. She took on her first leading adult role in Waltzing Alone and won the Best Actress Excellence Award at the MBC Drama Awards for her performance in Tempted. Webcomic fans may also recognize her as Lim Ju-kyung in True Beauty. She later starred as Baek Soo-jung in My Dearest Nemesis.

Choi debuted in the 2011 drama The Duo and earned his first leading role in the film Set Me Free, winning Actor of the Year at the Busan International Film Festival. He gained prominence in the zombie thriller Train to Busan and achieved international recognition in the 2019 Oscar-winning film Parasite. More recently, he starred in the 2021 drama Our Beloved Summer and the 2024 Netflix adaptation of the webcomic A Killer Paradox.

Heo made his acting debut in 2019 with the film Like the First and appeared in supporting roles for Snowdrop and Seasons 2 and 3 of Sweet Home. He gained more domestic attention after portraying Kim Sang-hyuk in Your Honor and Ji Sang-woo in When the Phone Rings, the latter earning him the Best New Actor Award at the 2024 MBC Drama Awards.

Whale Star is a historical reimagining of the classic fairytale The Little Mermaid, set in 1926 when Joseon (present-day Korea) was under Japanese colonial rule. The webcomic follows handmaiden Heo Su-a, whose life revolves around work. One day, she discovers an injured man washed ashore—an independence fighter named Kang Uihyeon. While healing him, she is poisoned by Uihyeon’s brother-in-arms, Song Hae-su, and loses her voice. She travels to Gyeongseong (present-day Seoul) to seek revenge but finds more than she expected. Na Yoonhee’s webcomic won the Presidential Award at the 2021 Korea Content Awards.

Whale Star: The Gyeongseong Mermaid can be read on WEBTOON.

Source: Naver