It is quite difficult to imagine the record-breaking series, Descendants of the Sun, without its very own actor, Song Joong ki. The 31-year-old played his character with so much conviction that it has become hard to even visualize someone else portraying the character of handsome captain Yoo Shi-Jin in the series.
Shockingly, the boyish-looking hunk was not the first choice of writers and directors for the hit South Korean series. The 6 June episode of tvN's The List 2016 revealed the names of four actors who rejected to the role before Joong Ki was chosen.
As per the show, the A-listers who passed the role includes Won Bin, Jo In Sung, Gong Yoo, and Kim Woo Bin. Reportedly, the actors were quite skeptical on sporting the army style short hair. It is also said that the artists expressed slight discomfort on portraying a role of a soldier and could not make peace with the pre-production format of the show.
However, talking about Joong Ki's casting for the show, director Lee Eun Bok admitted that initially the makers of the show were looking for more "muscular and tough" type for the character of Captain Yoo.
Elaborating on Joong Ki's selection, Eun Bok stated: "He had just been discharged from his compulsory military service, he was handsome and he loved the script."
"You can tell now what is attractive to the viewers is not the brawny tough guy style but the straight-forward personality and his quick and nimble actions," he added.
