It was just confirmed on the 26th of December that Lee Dong Wook and Jo Bo Ah will be the lead actors in tvN's new fantasy drama titled "Tale of Gumiho", which will be the first-ever drama to feature a male gumiho playing the lead role.
A kumiho (gumiho) a mythological nine-tailed fox that appears in the tales, stories, and legends of Korea. Acquired from ancient Chinese and also Japanese myths, a fox that lives a thousand years turns into a gumiho. It has the ability to alter or transform into other things, but mostly into a beautiful woman that often sets out to seduce boys, and eat their liver or heart (depending on the legend). There are many tales that the gumiho appears, several of which can be found in the encyclopedic Compendium of Korean Oral Literature.
In most legends, it says that even if a gumiho has the ability to change its state or appearance, there are always signs of fox-like in it. For example a fox-like face, a set of ears, or the tell-tale nine tails. Some stories say that if a gumiho holds back from killing and eating humans for a thousand days, it has a chance of becoming a human being.
The same as werewolves or vampires in Western tales, there are always different on the myth depending on the delivery that each story takes with the legend.
One version of the mythology, however, says that with enough will; a gumiho could further move up from its yogoe (yokai) state, and become permanently human and loses its evil character. An explanation of how this could be achieved differs, but sometimes includes a condition such as refraining from killing or tasting meat for a thousand days.
The upcoming drama of tvN features the life of a gumiho named Yi Yeon to be played by Lee Dong Wook. His role is a living God of the Baekdudaegan Mountain Range but now works as a public official that works between the human world and the underworld. His main obligation is to clean up the mess that was left behind those who visit the world of humans while hiding in disguise of ghost tales. Yi Yeon is a good looking man with high intelligence and blessed with great athletic abilities. He is self-righteous but can sometimes be violent.
On the other hand, Jo Bo Ah will be playing the character of Nam Ji Ah, a producing director (PD) of a program titled "Finding Urban Legends." Though she might seem an ordinary director, her co-workers consider her as a "gutsy woman". She enters haunted houses, going into religious cults fearlessly just to get some information and contents for her shows. She is very much competitive and has a skill for playing billiards, arcade games, shooting, and more.
tvN's new drama "Tale of Gumiho" is scheduled to air in 2020. Let us watch out for this series!
