Lee Je Hoon to star in MBC's Chief Detective 1958

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Lee Je Hoon (Taxi Driver, Where Stars Land) has been confirmed to star in MBC's upcoming period police drama Chief Inspector 1963 (수사반장 1963).

The drama is set as a prequel to the wildly popular classic Korean TV show Chief Inspector, which ran for 18 years (880 episodes) from 1971 to 1989 and achieved an incredible peak of 70 percent ratings in its heyday.  While the original show was set in the 1970s and 1980s (then-present day), Chief Inspector 1963 will be set much earlier, in the 1960s.

Lee Je Hoon will be playing a younger version of the titular chief inspector Park Young Han, who was played by Choi Bool Am in the original series.  While Choi Bool Am's Park Young Han was already a fully-formed detective, Lee Je Hoon's version of the character will be younger and more naïve—and he will struggle with his fury against the cruel reality of a world that crushes people's dignity.

The new drama will also follow the journey of Park Young Han forming a team with the beloved detectives that made up his squad in the original show.

Chief Inspector 1963 is scheduled to begin filming in the second half of 2023.

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Now titled Chief Inspector: The Beginning (수사반장: 더 비기닝), MBC has announced the rest of Park Young Han's team.  They will include Lee Dong Hwi (Big Bet), Choi Woo Wung (My Roommate Is a Gumiho), and Yoon Hyun Soo (Seasons of Blossom).

Lee Dong Hwi will transform into detective Kim Sang Soon, also known as the "crazy dog" of the Jongnam Police Station.  Born in a poor family, Kim Sang Soon is nothing without grit and courage.  By the time he gets tired of being angry at the corrupted society, Kim Sang Soon meets Park Young Han, an uncompromising detective who changes Sang Soon's life as a detective.

Choi Woo Sung will play Jo Kyung Hwan, a young man with extraordinary strength who later works at the Jongnam Police Station with a dream of becoming a proud person like Park Young Han, who contributes to his country.

Finally, Yoon Hyun Soo will portray the role of Seo Ho Jung, a man with an elite background who later becomes the "strategist" of the Jongnam Police Station.  Seo Ho Jung sometimes makes mistakes that cannot be repaired due to excessive confidence, and he gets entangled with Park Young Han at a time when he goes through the biggest ordeal in his life.

Chief Inspector: The Beginning will air next year on MBC.

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First teaser:



They now seem to be calling it Chief Detective 1958.

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Poster:

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Another teaser:

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Another poster:

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Another teaser:

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Character Posters:

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More teasers:



The first teaser begins with a flashback to the 300th episode of the original Chief Inspector series, with Detective Park telling his trusty squad, "Find strength! We need to catch the [criminal] no matter what!"

The teaser then cuts to the new, younger version of the same four-member squad in 1958, with the caption reading, "The legendary Detective Park is coming back!" Amidst glimpses of the two different versions of the famous TV detective, the Park Young Han of 1958 is introduced as a skillful young rookie who has boasted the highest success rate when it comes to catching petty thieves for the past three years.



The second teaser begins with a clip from the final episode of Chief Inspector, which concluded its long and successful run in 1989.  As the video shows flashes of the 1958 squad in action, the young Park Young Han asks, "Do you know who I am?"

After the caption teases, "[The four of them] came together to catch the bad guys," Detective Park declares, "If you commit a crime, you'll be punished no matter what!"

Chief Detective 1958 will premiere on April 19 on MBC.

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Another teaser:

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