Marvel star Park Seo-joon reveals why he stepped away from romance K-dramas

When it comes to classic fan-favorite rom-com K-dramas, actor Park Seo-joon starred as the male lead in more than a few, but as he transitions to Marvel and movies, he revealed why he no longer takes on romantic roles.

There is a list of rom-com K-dramas every new fan has to watch. Many are guilty pleasures and tackle almost every trope possible. Dramas like What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim, She Was Pretty, Fight For My Way, and the popular Itaeweon Class have unsuspecting romance, hidden pasts, and trauma. Even some swoon-worthy kiss scenes. What do all these K-dramas have in common? Park Seo-joon.

Park is regarded as one of South Korea’s top A-list actors who made a name for himself in the romance genre. But he has transitioned, breaking into Hollywood, and will star as Prince Yan in the MCU movie The Marvels.

Fans may have noticed that many of Park’s upcoming roles are not the rom-com storylines that made him famous. The actor revealed that he has stepped away from romance K-dramas for a reason.

Park Seo-joon has actively declined romance K-drama roles

While praising his history with romance K-dramas, Park Seo-joon is done with the genre for a while and is expanding his horizons as an actor.

It seems that K-drama fans won’t get to see Park as the hunky male lead in a rom-com for a while. The actor is currently promoting his 2023 movie Concrete Utopia, alongside K-drama actor Park Bo-young. Park Bo-young is also well-known for her romance K-dramas with classics like Strong Girl Bong-soon, Oh My Ghost, and Abyss.

Concrete Utopia is a Korean disaster-thriller movie that takes place after a series of earthquakes. The actors star as a married couple helping survivors. According to Koreaboo, during the movie’s press conference, Park was asked about his lack of romance roles. “Til now, I’ve done many rom-coms, so I started wanting to do other genres,” he answered.

What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim, which premiered in 2018, was his last rom-com. He claims that while all rom-com’s are unique, he wants to have some fun exploring other genres.

“I want to keep it fun. I’ve been challenging myself since ‘Secretary Kim,’ and I think I haven’t chosen a rom-com since then and will continue to do so moving forward,” said the actor. Since 2018, Park starred in the action horror movie The Divine Fury and had a cameo in the Oscar-winning movie Parasite. He will also star alongside Han So-hee in Netflix’s Gyeongseong Creature.

Park joins a list of famous Korean actors breaking into Hollywood. He will make his debut in the MCU on November 10, 2023, while Squid Game actor Lee Jung-jae will lead the Star Wars series The Acolyte.

You can read more about The Marvel movie here, and K-drama content like Destined With You here.