Trend Of Casting Top Actors For Cameo Appearances Emerges In Drama & Movie Production

tvN’s “Player 2”, starring Song Seung-heon, surprised viewers with its lineup of special appearances reminiscent of awards ceremonies. In addition to Jung Soo-jung, a cast actress in Season 1, other stars who will appear in Season 2 as cameos are Jeon Hyun-moo, Heo Sung-tae, Nana, Ryu Hwa-young, Lee Soo-hyuk, etc.

It seems that drama and movie producers are actively utilizing special appearances of top stars. Actress Kim Tae-hee appeared in JTBC’s “Welcome to Samdal-ri”, while Kwon Yu-ri, Park Tae-hwan and Han Seung-yeon joined several scenes in tvN’s “Lovely Runner”. Even Song Joong-ki made a surprise appearance in tvN’s “Queen of Tears” reenacting his past character Vincenzo.

Kim Tae-hee, who worked with “Welcome to Samdal-ri” writer Kwon Hye-joo in tvN’s 2020 drama “Hi Bye, Mama!”, and Song Joong-ki, who teamed up with “Queen of Tears” director Kim Hee-won in “Vincenzo” (2021), decided to perform cameo roles because of their past relationships with drama producers and writers. The fact that Song Joong-ki is under the same agency as Kim Ji-won, the female lead of “Queen of Tears”, was also part of his cameo appearance.

The same thing happened to movies. Jeon Do-yeon, who played the female lead in Byun Sung-hyun’s “Kill Bok-soon”, has decided to make a special appearance in director Byun’s new film “Good-News”.

Gong Yoo and Lee Jong-suk also showed up on the big screen through “Wonderland” and “The Plot”. Gong Yoo acted as Sung-joon, an AI who leads Bai Li (Tang Wei) into the ‘Wonderland’ world, and plays an important role in portraying how AI forms emotional connections with humans. In fact, fans were not surprised to see Gong Yoo making a special appearance in “Wonderland” as the film starred Suzy, Choi Woo-sik, and Jung Yu-mi from his agency Management SOOP.

Lee Jong-suk played a colleague who joined hands with the main character Young-il (Kang Dong-won) in “The Plot” to deal with a murder. This character not only causes Young-il to suspect his colleagues but also becomes a reliable helper who leaves a deep influence even after his death. 

Seo Hyun-woo, Lee Sung-wook, Esomi, Shin Hyun-ji, etc. appeared in many important moments in “Escape” to increase viewers’ immersion in the story. Kim Dong-wook portrayed an important person who opens and closes “Hijacking”.

Regarding this trend, some people believe that actors have limited platforms to showcase themselves due to the recent decline in drama and movie productions so they tend to make more special appearances to show their loyalty and relationships with producers. Despite not doing leading roles, their short appearances in highly anticipated projects can still attract keen public attention.

Pop culture critic Jung Deok-hyun stated, “As the number of productions has decreased since last year, actors have more time, making it easier for them to agree with cameo offers. This also helps actors maintain their networks with writers, directors, and production companies”, adding “It is less risky for top actors to appear in projects by good production teams. It’s a win-win strategy.”

However, many pointed out that sudden appearances of top actors in movies and dramas may cause disruption in the flow of the stories or reduce viewers’ immersion as some cameos receive too much screen time. This often occurs in works without a proper plan in the first place.

A drama production company’s CEO said, “No matter how short a cameo appearance is, it must have a clear purpose and meaning. Sometimes, producers make cameo scenes longer due to the actor’s name value and create cameo characters unrelated to the main story”, adding “Even for the special appearances, writers and directors should consider their decisions carefully”.