Can This Love Be Translated?

Kim Seon-ho got the rom-com two other stars walked away from

Netflix opened 2026 in Korea with a Hong sisters travel romance that had already died once. In 2019 the writers had the interpreter story at tvN under a working title about whether a person could even be translated. Overseas filming was booked for China. COVID killed the shoot. They parked it, made Alchemy of Souls, then brought it back in 2023 with director Yoo Young-eun for Netflix. Twelve episodes. Korea, Japan, Canada, Italy. January 16, 2026. latestnetflix.com's read is that the plot is a polyglot and a sudden movie star who keep missing each other.The gossip is who almost played them, who did, and why the internet still wanted a fight.,

Son Suk-ku said no. Han So-hee left it on the pile.

Wikipedia's production notes, drawing on Korean trades, put Son Suk-ku on the male lead in April 2023. He declined and took Nine Puzzles. That July, Han So-hee's agency 9Ato told the press Can This Love Be Translated? Was one of several offers on her desk, including another fantasy project, and that nothing was decided. She passed. Kim Seon-ho and Go Youn-jung got the jobs. Netflix confirmed the lineup on June 27, 2024, with Sota Fukushi as the Japanese dating-show actor, Lee E-dam, and Choi Woo-sung. Yoo later said their chemistry showed up on the first shoot.,

Kim's booking is the part that still splits comment sections. In October 2021, right after Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha, an anonymous post accused "Actor K" of coercing an abortion. Kim apologized. Brands dropped him. He left 2 Days & 1 Night. Times Now recapped the later Dispatch reporting that recast the procedure as consensual and tied the breakup to the girlfriend's infidelity, plus her apology. He rebuilt through theater, film, and a cameo in When Life Gives You Tangerines. This is his first rom-com lead since that winter. Some Korean netizens still called pairing him with Go a mismatch. The series went out anyway.

Then the Japanese co-star became a separate argument.

Fukushi plays Hiro Kurosawa. Old talk about his family's politics resurfaced before premiere. Yoo told reporters it was "something we deeply and carefully considered," that they confirmed he "does not have any particular political leanings," and that they weighed his respect for Korean productions plus the role itself. She also said he had been studying Korean before the job, and that by the end they could talk without an interpreter.

Forbes sat Kim and Go after launch. The quote they gave the magazine was that the series would "shine on its own." Korea Times reported it hit No. 2 on Netflix's Global Top 10 within three days, the Top 10 in 36 countries, and No. 1 in Korea. Wikipedia later logged more than 271 million hours in the first seven weeks and two weeks at No. 1 on the non-English chart. The Hong sisters finally got the travel romance COVID stole. Kim got the lead other names did not want. The trailer still sells dimples and airports. The column is the casting that almost was, and the one that stuck.,,,