Cha Eun-woo (left) and Lee Chae-min (right). Photo: Courtesy of Fantagio and Varo Entertainment.

Cha Eun-woo (of Astro) and Lee Chae-min now have something in common that goes beyond their impressive heights, sharp features and growing prominence in the Hallyu landscape. Both actors are currently shifting gears into new projects that subtly interlock their career timelines in the most fascinating way.

Cha Eun-woo has recently been offered the lead role in an upcoming drama that shares a creative universe with the superhit 2025 fantasy-romance drama, Bon Appétit, Your Majesty, which means Cha will step into the same fictional world originally anchored by Lee Chae-min.

Directed by Jang Tae-yoo, Bon Appétit, Your Majesty tells the story of a modern fine-dining chef who accidentally slips through time to the Joseon Dynasty and ends up cooking for a tyrant king. Starring Lim Yoona (of Girls’ Generation) and Lee Chae-min, the show was a global hit, dominating Netflix’s streaming charts at the time of its run (Aug. 23 – Sep. 28, 2025). While the original leads will not return for this new expansion, the upcoming project, titled Seorabeol Knife, reunites director Jang with the same universe, making Cha Eun-woo’s potential entry an exciting new chapter for the franchise.

In Seorabeol Knife, he’s in talks to play Kim Jae-gyeom, a Michelin-star chef who time-travels into the Silla Kingdom after tasting a rare honey left by his father. Stuck there, he secures a position in the palace kitchen and quickly becomes a sensation due to his modern cooking skills. The heart of the story lies in his romance with the picky Silla princess, as the two become allies and use their shared love of unique flavors and food to navigate the dangerous power struggles of the palace.

Cha is currently still serving his mandatory military duty, but is eyeing the script as his comeback project. Filming is expected to begin in early 2027 after Cha’s discharge in January next year. This new culinary romance will be the follow-up to his recent hit series The Wonderfools, which premiered to worldwide success in May 2026, with the idol-actor playing a flawed superhero.

Meanwhile, Lee Chae-min is headlining the upcoming fantasy-melodrama titled My Reason to Die. A K-drama adaptation of the popular webtoon by YUJU and helmed by directors Choi Jung-kyu and Kim Hee-won, it’s a time-loop romance where Lee stars as Cha Gyeol, who repeatedly goes back in time to save his girlfriend. In this series, he’ll be reuniting with his Crash Course in Romance co-star Roh Yoon-seo, who plays a talented martial artist grappling with a major crisis in the wake of an accident.

My Reason to Die follows Lee’s role in Netflix’s hit superhero series Cashero, which dropped at the tail end of 2025. Lee garnered acclaim over the course of the show for shedding his boy-next-door image to portray Jonathan, a dark force in a criminal organization attempting to steal the hero’s cash-fueled super strength. Moving from a cold villain in a superhero setting to a tragic, time-traveling lover allows Lee Chae-min to try something much deeper and more emotional this time. My Reason to Die is scheduled to air next year.