It just hasn’t been a good month for fans of “Running Man”, as the show has been getting one negative report after another. After news came out that comedian Kang Ho-dong had reversed his decision to join the production, fans were already disappointed enough, although they at least still had hopes of seeing the next installment.
However, reports subsequently arrived that the producers had decided to hold an emergency meeting, and the final outcome was the decision to cancel season 2 and the show as a whole. The plug will be pulled in February next year, after which the cast members are going to donate the rest of their salaries to SBS.
At least all six cast members have agreed to stick around until the end, so fans should still be able to enjoy a few final episodes with their favorite actors until February. It’s not clear what their plans are after that, and there have been some conflicting reports on the horizon.
It’s important to note that things have apparently not been very good behind the scenes, with reports of various conflicts between the cast members and the producers. The decision to remove cast members Song Ji Hyo and Kim Jong Kook did not go over well with other actors involved in the production, and this led to lots of internal conflicts that ultimately doomed the show as a whole.
Quite the sad ending to an otherwise successful production with a strong potential. There are still some hopes that we might see the actors coming together again for a different project in the future, but a large part of the magic around “Running Man” came from the way the show was produced, which will not be easy to replicate even if the cast remained the same.
Other than that, there haven’t been many developments on the “Running Man” front, and the producers have been keeping mostly quiet about the current status of things behind the scenes. Fans have been calling for more information in the meantime, and it looks like the best move for the showrunners right now would be to give their audience at least some closure by revealing what exactly is going on.
It might be better off to just end things on the current mysterious note though, depending on how bad the situation really is behind the scenes. Otherwise, fans might be left with a sour taste in their mouths after finding out just how much drama their favorite producers and actors have been involved in.
South Korean TV shows usually have an interesting twist to them, and “Running Man” was no exception. With its hundreds of episodes, the show managed to draw viewers in quite quickly as the producers always managed to come up with a clever way to put their actors through a test every time. The missions were always kept fresh and exciting, and it was also clear that the producers were deeply in touch with their community and knew exactly what their fans wanted.
With that in mind, it would be interesting to see the production potentially continued by another network, or at least someone taking over the basic premise. On the other hand, there is certainly no shortage of quirky South Korean TV shows at the moment, so we’re not sure if anyone would be so quick to grab that idea instead of developing something of their own.