In good news from Netflix earlier this week, it has now been confirmed the filmed-quite-a-while ago apocalyptic K-drama Goodbye Earth will be getting a release on the streaming platform — and very soon.
You may remember, the future of the project and its release date has been on hold since lead actor Yoo Ah In was arrested for illegal drug use last year. Drug use that included cocaine.
The actor’s trial is still ongoing but Netflix, not being a South Korean company, must have decided they are not going to lose millions of dollars, or what is probably a very good drama, just because one of the actors starring in it was involved in drugs.
So, yes, Goodbye Earth has finally been greenlit for a release date — April 26th — and it will be streaming worldwide.
Putting Goodbye Earth‘s release on hold never made sense
Then again, putting Goodbye Earth‘s release on hold due to one actor being engaged in illegal drug use never made much sense to most people outside South Korea, or in a few other very conservative countries.
That’s because if an actor was caught doing illegal drugs in most other developed countries (although drug use is common in the western entertainment world), nothing would be said or thought about it, and the project the actor had filmed would usually be released on its scheduled release date.
In fact, just about the only reason a film or drama would be put on hold or cancelled due to someone’s illegal drug use is if someone had died.
That is not the case with Goodbye Earth.
In South Korea, however, not only does the actor who was caught doing drugs get punished, but so does everyone involved in his/her projects.
In Yoo Ah In’s case, that was a few other projects besides Goodbye Earth, as the actor was hugely popular in South Korea until his involvement with illegal drugs came to light.
The people involved with Goodbye Earth shouldn’t be punished
In the case of Goodbye Earth, there are hundreds of people involved in the production of the Netflix K-drama.
That includes the people financing Goodbye Earth, the production company, director Kim Jin Min, writer Jung Sung Joo, all the staff involved in the filming of the Korean sci-f drama and, of course, the main actors — Ahn Eun Jin, Jeon Sung Woo, Kim Yoon Hye, Seo Ye Hwa, Yoon Seo Ah and Kim Young Ok.
Yes, it is a phenomenal cast, and they, the director and staff deserve to have their work seen, regardless of what one member of the cast allegedly did.
Anyway, it seems Netflix executives have now decided “Enough is enough”, and Goodbye Earth will be getting its long-awaited release this month.
Going forward too, unfortunately for South Korea and their beliefs about drug use, if their production companies want to play in the international field with streaming platforms like Netflix, it appears they will have to abide by the societal “norm” on those streaming platforms when it comes to the release of already-filmed projects
Nowadays that norm invariably is, unless you killed someone, we are not going to damage hundreds of people’s hard work or potentially hurt their careers just because of the bad judgement of one individual.
As for Yoo Ah In, his trial is set to continue mid-April, and what punishment he gets if found guilty, we will have to wait and see.
Note: BTW, I am not condoning Yoo Ah In’s behavior if it does indeed turn out he engaged in illegal drug use, as I have always believed using illegal drugs is stupid.
It is only that I refuse to believe hurting other people who weren’t involved in the act is the moral thing to do. Because it isn’t.