Lee Jia Added To IRIS Spinoff Athena

Apr 16, 2010

Lee Jia has been cast as the other female lead in
the IRIS spinoff Athena, alongside the
previously cast Jung Woo-sung, Cha Seung-won, and Su
Ae. (And… meh.) Well, you can’t win ‘em all?

She’ll play a character named Han Jae-hee, who is a special agent in
the European office of the National Anti-Terror Service. She is
physically tough and level-headed, who will contrast (somewhat) with Su
Ae’s cool and calm double agent character.

Honestly, I can’t quite put a finger on why I can’t get fired up
about Lee Jia. I’ve tried to like her in all her previous projects — she
was pretty good in her debut, Legend, though a little less
compelling in Beethoven Virus and downright shrill in Style.
I just can’t connect with her and don’t really feel any sincerity from
her acting, which prevents me from sympathizing with her characters. And
to think, until now I was all excited about Athena. Though I
like the men better in Athena than IRIS (as a whole), I
think the women are about equivalent. I might even give the edge to IRIS
for Kim So-yeon.