Renewed or Cancelled?
F4 Thailand: Boys Over Flowers is a high school-set, enemies-to-lovers rom-com. This 16-episode Thai drama (with English subtitles) has been great fun to watch, even if we already know the famous Japanese tale, Hana Yori Dango, from which it comes. Now that the series has ended, you may be wondering if this one’s been renewed or cancelled.
What is F4 Thailand: Boys Over Flowers about?
For fans of South Korean drama Boys Over Flowers (Netflix, Viki, Tubi, Hulu) or the Chinese Meteor Garden (Netflix) or indeed the original, Japanese Hana Yori Dango, there’s a 2021-22 version of the classic story available on streaming channels straight from Thailand. If you’ve watched Meteor Garden 2018 (Netflix – see mini-review here) early indications show F4 Thailand: Boys Over Flowers to have a similarly modern vibe attached to the classic manga story. To get closer to the source material, you can catch the anime version of Japanese Hana Yori Dango (translation: Boys Over Flowers) on Crunchyroll. The story of F4 Thailand: Boys Over Flowers, centres around a school for the elite reigned by four guys with an overabundance of privilege, money and good looks. So much so that they’re both feared and revered by those around them. A girl who isn’t from within upsets their applecart, clueless about the rules and not interested in knowing them. She’s just there to go to school as under the radar as possible. Until she clashes with the leader of F4 which begins a series of battles that eventually shows glimmers of romance. We’ve been writing about this drama for weeks, so you can find a full Season 1 Review here. Across the site, you can also find weekly preview stories including some random thoughts on many of the characters and storylines.
Has F4 Thailand: Boys Over Flowers been renewed for Season 2?
We’ve got several reasons to suspect there may be a Season 2 for F4 Thailand. In a first for this classic story, the idea that Ren has a beautiful future ahead – and perhaps another story – is raised in the final episode. Additionally, other versions of the tale have had second seasons that give our 5 stars more trials to overcome. Such as with Taiwan’s Meteor Garden (2001), where Thyme’s counterpart, Dao Ming Si, travels abroad, loses his memory and must figure out how to survive all the while Gorya’s equivalent, Dong Shancai, and the rest of F4 search for him. However, there is no plan for Season 2 at this stage. We can always hope that continued support and availability of the actors make this a possibility in future. In fact, Metawin ‘Win’ Opas-Iamkajorn, who played Kavin, is currently leading GMMTV’s rom-com drama Devil Sister, airing from April 18 on Mondays and Tuesdays at 8:30pm local Thai time. You can find it on GMMTV’s YouTube channel divided into sections with English subtitles, much like F4 Thailand. If you’re keen you can catch up this weekend and be ready for ep 3 on Monday.
What can we watch instead?
Meanwhile, if you’re jonesing for more of Yoko Kamio’s storyline, Viki (Rakuten Viki) has recently released Japan’s Hana Yori Dango, listed in English as Boys Over Flowers on the channel. The entire series from 2005 was posted last week so you can binge 9 instalments at will. As with every version, it takes the key threads and reworks them to suit the number of episodes, local updates, etc. In fact, in Japan, there’s a Season 2 Hana Yori Dango Returns from 2007 that picks up and tells some of the storyline already covered in other versions. That too has been released this week on Viki called Boys Over Flowers 2 (returns). It’s listed as 2022 but it is actually the 2007 series, picking up exactly where the first leaves off. We can keep going – there seems to be a near-endless supply of Hana Yori Dango stories, including additional Japanese tales in the form of a 2008 movie called Hana Yori Dango: Final and the 2018 Hana Nochi Hare: HanaDan Next Season which picks up 10 years after the original story and features new characters whilst still bringing back Makino, Domyoji and the whole F4 gang for special appearances. We were also checking out a Filipino version of Boys Over Flowers slated for sometime this year. A teaser video names the actors but it seems to have been back-burnered for the moment, with no news at present. I’ll update this story when I hear back from them.
Are there any others coming out?
At the moment, we’re not hearing it. But the minute there’s a green light, we’ll be sure to let you know.
Miss the F4 Thai Team? We’ve got you.
If it’s more the Thai team you’re missing, in addition to Metawin’s currently running drama noted above, the rest are busily working on new projects as well. Vachirawit ‘Bright’ Chivaree (who plays Thyme) will appear in romantic drama Good Old Days set for 6 episodes later this year, airdate yet to be confirmed. He’s also leading Astrophile, a romance drama slated for 2022 release. Jirawat ‘Dew’ Sutivanichsak (who plays Ren), Hirunkit “Nani’ Changkham (who plays MJ), Chanikan ‘Prim’ Tangkabodee, (who plays Kaning) and Kay Lertsittichai (who plays Talay) are all working on mystery drama, Home School (meaning boarding school). Even Cindy Sirinya Bishop (Thyme’s mother Roselyn) is in this one, so nearly a reunion for us. Airdate still to be set. And our Gorya, Tontawan ‘Tu’ Tantivejakul is currently working on family drama 10 Years Ticket with no current air date set but an indication it may run in 2022. While her on-screen brother Glakao, played by Nattawat ‘Fourth’ Jirochtikul is set to play a supporting role in BL drama Moonlight Chicken and a main role in romance My School President. Both are expected to run in 2022. Thoughts on this series you’d like to share? Any of the previous versions you’d like to see reviewed? Wish we’d stop writing about it and move on? Add your comments below. Thanks for reading, commenting and sticking with us! For more stories on all sorts of content from this reviewer, click here: Kristen Lazur
