Press conference to announce new cast members of NHK Taiga fantasy drama "Seirei no Moribito Saishusho"

A press conference was held on 15 January to announce the new cast members for 3-part NHK Taiga fantasy drama "Seirei no Moribito Saishusho" which is the concluding installment in the series. The event was attended by Ayase Haruka, Higashide Masahiro, Kaga Takeshi, Watanabe Ikkei, Itagaki Mizuki, Mera Yoshikazu, Hanafusa Mari and Takeda Tetsuya. Filming is still in progress.

The finale series will be shown from November this year which features Watanabe, Mera, Takeda and Hanafusa as the new members of the cast while Kaga takes over the role originally played by Hira Mikijiro who passed away suddenly last October. Besides them, Dragon Ash's Furuya Kenji will also be a new addition to the cast lineup.

Watanabe revealed that he suffered a back injury as a result of the action scenes he had to take on in this drama. Although he used to be part of the theatre group Gekidan Shinkansen and was used to a lot of big movements then, he is more active in TV dramas now so doesn't have to do that many action scenes. However, he told himself that he couldn't back down from this challenge and decided to press on despite the difficulties. As for Kaga, he expressed his wish to be able to convey the same sincerity and uniqueness of Hira's acting through his performance and called upon viewers to support the drama.

Season 2 "Seirei no Moribito Kanashiki Hakkaigami" will be shown from 21 January onwards in the Saturdays 9pm timeslot.

Sources: Nikkansports / Sanspo / Oricon