It has been announced that the sequel to the TV Asahi drama "The Travel Nurse," starring Okada Masaki, which aired in October 2022, will start on October 17th in the same Thursday drama slot (Thursdays at 9pm). Nakai Kiichi will also reprise his role, and the "strongest tricky nurse duo" will be back for the first time in about two years.
The drama is an original by Nakazono Miho, known for the popular medical drama series "Doctor-X: Surgeon Daimon Michiko" (TV Asahi). It depicts the story of Nasuda Ayumu (Okada), a freelance "travel nurse" who holds the nursing qualification "nurse practitioner" to perform certain medical procedures, and Kuki Shizuka (Nakai Kiichi), a skilled "super nurse," who despite their differences, joins hands and reforms the medical field with a patient-first approach.
In the new sequel series, the two will take on a new battle in an increasingly chaotic place where life is at stake, with a chronic shortage of doctors and severe restrictions on overtime hours due to work style reforms. The setting is Nishitokyo General Hospital, a core hospital that has been at the core of regional medical care for many years. Following the revelation of the previous director's corruption, the young, charismatic new director, who advocates "correct medical care and correct work style," becomes the two's new "enemy."
Okada commented on the decision to make a sequel, "Even while we were shooting the previous film, we worked hard as a team to aim for a sequel, but I never thought we'd be back in two years, so I was really happy." "I'm looking forward to confronting the respected Kiichi with the experiences I've had over the past two years. At the same time, new cast members will be joining us this time, and I'd like to work with Kiichi without feeling tense, building good teamwork with everyone and building up one cut at a time," he said enthusiastically.
Nakai commented, "In the previous series, Shizuka fell ill and fell ill, so I didn't think she would appear again (laughs). But it seems her surgery was successful, so I was asked to appear again. In fact, when I went to the hospital while the previous series was airing, the nurses would say to me, 'We're watching,' and I realized that many people in the medical field are happy to watch it. So I thought I'd do my best to continue this time as well, and accepted the role." Regarding the sequel, he said, "I always think that if we're going to do a sequel, there has to be an upgrade, otherwise there's no need to do it. I think we need to be prepared to make something even more interesting, so I want to make something good, discussing each episode together without compromising." He also appealed, "I think there will be a lot of upgrades to Shizuka's Hiroshima dialect. She might speak not only Hiroshima dialect, but various other languages... (laughs). Please look forward to it." The first episode to be aired on October 17th will be an extended special, airing from 9:00 pm to 10:00 pm.
