SM Entertainment Introduces New SM Rookies — And Fans Are Already Theorizing What It Means

They’re all so handsome!

SM Entertainment is home to many different male and female groups, and many idols including members of Red Velvet, aespa, and NCT, were able to gain pre-debut experience and be exposed to the public through SM Rookies.

(left to right) NCT’s Mark, Haechan, Jeno, Jisung, and Jaemin as SM Rookies.

The SM Rookies’ social media accounts have been quiet since 2018 when NCT members Hendery, YangYang, and Xiaojun were added to the NCT line-up. The accounts have recently returned to life and shared the names and photos of three new Rookies!

The newest SM Rookies. | @smrookies/Twitter

According to posts made by the SM Rookies account, the new members’ names are Eunseok, Shohei, and Seunghan.

Eunseok | @smrookies/Twitter
Eunseok | @smrookies/Twitter
Eunseok | @smrookies/Twitter

SM Rookie Shohei’s name was also hashtagged in Japanese, implying that Shohei is from Japan or of Japanese descent.

Shohei | @smrookies/Twitter
Shohei | @smrookies/Twitter
Shohei | @smrookies/Twitter

These new members are being referred to as SR22B, which stands for SM Rookies 2022 Boys. Past sets of SM Rookies were named similarly until their official debuts.

Seunghan | @smrookies/Twitter
Seunghan | @smrookies/Twitter
Seunghan | @smrookies/Twitter

Many fans seem to think these may be future members of NCT’s upcoming Japan unit, NCT Tokyo, and have suspicions based on information current NCT members have given out about upcoming activities.

Others are theorizing that these new rookies are part of SM Entertainment’s upcoming boy group that is said to not be a new NCT subunit.

https://twitter.com/gaeshenv/status/1542886993063202817?s=20&t=hOUC3XV3OrSYSUZiEaU0Tw

We can’t wait to learn more about these new SM Rookies!