Guanlin (관린)

When Wanna One dissolved at the end of 2018 after its contracted run, most of its eleven members moved on to solo careers or new groups. Lai Guan Lin, known professionally as Guanlin, took a different route — stepping away from the entertainment industry entirely. His reappearance, buzz cut and all, in the 2026 Mnet reality program *Wanna One Go: Back to Base* marked the first time many fans had seen him in years, and it drew as much attention as the reunion itself.

Debut & Formation

Born in Taipei, Taiwan in 2001, Guanlin was among the younger contestants on Mnet's *Produce 101 Season 2* in 2017, finishing eleventh in the final rankings to secure a spot in the project group Wanna One. At the time of the group's debut he was 15, serving as both maknae — the youngest member — and main rapper of the unit No. 1 Unit, one of the sub-units formed within the group.

Wanna One operated on a fixed contract, disbanding in January 2019 after roughly a year and a half of activity. For Guanlin, who had relocated from Taiwan as a teenager to compete on the survival program, the group's end marked not just a career transition but a return to a life largely outside the Korean industry.

Activities

Following Wanna One's disbandment, Guanlin pursued a degree of activity in the Chinese entertainment market before eventually withdrawing from public life altogether. By 2026, former groupmate Lee Daehwi confirmed on the Korean talk program *Radio Star* that Guanlin had left the entertainment industry and was pursuing a different path, living overseas.

That picture shifted, at least temporarily, with *Wanna One Go: Back to Base*. The six-episode Mnet reality program brought the full eleven-member lineup together for the first time in seven years. Guanlin's participation was noted as a particular surprise given his retired status, and his appearance — a shaved head and what observers described as a noticeably warmer presence — generated considerable discussion among viewers. A kaoliang liquor gift he sent ahead of the reunion, the strong Taiwanese spirit drawing bemused reactions from the rest of the members on camera, became one of the program's more talked-about moments and was widely read as a sign that the group's original dynamic remained intact.

The reunion aired alongside Kang Daniel's participation while still enlisted for mandatory military service, underscoring the logistical weight the production carried in reassembling all eleven members.

Standing

Guanlin's profile within the Wanna One story has always carried a particular texture — a Taiwanese teenager who became one of K-pop's more recognizable foreign-born trainees through a survival competition, then quietly withdrew from an industry that had made him well known. His reappearance for *Wanna One Go: Back to Base* does not, on current evidence, signal a return to professional performing, but it confirmed that his connection to that chapter of his career — and to the members he shared it with — remains genuine.