Lucas

Lucas (루카스), born Wong Yuk-hei, first broke wide through NCT in 2018 with a kind of immediate camera pull SM rarely gets by accident. The Hong Kong performer moved quickly from NCT U into WayV, where his mix of rap, visual presence, and multilingual reach made him one of the more obvious global-facing pieces in the wider SM system.

That scale is what gave his reset real weight. After exiting NCT and WayV in 2023, Lucas stayed with SM Entertainment long enough to test a solo lane through Renegade, his April 1, 2024 single project built around three English-language tracks. The release mattered less as a blockbuster chart event than as a proof-of-concept: a way to see whether his profile could survive outside the group architecture that created it.

SM closed that chapter on April 24, 2026 when the company confirmed his exclusive contract had ended. That leaves Lucas in a transition phase rather than a fully rebuilt second act, but the asset base is still obvious. He has a recognizable name, established global fandom touchpoints, and enough public intrigue that any next move, whether independent music, another label deal, or a wider Asia-market strategy, will land with attention.