Kingdom successfully capitalised on South Korea’s love of costume dramas and recent enthusiasm with zombies by contrasting popular period dramas with horrific and bloody undead carnage. The first season was a global hit, thus season 2 is coming back with the same key cast like Ju Ji-hoon, Bae Doo-na and Ryu Seung-ryong.
Production was expected to begin in February and finish in June this year. Gosh ! i can’t wait..
So what can fans expect from the new season?
First, the original cast is back. The new season also promises to pick up from the ending of season 1 and it’s going to be more intense and bloodier.
“I felt, after reading the script, that Season 2 got to the bottom of a lot of the cliffhangers of Season One,” shared Ju Ji-hoon who played Prince Chang. “It’s like, ‘The bowl will be full of fish’ by the end of Season 2.”
Prince Chang will go from wanted man to saviour of his people, he added. “In the first season, I was running away from the evil Cho Hak-joo (played by Ryu Seung-ryong) clan, the queen’s family. In the second season, I’ll be going after them to become the next king,” he said.
He added: “There are no guarantees that my character is going to live to the end. In Season one of Game Of Thrones, the main character dies.” ( Is he means his character going to die at the end of the drama??!!!)
While, Bae Doo-na who plays physician Seo-bi said she is proud and happy to be in the drama series.
“Because I feel that Kingdom is an extremely Korean work of art – whether it be actual visual arts, the costumes, the makeup – all of these factors are based on actual historical studies. And so while it’s still a fantasy universe that we’re depicting, it’s also historical,” she explained.
According to Kim Eun-hee – who wrote both seasons as well as the webcomic series The Kingdom Of The Gods, from which Kingdom was adapted – the next one will be “all about blood”.
“Not only about red blood, but about the royal blood as well,” she said.
And what of the highly secretive and much talked-about appearance of Jun Ji-hyun in this upcoming season?
“While planning out the storyline, there was a character that I thought would fit Jun Ji-hyun well,” Kim revealed. “When I suggested it to her she accepted generously.”
The second season of Kingdom will premiere on Netflix on Mar 13.
Source: CNA | Swoon |Korean Film