Kingdom (2019 TV series)

Executive producer: Lee Sang-baek
Producer: Lee Sung-joon
Production company: AStory
Distributor: Netflix

Kingdom (Korean: 킹덤) is a Netflix Original South Korean television series that first premiered on January 25, 2019. The second season premiered on March 13, 2020. A third season is anticipated but unconfirmed. A special episode titled, Ashin of the North was released on July 23, 2021.

The series is written by Kim Eun-hee and directed by Kim Seong-hun. It is Netflix's first original Korean series.

The series is somewhat adapted from the manga series The Kingdom of the Gods. Kim Eun-hee was working on the television series when she provided the idea for the manga, which was subsequently written by Youn In-wan and illustrated by Yang Kyung-il.

Plot[]

Set in Korea’s medieval Joseon period, it tells the story of Crown Prince Lee Chang (Ju Ji-hoon), who becomes embroiled in a coup/political conspiracy and is forced to embark upon a mission to investigate the spread of a mysterious undead plague that has beset the current emperor and the country's southern provinces. The story starts with a notice written in Korean on a billboard, claiming the king of Joseon is dead and the crown prince should be crowned immediately as the new king. However, inside the palace, the king is known to be severely sick and has been secretly treated for the past 10 days. No one was allowed to visit the king, not even the crown prince himself. Late at night, the crown prince sneaks out to visit his father, wanting to know the truth. But instead of his own father, he encountered the silhouette of a beastly monster. Accompanied by the physician Seo-bi (Bae Doo-na), the enigmatic Yeong-sin (Kim Sung-kyu), and his personal guard Mu-yeong (Kim Sang-ho), Prince Lee Chang must prevent the advance of the plague towards his home capital of Hanyang (present-day Seoul) while addressing the sinister coup masterminded by Minister Cho Hak-ju (Ryu Seung-ryong) and his family aimed towards his deposition from the throne.