'Kingdom': Netflix's new Korean series about history and zombies
New Netflix original series “Kingdom” will surely catch the attention of zombie fans all across the globe. The upcoming series is a unique story that mixes both history and zombies in one whole package.
Kim Seong-hun is said to be the director of the upcoming Korean series. He will be collaborating with writer Kim Eun-hee for the new project that is known to break the grounds of Korean drama. Netflix network will be responsible in spearheading the Korean project through its official website.
Director Kim Seong-hun is known for his recent success, survival drama film, “Tunnel.” The movie was ranked as one of the top five movies in the Korean box office last year, per Korean Film Biz Zone. Kim started to gain movie critics' attention when he released his second project entitled "A Hard Day" in 2014.
The action-thriller, comedy movie was about a cop (Lee Sun-Kyun) that committed a hit and run incident on his way to his mother's funeral. The accident caused his victim to be killed instantly. In a desperate attempt to cover up his tracks, the cop decides to hide the corpse inside the coffin of her mother. The film became a box office hit that exceeded the amount of more than 3.4 million tickets sold. The movie received the best director award from the Daejong Film Awards, per Korean Film Biz Zone.
Kim Eun-hee also wrote one of the top K-dramas of 2016, “Signal.” The series won the Scriptwriting Award at the 52nd Paeksang Arts Awards last year, according to Koreandrama.org. She was also given the same recognition for the abovementioned film at the APAN Star Awards the same year.
Director Seong-hun expressed excitement in partnering with a writer like Kim Eun-hee. In a statement, the director states that the "Kingdom" presents the opportunity to work on long-form television at an ambitious and on a truly cinematic scale because of the creative freedom that Netflix provides.
Seong-hun has further revealed that he has been working with this project since 2011. He also wanted to have a story that will reflect the fears and anxiety of modern times. But at the same time, Seong-hun plans to explore the possibility of a romantic fascination of the historical Joseon period.
Writer Eun-hee also stated that working with Netflix helped the team unlock the creative vision for the project. Netflix also made them more ecstatic to further build the unique story alongside the South Korean director.
According to Netflix Vice President of International Originals Erik Barmack, “Kingdom” has captured the Netflix team’s imagination from the moment they have read the script. The story’s visual feast of historical drama blended with supernatural fantasy had totally caught their attention. Barmack further revealed that the Netflix team was incredibly honoured by the rare opportunity of working with the two most prominent creative minds in Korea, Kim Seong-hun and Kim Eun-hee.
Netflix has announced and confirmed its second Korean original television series, which will be famously known as “Kingdom” on Monday. The aforementioned series will have a total of eight episodes and will be produced by well-known Korean drama production company Astor.
The series will be set in Korea's medieval Joseon period. The story will revolve around the crown prince of Korea. The prince is given the burden to partake on a suicide mission in order to investigate a mysterious outbreak of illness, which will eventually lead him to a brutal truth that will threaten his kingdom.
The series will be a groundbreaking project because of its unique theme, a combination of two most popular genres that Korean fans love. These genres include the historical period drama and zombie action-thriller.
The eight episodes of the original series “Kingdom” will premiere exclusively on Netflix in 2018. This will be readily available for the network's members in over 190 countries worldwide.
