Netflix has announced their second South Korean original series, Kingdom.
Reported by The Hollywood Reporter, the series will consist of eight episodes and will premiere in 2018. According to the news site, Kingdom is a zombie period drama set in the medieval Joseon Kingdom (1382-1910).
The new series focuses on a crown prince’s suicide mission to investigate a mysterious outbreak. THR writes that Kingdom “fuses genres by crossing elements of historical period dramas with zombie action thrillers”.
In Korea, costume dramas have proven to be successful on the big screen and on the small screen.
Kingdom will be also feature Tunnel’s Kim Seong-hun and Signal writer Kim Eun-hee. Astory, a Korean TV drama production company, will reportedly produce the series.
“I am thrilled about partnering with an eminent writer like Kim Eun-hee. Kingdom presents the opportunity to work on longform television at its most ambitious and on a truly cinematic scale because of the unparalleled creative freedom that Netflix as a global internet television network provides,” said director Kim Seong-hun.
“I have been working on Kingdom since 2011,” said writer Kim Eun-Hee. “I wanted to write a story that reflects the fears and anxiety of modern times but explored through the lens of a romantic fascination of the historical Joseon period. Working with Netflix helps us to unlock this creative vision for Kingdom and I am excited to further build this unique story with the director for whom I have tremendous respect.”
“Kingdom captured our imaginations from the moment we read the script with its visual feast of historical drama blended with supernatural fantasy,” said Erik Barmack, vp international originals at Netflix. “We are incredibly honored by this rare opportunity of pairing two premier creative minds in Korea — film director Kim Seong-hun and television writer Kim Eun-hee.”
Kingdom will premier on Netflix and marks the streaming service’s second South Korean original series – the first being Love Alarm, which was based on a comic strip by graphic novelist Kye Young Chon. Both South Korean original series will premiere in 2018.
Last year, South Korean zombie thriller Train To Busan broke records in the country by attracting 10,000,000 moviegoers to the box office.
