One of Naver Webtoon’s most popular titles, “The Remarried Empress” has drawn nearly 3 billion views in 10 languages since it launched in 2019.
As a live-action series on Disney+, and on Hulu in the U.S., it carrys the expectations of a fan base that already knows every character. Originally scheduled to premiere on Nov. 4, the series has debuted a day earlier, “as a special thank you to fans for their overwhelming support,” according to the streamers.
In the show, Navier (Shin Min-a) and Emperor Sovieshu (Ju Ji-hoon) were friends who married for the sake of the Eastern Empire. Their peace shatters when Sovieshu rescues Rashta (Lee Se-young), a runaway slave, on a royal hunt and brings her home as his concubine. As love, lust and regret take hold of the court, Heinrey (Lee Jong-suk), the charming crown prince of the Western Kingdom, turns his eye to Navier. Cho Su-won (“I Can Hear Your Voice,” “Pinocchio”) directs from scripts by Yeoh Geena and Hyun Choong-yeol (“The Uncanny Counter”).
Before its global launch, the series premiered its first three episodes in the On Screen section of the Busan International Film Festival.
For Shin Min-a (“Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha,” “Our Blues”), the draw was a familiar story set somewhere rarely seen in Korean series: a European-style fantasy empire of ballrooms and crowns. “I had high expectations about what kind of balance it would strike once it was made into a series,” she says.
Her on-screen husband, Ju Ji-hoon (“Kingdom,” “The Trauma Code: Heroes on Call”), was drawn in by the source material. “Love, divorce, entanglement, the struggle for power, all make for a fascinating subject matter,” he says.
Lee Se-young (“The Red Sleeve,” “The Story of Park’s Marriage Contract”) inherited the story’s most divisive figure. Rashta arrives at the palace as a runaway slave and the emperor’s new favorite, and once she gets a taste of a life she never had, she starts wanting more. “Because she has to be a character who can become the seed of conflict, I considered that first and then built the character from there,” she says. “At the same time, I tried to make her a character you resent but can’t quite hate.”
Behind the palace intrigue, cast and crew go back years. Shin and Ju previously starred together in “The Devil” and the film “The Naked Kitchen,” and Cho directed Lee Jong-suk in both “I Can Hear Your Voice” and “Pinocchio.” It comes through when all four leads share the screen, as in a much-anticipated ball scene. “When [they] are gathered in one space, there’s more tension,” says Shin.
The production scouted castles in France, Germany and the Czech Republic before settling on Schleissheim Palace, outside Munich, as its main location, giving the series a European-court look closer to Netflix’s “Bridgerton” than to the Joseon-era palaces of Korean period dramas. “It’s something totally new for a Korean series,” notes Lee Jong-suk (“Pinocchio,” “Big Mouth”).
To familiarize herself with that kind of royalty, Shin says she watched documentaries about kings and queens abroad. “But the narratives they carry are different from ours,” says Shin. “So I looked at those as references, but then I focused on the script itself.”
The series pairs its lavish costumes and sets with visual effects to build its fantasy world, including Queen, a mysterious bird with whom Navier forms a bond. Shin calls those scenes “a challenge,” but says she took the role partly because she thought they “would look beautiful on screen.”
Webtoons have proved a dependable source of Korean originals across streamers, and Disney+ is no exception. Kang Full’s “Moving,” which Disney has cited as an unexpected international hit, began shooting its second season in May, and Ju also led the streamer’s Kang Full adaptation “Light Shop.” “The Remarried Empress” is already drawing comparable attention, with its main trailer racking up 13 million views in its first 48 hours.
Produced by Studio N, the 10-episode series has launched with four episodes, followed by two each Wednesday through Nov. 25.
Alphatart’s web novel first appeared in 2018, and the webtoon, illustrated by Sumpul, published its final chapter in January.
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