Netflix has renewed the Korean zombie period drama Kingdom for Season 2 and confirmed that the upcoming season starts production in February 2019.
The confirmation of Kingdom for Season 2 came even before Kingdom Season 1 launched on Netflix on January 25, 2019. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings confirmed Kingdom for Season 2 on November 8, 2018, during a conference that took place in Singapore more than two months before Kingdom Season 1 was released on the streaming platform.
Kingdom is Netflix’s second original South Korean web drama series and one of the streaming giant’s most recent surprise hits. The horror and gore-filled Korean zombie thriller quickly acquired dedicated fans from around world and became one of the most popular new shows on Netflix.
The early renewal of the series helped to boost audience response because it reassured fans that they would be seeing more of the show’s Korean zombie apocalypse after the end of Season 1.
Fans are happy that Kingdom Season 2 is starting production in February 2019 after all six episodes of Season 1 came out on Netflix in late January.
Fans just can’t wait to see Kingdom Season 2 following the success of the inaugural season. A
When can we expect Netflix to drop the new season episodes? When will the trailer come out? Who are the returning cast for season 2? How will the season 1 cliffhanger be resolved? What is next for Crown Prince Ju Ji-hoon on a suicidal mission to save his country from the undead plague?
Here are the answers to all your questions and more.
We will also be updating this page with new snippets of information about the upcoming season as we learn about them.
Kingdom Season 2 release date
Netflix has not yet confirmed an official release date for Kingdom Season 2, but the
According to the website Korean Film, filming is expected to wrap up in June. This means that production and post-production could last 4-6 months, and that Korean fans can hope to see the new season in the fall or winter of 2019.
It might take a little longer for Netflix to add the entire episodes of the new season on its streaming platform. So fans are hoping that the upcoming season will launch on the streaming service in the winter of 2019 or early in 2020.
Although filming of Season 1 started in November 8 and ended on December 21 (about six weeks duration), Season 2 will take longer to film (4 months) because while the cliffhanger ending of Season 1 means that filming must start in winter (February is the last month of winter in Korea), the rest of the shooting must wait until spring or summer.
Meanwhile, all episodes of Kingdom Season 1 are currently streaming on Netflix. So fans who haven’t seen Season 1 or need to refresh their memories about the plot details can binge-watch the entire season consisting of six hour-long episodes ahead of the anticipated launch of Kingdom Season 2.
Kingdom Season 2 details
Kingdom is Netflix’s second Korean original series.
The series is set to begin shooting in February 2019 after Netflix CEO Reed Hastings officially confirmed the series for Season 2 on November 8, 2018, at a conference in Singapore during which an extended clip from Season 1 was unveiled and screening of the first two episodes of Season 1 took place.
The screening was followed by a 20-minute panel discussion with the production crew and cast of the series.
Filming is expected to continue until June 2019, according to the website Korean Film.
The series is a fantasy horror (zombie thriller) period drama based on Kingdom of the Gods, a Korean webcomic series by the respected Korean playwright and screenwriter Kim Eun-hee, and the manhwa artist Yang Kyung-il.
Kim Eun-hee also serves as writer and showrunner for the web series adaptation of her webcomic.
Kingdom season 1 was directed by the Grand Bell Award-winning director Kim Seong-hun, who is best known for his work on How the Lack of Love Affects Two Men (2006), A Hard Day (2014), and Tunnel (2016).
Netflix first announced that Kingdom had been picked up for Season 2 in November 2018. However, director Kim Seong-hun’s comments at the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival in July 2018 reveal that the streaming giant Netflix had ordered Season 2 long before the first official confirmation.
The writer Kim Eun-hee had also started working on the new season long before production of Season 1 ended.
Kim Seong-hun also hinted at the time that he would be less involved in directing Kingdom Season 2 and that he would only be serving in an advisory role. His comments suggested Kim Eun-hee would play a greater role in directing the upcoming series.
Since it premiered on Netflix on January 25, 2019, Kingdom has established itself as one of the most highly anticipated Netflix Original dramas, thanks to Kim Eun-hee’s compelling story brought to life by an outstanding cast.
The series is set in the medieval Joseon era of Korean history, but the actual historical setting is overlaid with a fictional zombie-themed story. Although the series is inspired by Kim Eun-hee’s webcomic, the Netflix adaptation does not follow the webcomic story.
Kingdom follows the dangerous mission of the Crown Prince Ju Ji-hoon to save his country from an undead disease outbreak which turns people into zombies. The undead plague threatens to engulf the entire kingdom.
How many episodes will Kingdom Season 2 feature?
Kingdom Season 2 will feature six hour-long episodes. Kingdom was originally intended to be a limited series with only eight episodes but the producers decided to extend it into 12 episodes split between two seasons.
Kim Seong-hun confirmed rumors that the delay in the release of Season 1 was due to the decision to change from an eight-episode limited series to two six-episode seasons. He also confirmed previous rumors that production, which cost more than $1.78 million per episode, exceeded the budget.
“Initially, Kingdom was intended as an eight-episode series and production was supposed to be completed in four months. In the end, however, we took about six months on production and overspent the budget, for which we had to pay a penalty,” Kim revealed in an interview with Variety.
“As we all know, the historical genre and zombie genre are both very costly,” he explained during a presentation at Netflix’s See What’s Next: Asia event in 2018. “So putting them together leads to even greater production costs.”
Writer Kim Eun-hee also revealed at Netflix’s See What’s Next: Asia event that they had originally planned for a web cartoon series but ended up making a live-action Netflix drama.
“At the beginning, [Kingdom] wasn’t envisioned as a television series,” she revealed. “We were trying to make a webtoon so the Crown Prince was a lot younger.”
Kingdom: Audience and critical response
Kingdom has received positive reviews and an overwhelmingly enthusiastic audience response.
Kingdom Season 2 trailers
Netflix has not yet released a trailer for Kingdom Season 2. But the fact that the first teaser for Season 1 was released in December 2018, only a month ahead of the season premiere, suggests that a trailer for season 2 is still a long way off (assuming that the upcoming season will launch on Netflix either late in 2019 or early in 2020).
We will update this page when Netflix drops a teaser or full trailer for Kingdom Season 2.
Meanwhile, enjoy the trailers for Kingdom Season 1.
Kingdom season 2 cast
According to the website Korean Film, the producers have confirmed that the main cast for Kingdom Season 1 will return for Season 2.
Kingdom Season 2 will star Ryu Seung-ryong as Cho Hak-jo, Bae Doo-na as Seo-bi and Ju Ji-hoon as Crown Prince Yi Chang.
Ryu Seung-ryong’s credits include Miracle in Cell No. 7 (2013), Roaring Current (2014), All About My Wife (2012), and War of the Arrows (2011).
Bae Doo-na appeared in The Host (2006), Air Doll (2009), Cloud Atlas (2012), Sense8 (TV series 2015-2018), and Jupiter Ascending (2015).
Ju Ji-hoon’s credits include Princess Hours (TV series 2006- ), The Devil (TV series 2007), Mask (TV series 2015), Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds (2017), and Along with the Gods: The Spy Gone North (2018).
He also appeared in Asura: The City of Madness (2016) and Dark Figure of Crime (2018).
Supporting cast members expected to return for Season 2 include Kim Sang-ho as Moo-yeoung, Heo Joon-ho as An Hyun, Jeon Seok-ho as Jo Beom-pal, Kim Hye-jun as Queen Cho, and Kim Sung-kyu appears as Yeong-Shin.
Kim Sang-ho’s credits include The Happy Life (2007), Moby Dick (2011) and Doctor Strange (2014), while Heo Joon-ho appeared in Hwasango (2001), Simildo (2003) and The Restless/Demon Empire (2006).
Fans will recall Jeon Seok-ho from Intruders (2013), Lucid Dream (2017) and Strong Woman Do Bong-Soon (TV series 2017),
Kim Hye-jun appeared in Matrimonial Chaos (TV series 2018-) and Just Between Lovers/Rain or Sunshine (2017-), while Kim Sung-Kyu (Kim Seong-gyoo) is best known for his roles in The Outlaws (2017) and Tunnel (TV series 2017-).
Kingdom Season 2 plot: Season 1 summary
Kingdom is set in the Joseon period of Korean history (c. 1392) and follows the Crown Prince Yi Chang (Ju Ji-hoon), who is forced to leave the capital due to a political conspiracy in the royal palace.
There are rumors about the death of his father, the king, who is being held incommunicado in his palace by Queen Consort Cho and her father, the Chief State Councilor Cho Hak-jo.
Days after the king fell ill, Queen Cho (Kim Hye-jun) and the Minister Cho Hak-jo (Ryu Seung-Ryong) have not allowed anyone, including the prince, to see the King.
Mininster Cho takes over the control of the state and rules while rumors spread that the king has died. There are also rumors that Queen Cho — the Crown Prince’s stepmother – is trying to keep the king’s death secret until her son is born so that the child can be the king in place of Crown Prince Yi Chang who is an illegitimate son of the King.
The prince manages to sneak into the palace to see his father but before he could reach the king’s chamber he is confronted by the mysterious silhouette of a reeking beast-like creature (the zombified king?).
The Crown Prince’s presence in the palace is detected and he his forced to leave. But the prince soon learns through his personal guard Mu-yeoung (Kim Sang-ho) that the physician Lee Seung-hui (Kwom Bum-taek) might have useful information about his father’s condition.
Mu-Yeoung was able to obtain a journal kept at the royal infirmary that documents the progress of the king’s illness while being treated by the former royal physician Lee Seung-hui who now works at the clinic in Jiyulheon.
The Crown Prince leaves the capital with Mu-yeong and both travel in disguise to Jiyulheon clinic in Dongnae to see the physician Lee Seung-hui. Yi hopes that the physician would be able to tell him what happened to his father.
Meanwhile, the Royal Army is searching for the prince to arrest him on charges of treason.
The prince and his guard arrive at the Jiyulheon clinic. They find the clinic in ruins and strewn with dead bodies.
Yi Chang learns that the only survivor at the clinic is nurse Seo-bi (Bae Doo-na). They set out to find Seo-bi, and along the way, locals tell them that she is looking for a cure to a terrible disease that killed all the people at the clinic.
When they find Seo-bi, she tells them there has been an outbreak of a mysterious undead plague.
She tells them it was the physician Lee Seung-hui’s work with the resurrection plant which grows in the Frozen Valley that caused the plague of the undead. She also warns that the dead bodies at the clinic would soon rise and become flesh-eating zombies.
The prince now suspects that his father might have also turned into a zombie monster after he died and the physician Lee Seung-hui revived him by treating him with the resurrection plant.
Mu-yeong and Seo-bi rush to warn the officials in Dongnae that the dead would soon rise again, but nobody believes them.
The dead bodies eventually re-animate and attack people, but Mu-yeong, Seo-bi and the Crown Prince Yi (Lee) Chang escape. The zombies now begin to spread and take over the entire district of Dongnae, but at sunrise they hide in dark places and go into a state of dormancy.
With the zombie epidemic threatening to engulf the kingdom, the young prince assisted by Seo-bi (Bae Doo-na) and his personal guard Mu-Yeoung must fight the threat and stop the zombie apocalypse from spreading to the capital of Hanyang. He must also thwart the coup being masterminded by Minster Cho Hak-jo.
To end the zombie apocalypse he must find the resurrection plant responsible for the outbreak and use it to reverse engineer a cure for the spreading zombie epidemic.
Kingdom Season 2 plot: What to expect of Season 2
Season 1 ended with the Crown Prince preparing to defend Sangju from an onslaught by the undead. He orders to his men to secure the defenses of Sangju as hordes of undead are about to attack.
Meanwhile, Seo-bi and Beom-pal find the resurrection plant in the Frozen valley. They collect the flower and Seo-bi tries to use it to reverse engineer a cure for the undead plague. But they must first escape the horde of the undead closing in on them.
Then comes the shocking realization that the zombies don’t hide during the day to avoid light but hide in cool places to avoid the heat during the day. But now that winter has come and the weather is cooler the dead can advance and attack all day.
Kingdom Season 1 ends with a cliffhanger as the undead advance to attack. We didn’t get to see the start of the impending massive battle. So fans can expect Kingdom Season 2 to start with the big fight to defend Sangju from the attacking undead hordes.
What happens in Season 2 will depend on the outcome of the Battle of Sangju. But regardless, we can expect that the prince will eventually defeat the undead hordes, overcome the undead plague and end the zombie apocalypse.
We can also expect that he will be able to thwart the palace coup and frustrate the conspiracy hatched by Queen Cho and her father the Minister Cho Hak-jo.
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