Lee Min-Ho Reigns In The Drama ‘The King: The Eternal Monarch’

Travel between parallel worlds is a common theme in k-dramas—whether the action might shift from a real to a comic book world or from the past to the present day. In The King: The Eternal Monarch, those two worlds are the Republic of Korea, modeled on the existing nation, and a Kingdom of Korea that might almost have existed. The kingdom is a Korea, where the invasions and the wars of the 20th century never happened, one where the royal family continues to rule, much as the monarchy still reigns in many modern countries.

The Kingdom of Korea is not just an alternate vision of what might have been. It exists in a world of magic, where a charmed oboe can give the holder the power to control the universe.

The story opens dramatically with a real-world arrest and then an assassination attempt in the fantasy Korea, a scene in which showers of glass, rivers of blood and falling snow mingle in fairy tale tragedy. The ruler of the kingdom is slain by his jealous brother and his son, the prince, barely survives, thanks to a mysterious person who chases away the assassins. 

The prince grows up to become Emperor Lee Gon, played by Lee Min-ho. He longs to find his mysterious savior, but what he doesn’t know is that she lives in a parallel universe, one he can’t even imagine. Fortunately, in the Kingdom of Korea a bewitched and broken instrument can transport characters between worlds and through time. He is destined to find her.

In one of the Emperor’s public appearances, when reading Alice in Wonderland to children, a young listener suggests he also go looking for the white rabbit that Alice chased down the rabbit hole to Wonderland. Shortly thereafter he actually sees a rabbit—or rather a person dressed as a rabbit—and he runs to solve the mystery of that person’s identity. Chasing that mysterious rabbit eventually sends him to the other Korea, where looking like a gilded Prince Charming on a white horse is likely to draw attention. It will be interesting to see how the emperor adapts to a very un-royal existence in the republic. The first person he meets is Jung Tae-eul, a fearless detective, played by Kim Go-eun, who wants to give him a ticket for riding down a main thoroughfare on a horse.

The King: The Eternal Monarch is one of the year’s most anticipated dramas because its Lee’s first role since completing his mandatory military duty in 2019. His last drama role was in 2016 in The Legend of the Blue Sea, with co-star Jun Ji-hyun, while his last film role was playing a martial arts expert in Bounty Hunters. Lee has worked with the drama’s writer Kim Eun-sook before, as he appeared in one of her previous dramas, Heirs.

His co-star Kim Go-eun was last seen in the drama The Guardian: The Great and Lonely God with Gong Yoo and the 2019 film Tune in for Love with Jung Hae-in. 

Woo Do-hwan, last seen in the drama My Country, and the film The Divine Fury, plays a dual role in this drama, appearing as the emperor’s loyal retainer in the Kingdom of Korea and a different character in the republic. 

Although the drama references Alice in Wonderland, Alice stays in Wonderland until she returns to her own life. Since his life and kingdom are in danger, Emperor Lee Gon may have to slip between two worlds more than once. The drama’s first episode promises enough action scenes, gorgeous imagery and screen chemistry to happily lure viewers into an alternate reality.