It’s too early to say whether this is a financial smart move but the production company behind the big budget fantasy sageuk Arthdal Chronicles has announced officially that season 2 of the series would indeed be made. Filming is scheduled to commence September of 2020 which means the drama won’t even air until 2021. With season dramas there at least has maintain the momentum, much less one that aired to less that stellar ratings and didn’t come close to justifying its massive budget. Also announced was the return of all four main leads Song Joong Ki, Jang Dong Gun, Kim Ji Won, and Kim Ok Bin, since all are under contract, but PD Kim Won Seok (My Ahjusshi, Misaeng, Signal) is not returning to direct season 2. I hope the second season has a better cinematographer so everything doesn’t look bathed in murkiness.
It didn’t help any of the actor’s career and secondly there is not much fanbase for this show. Anyways i hope it work for sjk n kjw. But don’t have much expectations. Show wasnt that bad the way people were describing. If investors r investing that means they might have break even if not any profit
Personally I loooooove the show. I was super impressed how differently it was made, unlike the usual Korean series pattern.
It has spice, thrill. It got me expecting another episode. I’m sad to see it so underappreciated. And Mr. Editor what do you mean by so much murkiness? I’d definitely say it’s the best Korean series I’ve yet to see. And I’ve seen quite a number too. I can’t wait for S2…pls don’t disappoint! cheobal!
I enjoyed season 1 and appreciated that it was very different than other K dramas. It tried something new and while it had problems, it was still a good and enjoyable show. I am happy the entire cast is returning and very happy for season 2. I think there are many viewers like me that just enjoyed it quietly on Netflix.
I am surprised that AC got green-lighted for 2nd season and so far apart. I wonder whether the JJM phone hacking scandal which mentioned Jang Dong Gun has anything to do with the timing. Waiting perhaps for the negative publicity to die down and hope nobody will remember by next year? Season 1 was not a mega success, nowhere near the buzz created by CLOY yet wasted so much money on the budget. Here’s hoping season 2 will prove everyone wrong.
..there are better dramas that deserve a second season.
I don’t see why this can be a good move
Those who didn’t stay on the train for season 1 , isn’t it even more unlikely to come on for season 2? Mind boggling
I don’t like this show. I hope tvN won’t airing this, so the timeslot will be free for another show, make it really ‘Netflix Original’.
Omg, please say no Song Joong Ki. The directing is one of aspect that save that drama for me. So if Kim Won Seok out, the quality of directing might be not as high as the 1st season. Unless you hire Kim Jin Won level directorial.
Umm..can’t they stop this production,i’m so sorry for the negatively but theres a lot of scandal from the players itself..oh mine
Financial and rating-wise out of discussion, I’d love to see the second season! The 1st one is definitely not flawless, but its a perfect set-up for the second season with more questions to answer (what the future has in store for JDG KOB pair now they’ve gone all the way, Tanya’s growth, Saya and Eunsom’s meeting, Nenathal’s role in Arthdal (yes, I refuse to believe that Nichkhun is merely paid to walk and roam around the forests) Mubaek my 2nd fav char, etc) , interactions to made, or if anything else doesn’t work, I just want to see it till the end with Eunsom the Carrot Boy and His Horse!
Why did they even bother with this drama
I don’t understand why this drama will have 2 more seasons when it bombed in ratings. Hotel De Luna and Crash Landing on You with lesser budget and aired and on the same time slot and cable channel, buried this drama in viewership ratings.
This drama is laden with issues not just in poor storyline and low quality production but behind the scene controversies. From non-payment of crew wages, cheating scandals of jang dong gun and song jongki then homewrecking of that japanese actress.
If I were the producers, i will just cut my losses and invest in other projects. I don’t want to see jdg again on screen. The other talented actors will be tied and wasting their time filming for the next seasons for months while doing nothing for their careers unless they do it to pay the bills.
At least SJK is working hard
Btw it will so much better if KJW not stuck with this drama and take another project. This is just a waste of her time.
The positive part is that. LOL….
On one hand I want to see the story continued, the real problem with the drama wasn’t anything but the weird pacing and lack of resolution, and on the budget level the overspending was a problem (why those expensive foreign location shoots when they weren’t paying staff?) but the story was interesting and the acting was good.
On the other hand, I really wish Kim Ji Won could pick a different drama and not get stuck working on the same role for 2-3 years running.
Her FFMW co-stars have raced so far ahead of her, it’s insane. Park Seo Joon with multiple hits and Choi Woo Shik with an Oscar-winning movie and Hollywood offers. While her career has stagnated and her popularity has declined due to a series of bad choices (the most recent of which is joining Salt) and sheer laziness. I’m a big fan of hers but Christ I just don’t get her decisions at all. A part of me believes she has lost all interest in acting and fame and is just ‘going through the motions’ because they pay the bills. I hope I’m wrong though. I hope for her sake she drops out of this.
Her and PBG are the same brand of lazy actors surviving on hype and cf fame. Her career will go down the same drain as PSH.
Nope. Her hype isn’t remotely as massive as PBG nor does she get as much CFs. 0 zero magazine shoots in the past 3 years. And even though PSH’s recent performances have been nothing to talk about, there’s no denying that she constantly gives hits. If anything PSH’s career is improving.
…..laziness? If she’s “lazy” for having one year in her career without the release of an acting project (during which time she was filming AC part 1) then so is Park Shin Hye, just saying. And if she really is “going through the motions”, as you say, I certainly can’t see it in her performances onscreen.
I also don’t know why her joining PSH agency is a bad choice other than it’s largely known only for PSH, it’s not like she joined that SM acting agency that sidelines all its actresses to give lead roles to SM idols instead.
Hey @Royal We, she didn’t work for about 10 months after she finished filming her movie Detective K. It released in February and was a flop and she should’ve started working immediately so that its failure wouldn’t have counted for much in the long run. She began filming Arthdal in late November. She had a lot of hype after DOTS and FFMW so it was very unwise to not capitalize on it. And PSH has a release every year, be it drama or movie or reality show. KJW has a penchant for taking long breaks between projects so it is unlikely she’ll do anything else this year. Arthdal will probably have year long gaps between seasons and she won’t work in any of these breaks, so it’ll probably be a good 4-5 years before we see her in something new if news of its renewal is indeed true.
What I meant by ‘going through the motions’ was that she hasn’t been actively seeking projects that challenge her as an actor or increase her popularity. Like you, I don’t think the fault lies with her acting, she made the best out of some awfully written characters. After FFMW all of her roles have been negligible and one-dimensional.
From what I’ve heard from PSH fans, Salt doesn’t get her good roles, and the high profile offers she receives is due to her own popularity. PSH and KJW are in the same age range and have similar images and will therefore compete for the same roles. PSH is far more popular and hence brings them more money so she will always be Salt’s 1st preference for said roles.
To be fair, SM has given their actresses Go Ara and Lee Yeonhee high profile roles despite the criticism they received for their acting.
@Royal We she didn’t work for almost a year after the release of her movie. It was completed in January 2018 and Arthdal began filming in late November. PSH does at least 1 project every year, including reality shows.
Like you, I don’t think her acting was atrocious. What I meant by that phrase was that she hasn’t been seeking projects that actively challenge her as an actor (like say Han Jimin or even IU) or increase her popularity. She makes the most of her roles, true. However, after FFMW, almost all of them have been eye-candy/one-dimensional and terribly written. She also has a strong penchant for breaks so we probably won’t see her in anything new for 3-4 years if Arthdal is confirmed.
From what I’ve heard from PSH’s fans Salt does not get her good roles, her popularity does. Because she’s far more popular then KJW and their number 1 money bringer, she will always be prioritized over KJW as they are in the same age range, have similar images and therefore compete for the same roles.
SM has given Go Ara and Lee Yeonhee good projects despite the acting criticism they receive.
Yeah Salt is a useless agency. Because apart from PSH, all their other actors are stuck in second lead roles. Even the promising Kim Seon-ho recently was cast in Nam Joohyuk’s and Suzy’s drama as the second lead.
KJW probably has to rely on herself to get good roles. Because Salt is useless at negotiating if not PSH wouldn’t be fucked over by Moa’s script.
The only possible reasoning is that her previous agency demanded a larger share of her income, so she went to a smaller agency. I hope she would be more hardworking and take a movie or drama before Arthdal S2 starts filming in September.
And @royalw, PSH probably used to be on the same “laziness” level as KJW but recently she is hardworking. Two movies and then one drama to start filming in April. In between these she even took on a dcoumentary.
I actually want to see another season..I think world building wise, they did great….first sesson suffered from pacing issues, character development issues…second season vastly improved on that…I don’t think it was as big of a failure as people are saying here…in fact it was a moderate success….Netflix also probably has pitched in here…people are screaming as if their favorite shows money is being given to this…that is absurd…Netflix has a wider reach than domestic…Sing Joong ki is still hella popular with a fanbase that will stream this even if Korean ratings don’t deliver which is possible due to first two being an average success so it can’t hurt those involved. Financially speaking it won’t hurt but it will take time away from them that can be utilized definitely on better shows for all actors involved. Kim Ji Won’s issue is her agency…they should have pushed her harder post Fight My Way. Song Joong Ki also could be doing better shows. Anywst
Without taking budget into consideration it was a show with average ratings. With a budget like that it should have broken all records to be considered successful. To make matters worse, it was panned by knetz, it was even chosen as the worst drama of the year and was compared to Uhm Bok Dong. It was an object of mockery. If you read knet comments then you’ll see exactly how disliked it is. And it seems like JDG and Erika are returning which signals to audiences that the creators don’t care at all about their opinions and propriety. And tbh almost quite a few SJK fans don’t want him to return to this. I know almost all of KJW’s old fans don’t want this either.
Point isn’t what they want as opposed to what they will consume provided their favorite star is in it…in that respect this series may still be delivering profit….what has tvn got to loose here…..nothing if somebody else is willing to bankroll this…I would rather see both in something else but if they give me another season, I will likely tune in to see where they take the story. I still want to see how Saya, Tanya and Eunsom ruin Arthdal.
Im happy that they’ll make the 2nd season and i cant hardly wait for this season. Please be better. Team arthdal fighting!!!!
count me in. AC #1 for me
Omg
I’m so happy. I love this show.
But I not like the new director.
Please KJW don’t waste your time on this. I don’t know anyone who wants or needs this. I don’t know why they’re wasting money because there’s hardly any interest or anticipation, in fact knetz might boycott it because of all the scandals, the story is very confusing as it is, and a gap of 2 years between seasons won’t help matters either. Anyway if KJW does choose this without taking many other projects in the meanwhile then I’m afraid it would sound the death knell of her once very promising career
i mean there’s no buzz or high demand for this, the first season flopped, its too bad the actors are bound by contract bc this is just a waste of time for them when they could be working on more lucrative projects.
Thats because Netflix signed a deal for a recurring series and probably cant get out of it. If it was already budgeted, no bug deal to them anywayd. The cast will return simply due to their big fat paychecks. We should be hearing about Vagabond announcing season 2 soon. Same situation. Glad Kim Wonho PD pulled out. This is a blemish to his track record and he probably does not wanna be attached to the stinker further despite the money dangled. Yes – some DO prioritise passion over money.
*Kim Won Seok
Why can’t Netflix cancel it? They’ve canceled many shows after a single season e.g. Tuca and Bertie. But it was Kim Wonseok’s fault, he could’ve done a better job directing the show.
@Aliza Because they made money off this. You lot vastly underestimate Song Joong ki’s popularity overseas. So they had enough streaming to greenlight this.
The PD didn’t sign for more than one season but I guess the actors did.
I’m surprised they want to do it, in the second half of the year? How they will film it in Winter? They have a lot scenes outside, they will freeze…
Honestly, I think a lot of people already forget this drama and move on.
I don’t know if this is just the production company saying the actors will return or whether the actors themselves confirmed their participation, or tvN confirmed this.
Even Signal/Secret Forest 2 took longer to get off the ground and those were successful dramas!
Netflix contract…they are stuck unless they cancell.
And here I am still waiting for Scarlet Heart Ryeo season 2…
This drama is a mess from the cast, costumes, lighting, pace, editing, script and directing. Not sure if the new PD can make magic. But certainly the old cast does not interest me unless new characters are created. KJW career won’t improve unless she exits this mess and make wiser drama/movie choices. Salt is not helping just look at PSH stale career.
Why bother! I likes the beginning story line but then it started lagging, became slow and didnt make sense etc anyways I’m sooo not watching this and I regret watching S1. Omg I wasted my life lol
It is so frustrating to read all the negative comments…
Please, respect the silent majority. A lot of AC fans were waiting for the second season, actually when season 1 ended, it was the cry of the fans to have season 2. The production and investors know better than any of us,expectators. They won’t invest if they know they won’t have a better profit this time… This will be a come back that the AC 1 will be elated. i hope and pray for the success of this drama…
You are welcomed to comment. Positive or Negative. Why are you so frustrated? This is an OPEN FORUM. I think you are the one not respecting those with negative comments! Chill.
Wow. I know I’m waaay late to comment. I honestly had no idea there was so much negativity about this Kdrama. I’m in US, and I had friends that don’t watch Kdramas watch AC on Netflix and really enjoy it. They were actually shocked when I told them MOST Kdramas are fluffy romances that refuse to tell deeper stories… AC actually is telling a deeper story about slavery and a brutal/awful society that systematically killed off an entire race. It also shows how people in that society are often have contradictions to their moral code, and are sometimes forced to break their moral code. Eunseom rise from the mud (literally) to become the hero because he refuses to not treat everyone equally.
AC tells a story of humanity. And what it truly means to be human. Currently the person with the most humanity isn’t even completely “human.” I love that. I love the deeper themes and ideas in AC —honestly I didn’t pay attention to the pacing because the story and all the characters were so unique and gripping that I just wanted to see more. I’ve already rewatched the first season 3 times. So… if your here for fluffy romance and “non-murky” (whatever that meant… muddy?) Kdrama —than no, AC is not for you. I on the other hand an thrilled that SJK and KJW are returning for the second season. This is personally the best SJK acting (other than Battleship Island) that I’ve seen out of him. To play two fully realized characters to the point that I would forget that he was both Saya and Eunseom is amazing.