First Stills from K-drama Adaptation of Remarried Empress Hits the Visuals Out of the Park for the Four Leads Shin Mina, Joo Ji Hoon, Lee Jong Seok, and Lee Se Young
Hoo boy do these four K-stars look phenomenal in character for the upcoming K-drama version of webtoon Remarried Empress. Even if it’s a hot mess adaptation (and honesty the webtoon was also a hot mess to begin with) at least the visuals will be glorious and spot on. Shin Mina does regal and classy Navier beautifully and Joo Ji Hoon as her asshole but smexy hot Emperor husband Sovieshu brings back all his Goong day feels but even more good looking now twenty years older. Love interest and playful Prince Heinrey is brought to live with all the boyish charm by Lee Jong Seok, and I’m both excited (cuz she will be awesome) and sad (because I don’t want to hate her) to see Lee Se Young dig into her early day green tea bitch antagonist role as scheming slave turned mistress Rashta. The drama will air on Disney+ probably early to mid next year 2026. Of the four leads, the most vibes I’m getting from the stills is Joo Ji Hoon doing an alterna-world version of Lee Shin all grown up and deciding to cheat on and toss Chae Kyung aside for some teen witch.
Lee Jong Suk has negative sex appeal.
Result of getting too many cosmetic procedures. JJH looks manly in comparison. The female leads are both looking gorgeous.
I will definitely check this one out.
Someone on social media said he looks like Jang Do Yeon and now I can’t unsee the resemblance!
Indeed. I couldn’t finish even 1 of his dramas.
Yeah, I think he probably could’ve been really good-looking had it not been for the botched nose job (the pinched nose is giving early 2010s super fake-looking nose job lol).
Tho to be fair, I don’t think the character needs any sex appeal. From what I’ve read it’s the second male lead who’s supposed to be the sexy one? Didn’t read the source material tho, so I could be wrong lol
I can’t even look at his face. His fake nose bugs me like anything and he can’t even act. Can’t understand why he is in the top 10 hallyu actors list, but then again, that’s more for popularity than acting skills.
Koala’s final wild imagination would break many fangirls’ daydreams of one of the most beloved fairy tales in the Kdrama history. LOL. Goong was one of those classics that turned me into a Kdrama fan.
TBH, I’ve never been able to warm up to Shin Mina, either visually or acting-wise. But I’ll check this out for the other three in the main cast who are all very good actors.
The recently released Kdramas are fun to watch. This gives me some hopes for any upcoming productions even though the first half of 2025 was a huge disappointment. Plot is the soul of a drama. I had wasted time checking out many soulless stories even I was drawn to the leading actors first. Such a shame! Although I don’t appreciate Shin Mina that much, I hope all the rest, writing and directing in particular, will make it up for me.
Goong was THE first kdrama I’ve ever watched, binged, and got me hook, line, and sinkered into this realm! And Joo Ji Hoon being all smexy bad boy all over again is right up my alleeeeeyyyy.
Not a fan of the novel but I’m sure not gonna miss this drama and the antagonists are Lee Seyoung and Joo JiHoon.
JJH and SMA are already radiating chemistry from the still cuts and it’s not even them in the same shot. LJS giving boyish charms at 36 is surprising the man really doesn’t age. Glad the drama kept the original European setting.
You should watch JJH and SMA in The Devil, they were only in their early 20s but the chemistry was off the charts. Same with the movie The Naked Kitchen.
That pic of LJS is so unappealing. Looks like someone run it through Rimini because even his tooth looks funky. There’s something weird about actors and actresses in their 30s and 40s looking like they are going to a Beauty and the Beast themed costume party.
They all look great, but especially Lee Se Young, she looks like a Disney princess! 😍 I’m not ready to hate her either, and her looking like this doesn’t help lol.
Haven’t read the webtoon so I don’t have any expectations. Probably will be very dramatic and over the top, but honestly, I’m just hoping that this will at least be a fun watch lol
Lee Se Young looks great, I might end up rooting for her!
It’s all Sovieshu’s fault lol
All my interest in this drama died after seeing that LJS still.
I have to admit I just don’t get Shin Mina’s appeal. Gorgeous, but I just can’t make myself watch her shows. I am a fan of LJS from Pinnochio days but these stills are just no good.
So basically I would watch this for JJH bec he is my GOONG bias and I am still waiting for him and EYH to have a reunion.
I don’t either. Like she’s attractive obviously, but there’s just nothing about her that makes me go out of my way to watch her dramas. The only times I’ve watched her dramas were when she’s co-starring opposite actors I like. Nothing against her tho, she seems like a nice, lowkey, unproblematic person. Just don’t find her exciting as an actress or anything. Same with Lee Jong Suk. So for me, I’m going to watch this for the second leads lol
This drama could be a cringefest or something that opens doors to other faux-european-themed webtoons to get live-actions. I wish they would have re-set this in faux-Korean-historical times though.
And I really hope that is just a bad still of LJS. He looks so short and weak. Everyone else looks gorgeous.
@prettyautumn I’m not hating the thought of other Europe-themed ‘historical’ kdramas!
LJS is over 6 feet tall and most of it leg so I’m laughing at the idea he could look ‘short’ but yeah he does look oddly boyish for his age and it’s very webtoonish
On second thoughts I should add – I just remembered this drama is going to be on Disney+ (and as an exclusive?)
RIP any chances of succeeding, especially if it isn’t airing on another channel in Korea. Disney+ don’t believe in promoting their exclusive kdramas or even making them available to many of the biggest markets for kdramas….. or even putting new dramas on the landing homepage of the platform like Netflix does. This is more likely to end up like Tempest than Moving (which would have done Squid Game level numbers on netflix or any other streamer)
The costumes look a bit tacky and very much like a cheap cosplay by middle-aged people who are well past the time of cosplay (well, perhaps with the exception of LSY). The whole idea of using Korean faces for a Western setting and story without any substantial change sounds weird. I do hope that all this big money thrown in will not be wasted. Both the male leads’ costumes look over-the-top and a bit laughable, though JJH does look smexy.
They look very Disney ish ironically 😆
All I can say is that Crown Prince Yi Sin has definitely aged well!
So much plastic screaming at me from the screen.
I find myself less and less capable of watching shows with actors like that.
I enjoyed Goong many years ago…but the spin off did not interest me. I wonder about this…