Global streaming giant, Netflix is to give a second season to its period mystery action series “Kingdom” from Korea. The first season does not go to air until January 2019.
The second season greenlight was announced by CEO Reed Hastings on Thursday at a strategy and content presentation in Singapore. “It is really rare that we greenlight a second season of a show before the first has been seen,” said Hastings.
It had previously been rumored that the first season of “Kingdom” was both late and over-budget. But Netflix appears to have a high degree of confidence in the show, unveiling an extended clip from the first season at the Singapore conference, setting a 20 minute panel discussion with cast and crew, and screening the first two episodes on a big screen for invited guests.
“Kingdom” is set some 600 years ago in Chosun Dynasty-era Korea. It sees an outbreak of a plague which turns people into something akin to zombies. The show was helmed by ace director Kim Seong-hun (“The Tunnel”) and conceived by female writer Kim Eun-hee.
“There is lots of blood and heads being chopped off, more than I would have got away with on network television,” said Kim, who revealed that she had been trying to get the show made since 2011. “I was very happy with the level of creative freedom we got by making it for Netflix instead.” Among the show’s stars are Ryu Seung-yong and Ju Ji-hun.