Netflix’s Kingdom opens on a king who is not quite dead and a crown prince who is not quite allowed to grieve. That is the whole engine of the show in one image, and it never stops running.
Trailer, via Netflix.
A Throne That Cannot Be Vacated
Kingdom is a zombie thriller set in Korea’s medieval Joseon dynasty, a kingdom the show tells us has been defeated by corruption and famine. Word gets around that the king is dead. So does a strange plague, one that renders the infected immune to death and hungry for flesh. Crown Prince Chang, played by Ju Ji-hoon, has fallen victim to a conspiracy. He sets out on a journey to unveil the evil scheme and save his people.
That is the setup, and it is enough. The show was created by Kim Eun-hee and Kim Seong-hun for Netflix. It ran for two seasons and 12 episodes, first airing January 25, 2019, and last airing March 13, 2020. Its genres are listed as Drama and Mystery, which is technically true and almost funny in how little it covers.
Ju Ji-hoon Plays a Man With a Title and No Power
Ju Ji-hoon carries the show as Crown Prince Chang. He is the right age for the part and the right kind of tired. Chang is a man who has been trained to rule and then told, in effect, to wait. The conspiracy that drives him is not abstract. It is the rumor of his father’s death and the question of who benefits from the king staying officially alive.
Ryu Seung-ryong plays Cho Hak-ju, the power behind the throne and the show’s most useful villain. Bae Doona plays Seo-bi, a physician who becomes the show’s second set of eyes on the plague. Kim Sang-ho plays Moo-yeong, Kim Sung-kyu plays Yeong-sin, Jun Seok-ho plays Cho Beom-pal, and Kim Hye-jun plays Queen Cho. Park Byung-eun plays Min Chi-rok, Kim Tae-hun plays Lee Kang-yoon, Huh Joon-ho plays Ahn Hyeon, Ahn Eun-jin plays Moo Young’s wife, and Moon Dong-hyeok plays Yu Saeng.
That is a large cast for 12 episodes, and Kingdom uses almost all of it. The show does not waste a face. Even characters who exist mainly to die get a moment that makes the death land.
The Infected Do Not Stay Down
The plague in Kingdom is not a metaphor the show belabors, but it is not nothing either. The infected are immune to death. They are hungry for flesh. They do not stay down. That is a familiar rule set, and the show knows it is familiar.
What Kingdom does with the rule is the interesting part. The plague is not just a monster problem. It is a political problem. It is a logistics problem. It is a problem of who gets fed and who gets quarantined and who gets to decide. The crown prince’s journey is a journey through a kingdom that is already failing before the dead start walking.
The show’s first season is six episodes. The second season is six episodes. That is a tight run, and the pacing reflects it. There is very little filler. There is very little of the middle-season sprawl that kills shows like this. Kingdom knows what it is doing and does it.
The Joseon Court Is the Real Subject
A zombie show lives or dies on its setting, and Kingdom’s setting is the best thing about it. Korea’s medieval Joseon dynasty is not a backdrop here. It is the reason the show works.
The court politics, the hierarchy, the way a rumor moves through a palace faster than a plague moves through a village — that is the show’s real subject. The zombies are the pressure that exposes it. When the king is officially alive but actually something else, the entire kingdom has to pretend. That pretense is what the plague eats.
The show looks right, too. The hats, the gates, the robes, the way a torch lights a courtyard. Kingdom is a period piece that happens to have zombies in it, not a zombie show that happens to be set in the past. That distinction matters, and the show gets it right.
In this zombie thriller set in Korea’s medieval Joseon dynasty which has been defeated by corruption and famine, a mysterious rumor of the king’s death spreads, as does a strange plague that renders the infected immune to death and hungry for flesh.
Six Episodes, Then Six More
Season one is the setup. It establishes Chang, the conspiracy, the plague, and the journey. It ends on a cliffhanger that is genuinely earned, which is rare. Season two is the payoff. It pays off the political thread and the plague thread at the same time, which is harder than it sounds.
The show’s 12 episodes are not evenly split in quality. The first season is the tighter of the two. The second season has more to resolve and slightly less room to do it. But the second season also has the better set pieces, and it lands its ending in a way that feels like a conclusion rather than a stall.
Kingdom does not overstay. Two seasons, 12 episodes, and out. In an era where shows run until they are canceled, that restraint is worth naming.
Where the Show Falls Short
Kingdom holds a 9.4 out of 10, with a 94% score on Rotten Tomatoes. That is a high mark, and it is deserved. The show is not perfect. The second season’s middle drags in places. Some of the supporting cast get less to do than the first season promises. But the show’s floor is high and its ceiling is very high.
The comparison that matters is not to other zombie shows. It is to other period political dramas. Kingdom does what those shows do — the scheming, the hierarchy, the slow rot of a court — and then adds a plague that makes the rot literal. That is a clean idea, executed cleanly.
The show’s biggest asset is Ju Ji-hoon. He plays Chang as a man who is competent and trapped, which is the hardest kind of protagonist to write. He is not a chosen one. He is a man with a title and no power, trying to save people who do not know they need saving. That is a better engine than most shows get.
Why the 9.4 Holds Up
A 9.4 is a statement. It says this is one of the best things the format has produced in its window, and Kingdom earns that. The show’s craft is high across the board. The writing is disciplined. The cast is deep. The setting is doing real work rather than decorating.
What holds it just short of a perfect mark is the second season’s uneven middle and the sense that a few characters — Seo-bi in particular — could carry more of the story than they are given. Bae Doona is excellent and underused. That is a real cost.
But the show’s best moments are as good as anything in the genre. The reveal of what the king has become. The first time the dead do not stay down. The court scenes where everyone knows and no one says. Kingdom is a show that understands that horror works best when the politics are already horrifying.
Kingdom: 9.4 of 10.
The Numbers
- Title: Kingdom
- Created by: Kim Eun-hee, Kim Seong-hun
- Network: Netflix
- Seasons: 2
- Episodes: 12
- First aired: January 25, 2019
- Last aired: March 13, 2020
- Genres: Drama, Mystery
- Score: 9.4/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: 94%
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