‘Kingdom: Ashin of North’ to hit Netflix on July 23

Netflix is releasing the much-anticipated side-sequel Kingdom: Ashin of the North – a special Kingdom episode that further explores mysterious characters and their backstories – on July 23.

Set in the Joseon dynasty, this spin-off will tackle the origins of the resurrection plant, which caused the epidemic that ravaged the South Korean kingdom and turned people into flesh-eating dead creatures.

Gianna Jun, who appeared in the last scene of season two, will be playing adult Ashin, while newcomer Kim Sia (The House of Us, Miss Baek) will portray Ashin as a child. Park Byung-eun is reprising his role as Min Chi-rok.

The spin-off episode is directed by original Kingdom showrunner Kim Seong-hun and written by season one and two’s writer Kim Eun-hee. It is based on the hit Korean period drama Kingdom, which tells the gruesome, apocalyptic tale of the zombie-stricken Joseon kingdom suffering from famine, poverty, political wars, and grave corruption.

Kingdom remains to be one of the biggest Netflix originals in South Korea. Its second season was renewed even before the first one was aired.  The first season premiered in January 2019 with the second debuting over a year later in March 2020.

The show’s creators disclosed the upcoming episode during an online event in February. – with reports from Paolo Alejandrino/Rappler.com

Paolo Alejandrino is a Rappler intern.