The clown gets a lesson on how to be a mad king

0 March 14, 2019July 1, 2021

by DB Staff

Haha I’m glad they’re going for a lighter vibe with this teaser. The Man Who Became King is a little over two weeks away from its premiere, and tvN has released its latest teaser, featuring Yeo Jin-gu (Reunited Worlds) as the imposter king getting schooled on his royal demeanor. I love it when dramas throw in some unexpected comedy, so I hope the tone of the actual show follows that of its teasers thus far.

Yeo Jin-gu will be pulling double duty in this drama as both King Gwanghae and his doppelganger clown, who is hired to temporarily impersonate the king due to an assassination threat. In the teaser, Kim Sang-kyung (Jang Young-shil) and Jang Gwang‘s (About Time) government official and eunuch characters try to get the imposter king to convincingly play his doppelganger counterpart. They get frustrated as his “How dare you?” comes out alternately too light and lacking energy, which hilariously leads to the eunuch – after some impressive eye-contact-telepathy – to whack the clown-king upside the head to get a rise out of him.

I’m loving the visual comedy in this teaser too, with Kim Sang-kyung as a government official sitting on the throne while Yeo Jin-gu, in his kingly robes, kneels at the bottom of the stairs. I just love the irreverent tone to the whole thing, especially when the eunuch addresses Yeo Jin-gu with all the respect given to a king right after his head-thwack.

I remember really enjoying Masquerade back in 2012, which is the film this drama is adapted from, so I look forward to seeing what this latest reimagining of the oft-portrayed King Gwanghae will give us.

The Man Who Became King will take over tvN’s Monday-Tuesday slot in the new year from currently airing Mama Fairy and the Woodcutter beginning January 7.