Korea’s first ancient historic drama is an epic staging in more ways than one.
Korean fantasy drama Arthdal Chronicles tells the epic story of the birth of a civilization in the ancient city of Arthdal, where brave heroes battle for power, and tribal communities struggle to co-exist. Descendants of the Sun actor Song Joong-ki stars as Eunseom, a mixed-race tribe leader who’s up against the dangerous warrior Tagon (played by Jang Dong-gun), who leads his own tribe. At the same time, another tribe head, Kim Ji-won‘s character Tanya, has to protect her own tribe from the beautiful power-hungry Taealha, portrayed by Kim Ok-vin.
The series premiered on Netflix recently, but prior to the worldwide launch, Netflix hosted a press conference on 28 May in Seoul with Arthdal Chronicles lead actors and actresses, and screenwriters.
Arthdal Chronicles/Netflix
From what they revealed, we picked up a few reasons why this epic drama series could be your next binge-watch obsession.
This mega project combines the best in the Korean entertainment industry
Director Kim Won-seok (who won the Baeksang Arts Award for Best New Television Director for Sungkyunkwan Scandal) teams up with Korea’s best historical drama writers, Kim Young-hyun and Park Sang-yeon (Six Flying Dragons, Deep Rooted Tree and Queen Seon-deok), and top Korean stars like Song Joong-ki, Jang Dong-gun, Kim Ji-won, and Kim Ok-vin in this epic fantasy drama.
Arthdal Chronicles goes way back in time as the first pre-historic Korean drama
“The fact that there has never been a Korean drama about ancient times, and that the only association people can make with ancient times are from the Greek or Roman myths of the West became the core part of the concept for the series,” the series’ writers revealed. “We thought that [Arthdal Chronicles] would be a meaningful project by presenting legends about ancient heroes who look like us.” The project first started a few years back. Everything had to be built from scratch and were based on concepts taken both from their imagination as well as historical fact. Needless to say, an excessive amount of research and time were put into the making of this project. “We not only studied the Dangun Myth, in addition to other myths and legends of Korea and ancient civilizations, but we also reviewed various studies and books on the primitive societies of native people in certain parts of the world. Even though ancient civilizations—the native people in America or New Zealand, and African tribes—had very different appearances and were geographically far from each other, they all had in common the process of building and forming civilizations and cultures,” Young-hyun and Sang-yeon added.
Arthdal Chronicles/Netflix
The film sets a new standard for historical drama in Korea
Nearly every Korean historical drama we’ve seen is set in the Joseon Dynasty era, from time-traveling tales to stories on fighting the undead. Arthdal Chronicles is different because it’s set in an older era, and tackles a new set of issues that require you to be even more open-minded. “Please watch till episode two and you will get the idea,” said the writers. The series reveals another level of production and a storyline that will hopefully open doors for young writers with wild imaginations.
Arthdal Chronicles goes deep in the unspoiled Korean forest.
The series is set in an ancient time where there was no advanced technology, therefore fertile land and untainted nature have to be present. In order to create a land that only exists in their imagination, the crew had to scout far and wide to find pristine nature-filled locations to film in. Arthdal Chronicles is pretty much a montage of some of Korea’s most magnificent landscapes.
Arthdal Chronicles is now streaming on Netflix.
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Arthdal Chronicles/Netflix
Arthdal Chronicles/Netflix