Netflix’s Korean Original Series Kingdom is going to be a genre-bender for the record books. Set during the Joseon era, the show will mix zombie-style elements with traditional production design and historical elements. Dubbed as a “zombie mystery-thriller” by its director Kim Seong-hun (Tunnel), the undead in this series will be plague victims. When you can start diving into the show will depend on what country you’re watching from. Here’s what time Kingdom will drop on Netflix this Friday, January 25. Release Times in the U.S. (January 25) 12:01 a.m. Pacific 1:01 a.m. Mountain 2:01 a.m. Central 3:01 a.m. Eastern 10:01 p.m. Honolulu (January 24) 11:01 p.m. Alaska (January 24) Release Times Outside of the U.S. (January 25) 5:01 p.m. Queensland 6:01 p.m. Eastern Daylight AU 5:31 p.m. South Australia 4:31 p.m. Northern Territory 3:01 p.m. Western Australia 8:01 p.m. New Zealand 7:01 a.m. GMT 9:01 a.m. Central European Time 4:01 p.m. Japan/South Korea 2:01 p.m. Indochina Time 11:01 a.m. Gulf Standard Time 3:01 p.m. China/Philippines/Malaysia 10:01 a.m. Eastern Europe Summer Time Despite its plaguing premise, Kingdom should appeal to fans of the zombie genre, but Seong-hun is definitely cognizant of the details this niche fandom pays attention to. “Whether these plague victims ran or moved slowly—which is a trait that could be very important to zombie fanatics—is really only so important in terms of narrative significance. For example, I really thought about how, if they ran, whether such a dynamic athleticism could be utilized to crank up the horror factor,” Kim told The Hollywood Reporter. What is Kingdom About? The show takes place in 15th century Korea as an ambitious minister vies to take over the throne. He keeps the ailing king alive with a mysterious medicine that simultaneously turns him into an undead monster that happens to feed on human flesh. Meanwhile, the crown prince Chang (Ju Ji-hoon) tries to figure it all out, but it’s a self-serving mission—he wants to avoid a death sentence and maintain his position as heir. What Are Critics Saying About Kingdom? So far, critical takes are extremely positive. “Unlike your typical Korean drama that tends to play it safe for the local censors, Kingdom is brutal with its decapitations and violence. Heads fly whenever a noble is offended, scholars are tortured with burning irons and zombie wounds are scary real. I was squirming in my seat, but I couldn’t take my eyes away from the wonderful cinematography,” wrote CNET’s Aloysius Low. Netflix series Kingdom is another slick zombie thriller from Asia https://t.co/uIyV76pcZz pic.twitter.com/2aymnVVPsS — CNET (@CNET) January 23, 2019 Screenrant’s Tony Schaab tweeted: “Just finished watching the first episode of #Kingdom in advance of its release on Friday, courtesy of @Netflix. #SpoilerFree review coming tomorrow but suffice it to say: this 6-episode #AltHistory #zombie #horror series from Korea should be on the #MustWatch list for genre fans.” Just finished watching the first episode of #Kingdom in advance of its release on Friday, courtesy of @Netflix. #SpoilerFree review coming tomorrow but suffice it to say: this 6-episode #AltHistory #zombie #horror series from Korea should be on the #MustWatch list for genre fans. pic.twitter.com/ZukFhn6l3t — Tony Schaab (@tonyschaab) January 23, 2019 Who Else is in the Cast? Kingdom will sport a six-episode first season and will star an actress already in the Netflix family: Sense8’s Bae Doona. Along with Doona and Ji-Hoon, Ryu Seung-Ryong, Kim Sangho, Heo Joon-Ho, and Jeon Seok-Ho will also appear. Netflix seems to have some serious confidence in its latest series; they’ve already renewed the big-budget series for a second season. Production for future episodes begins next month, says Collider. Check out the trailer for Kingdom below. Kingdom | Official Trailer [HD] | NetflixIn a kingdom defeated by corruption and famine, a mysterious plague spreads to turn the infected into monsters. The crown prince, framed for treason and desperate to save his people, sets out on a journey to unveil what evil lurks in the dark. Kingdom coming to Netflix worldwide January 25. Watch Kingdom on Netflix: netflix.com/in/title/80180171… 2018-12-18T00:00:01.000Z<doc-sep>Every time we see a zombie show or movie, it takes place during modern times. But what if the idea of an apocalyptic zombie virus isn’t new? The new South Korean drama Kingdom examines this, with an added layer of family drama mixed in. Read on for more… KINGDOM: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT? Opening Shot: An overhead shot of two people in white robes walking towards the king’s palace in Korea’s Joseon period. The Gist: The king has been ill with smallpox, and one of the robed men is a doctor who is there to treat him. We cut to notices that are up around the kingdom that the king is dead. The kingdom’s investigative unit wants to get to the bottom of this, and they round up dozens of scholars who are fomenting treason against the king. In the meantime, the king’s son, Crown Prince Lee Chang (Ju Ji-hoon) wants to get into the king’s palace to see his father. But the king’s young pregnant queen, won’t let him. She’s suspicious of his motives, knowing that he’s the next in line to rule, at least until she finds out the gender of her child. He manages to sneak into the king’s palace to see his dad, but ends up seeing the shadow of a growling monster that had the stench of rotting flesh and blood. The king, is nowhere to be seen, and the kingdom’s chief investigator is looking to pin the treason movement on him. He is determined to find out what happened to his father, so the Crown Prince and his personal bodyguard set out to find the doctor that last visited the king. The doctor lives in a village called Dongnae, where most of the residents have been starving and dying, despite the efforts of nurses like Seo-bi (Bae Doona). When the doctor comes back from the kingdom, he brings the body of his young assistant, who has strange wounds as if he was attacked. The Crown Prince needs to press on to Dongnae, because he admits that he actually did foment the treasonous movement; he’s the king’s son, but from the king’s dalliance with a concubine. If the queen’s baby is male, Chang will be killed and the “legitimate” heir will be made king. But what awaits him in Dongnae is something he likely never anticipated. Our Take: Netflix has invested a lot in Korean dramas, and this isn’t the first of them that explores the Joseon region of the country — Mr. Sunshine took place there in the late 19th century. But Kingdom, based on the web comic The Kingdom of the Gods, takes place in the medieval Joseon period, and the details of that period are remarkable. But, while the first episode of the series starts off as a drama about families, loyalty and treason, it ends as something completely different. Let’s just say it: It’s a zombie show. When one of the people in the village tries to feed the starving residents by making a stew of the body the doctor returned with, the entire village eagerly eats it up, then promptly dies. But, as we soon find out, they go from dead to undead and climb over each other to eat the live flesh of an uninfected nurse. This isn’t a spoiler; every review talks about Kingdom being a zombie show. But what’s intriguing is that the zombie virus is joined with the Crown Prince’s desire to stay alive, despite being an outcast from his own kingdom and knowing that his stepmother is after him in order to install her own child on the throne. So the show is working at two levels, and it’s pretty damn effective. Who will get the Crown Prince first, the zombies or the kingdom? And what will he do when he finds out the truth? It’s all very well done, and the first episode teases out the big reveal quite well, though it’s not a huge surprise when it actually is revealed. Sex and Skin: Besides the rotting and tearing skin of the zombies, nothing. Seo-bi hears chaos going on outside the house where she confronts the guy who cooked up the human victim. An extreme close-up shows the eye of one of the new zombies. Sleeper Star: Kim Sang-ho as the prince’s personal guard, Mu-yeong, is the comic relief that breaks some of the tension on the show. He’s whiny, he steals from the royal dinner table, and he has no desire to push on to Dongnae when the Prince wants to go. Most Pilot-y Line: Not sure why, when the prince tries to get into his father’s castle after the queen turned him away, and is blocked by her servants, it’s raining all of a sudden. We guess it’s symbolic of the coming storm, but it felt very sudden. Our Call: STREAM IT. Kingdom dares to show that zombies aren’t just a 20th and 21st-century phenomenon, and we applaud that kind of creative storytelling. Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, VanityFair.com, Playboy.com, Fast Company’s Co.Create and elsewhere. Stream Kingdom on Netflix<doc-sep>
I don't like zombie flicks. But Netflix's new show Kingdom, a six-episode saga set in 15th-century Korea, had me hooked from the get-go. Streaming globally Friday, Jan. 25, Kingdom is a wonderfully shot and scripted take on the zombie genre, one that feels like a period drama -- just with undead monsters as a bonus. The brilliance of the show is no surprise: the talents behind Kingdom include ace Korean director Kim Seong-hun of hit 2016 film Tunnel, and Kim Eun-hee, who wrote 2016's police procedural Signal, one of South Korea's highest-rated dramas. Kim said she'd been working on the idea since 2011, but couldn't get it to air on Korean TV platforms because of the violence. Then Netflix came knocking, and the rest is TV history. The premise of Kingdom is simple. In the beautiful Joseon period of 15th-century Korea, an ambitious minister wants to take over the throne. He keeps the ailing king alive with a mysterious medicine that also seems to have turned him into an undead monster ... that feeds on human flesh. Juhan Noh/Netflix Meanwhile, our hero the crown prince, played by Ju Ji-hoon, tries to get to the bottom of the matter, but he isn't doing it out of the goodness of his heart. Failure would mean he's sentenced to death. Plus, he's losing his position as heir thanks to the machinations of the evil minister. Via some believable shenanigans, the zombie plague spreads, and our prince goes to another city that's infected and tries to figure out how to fix the whole mess. By the second episode, I was ready to binge the whole season, despite my initial impulse to pass on it since I'm not a fan of either period or zombie genres. Throughout the first season, our hero saw substantial character growth, but the villain's motivations were shallow and one-dimensional at best. Sense8's Doona Bae plays Seo-bi, a nurse who doesn't get enough to do, which feels like a waste of her talents. Unlike your typical Korean drama that tends to play it safe for the local censors, Kingdom is brutal with its decapitations and violence. Heads fly whenever a noble is offended, scholars are tortured with burning irons, and zombie wounds are scary real. I was squirming in my seat, but I couldn't take my eyes away from the wonderful cinematography. Juhan Noh/Netflix Shots cleverly linger on certain scenes to draw out the impressive sets, while adeptly tracking the action during sword fights or zombie attacks. The scenery is also breathtaking, from the beautiful royal-palace gardens to the vast plains of Korea, while the realistic hovels of civilians add a visceral feel of poverty that contrasts from the glamor of the palace. Care is also taken to slowly emphasize certain pivotal moments, sometimes with shots lingering carefully on the details of the show's expensive and elaborate costumes, drawing out what would otherwise be a mundane plot device into yet another wow moment. The scares build slowly, but the drawn-out scenes add to the suspense -- even if you see what's coming in the end. The show's creators have pointed out that hunger is the theme of kingdom, and this shows, from the flesh-craving appetite of the undead zombies, the hunger for power in both the villain and the hero, and the desire to do good in a world gone mad. There are twists aplenty, but they are terribly predictable thanks to plenty of foreshadowing. It doesn't leave much sense of satisfaction, which is the only complaint I have, aside from the fact that six episodes don't quite tie up the story, leaving you hungry for the upcoming season. What we know about the Disney+ streaming service: It's getting ready to rival Netflix. Netpicks: What's on your favorite video streaming sites around the web.