Actor Lee Kyu-han (Wealthy Son, Rude Miss Young-ae) has been added to the line-up of tvN’s upcoming drama, The Man Who Became King. He will be joining Yeo Jin-gu (Reunited Worlds, Circle) and Lee Se-young (Hwayugi, The Best Hit).
A remake of the acclaimed film Masquerade (or, Gwanghae, The Man Who Became King), it’s a prince and pauper story, except in this case, the pauper is also a clown. The king (Yeo Jin-gu) faces numerous threats to his life and seems to be surrounded by enemies in the palace. In an attempt to protect himself and root out his enemies, the king secretly places someone else on the throne — a clown who just so happens to be the king’s doppelganger.
Despite his extensive career, this will actually be Lee Kyu-han’s first role in a sageuk.
Lee’s character is Joo Ho-geol, an illegitimate son born to a slave mother and aristocrat father. He’s disinterested in human affections, and lives only for numbers. Although his name is renowned as a peerless mathematician – he’s the fastest in calculating figures in all of Joseon – he is restricted by his illegitimate social status and instead lives in the wilderness. However, he eventually becomes a teacher of mathematics and achieves a measure of legitimacy.
As the central story revolves around the king, I think it’s safe to guess that Lee Kyu-han’s character, through his knowledge of mathematics, will become situated in the palace or somehow involved with the intrigue surrounding the throne. The character actually reminds me of real-life historical figure, Jang Young-shil, who came from a similar background and later worked under King Sejong as one of Joseon’s leading scientists and scholars of his time.
Either way, I’m pretty excited! Lee Kyu-han has always been solid, though there is the challenge of adapting to the sageuk speech and mannerisms. However, he really impressed me a couple years back in Scene Stealers which was an underrated variety show in which actors and comedians performed improv sketches (netizens voted on which was best). It sadly ended after 8 episodes but he showed lot of range.
The Man Who Became King will be premiering in the new year, airing Mondays and Tuesdays on tvN starting January 7, 2019.