Well, there’s certainly going to be plenty of drama up in this drama. SBS has announced a new show in the works, titled An Empress’s Dignity, and Sung Yuri (Monster) has been offered a role in the upcoming drama. I haven’t watched a drama that Sung Yuri has starred in for about 10 years, but I have a lot of leftover goodwill from her 2000s shows, like Hong Gil-dong and Snow Queen, so I’m happy to hear she’s considering a potential drama comeback.
I’d be interested to see if this show lives up to its narrative potential, because this plot sounds fascinating: An Empress’s Dignity reimagines modern South Korea as a constitutional monarchy, though the monarch’s position must not be a very secure one, because a royal scandal puts the continued existence of the throne at risk. The story follows a musical actress who marries into the royal family and gets swept up in a struggle with the powers that be. This conflict results in the murder of the empress dowager, which threatens to topple the monarchy. Though the former actress finds herself surrounded by enemies in the palace, she’ll learn to find true love and happiness even in the midst of all this conflict.
When I heard that Sung Yuri was considering a role in the show, I thought she had been offered the musical actress-turned empress lead character, but reports say her potential character would be that of the talented and beautiful legal representative of the royal family. That should make for an interesting role, regardless, since it sounds like the monarchy will be the subject of intense scrutiny from law enforcement, politicians, and the public alike.
I have to say, my eyebrows shot straight up when I saw who the screenwriter was: Weekender hitmaker Kim Soon-ok, whose credits include My Daughter Geum Sa-wol and Jang Bo-ri Is Here, will be penning the script. Both were popular series spanning 50-plus episodes; she seems to know how to keep an audience’s attention over long periods of time, so I’m looking forward to how she fares with a trendier concept like An Empress’s Dignity. In the director’s chair is PD Joo Dong-min, whom I’m a little less excited about, given the troubled production of his last show, Return. But I thought the directing in that show was pretty decent, so I’m hopeful the upcoming SBS show is in good hands.
An Empress’s Dignity will air in SBS’s Wednesday-Thursday slot, and is slated to premiere sometime in November.