As mixed reactions pour in over the buzzed-about Disney+ series ‘The Remarried Empress,’ images of Lee Jun-hyuk, who plays Lee Jong-suk’s older brother and the emperor of the Western Kingdom in the drama, were revealed for the first time.
Recently, photos taken on set of Lee Jun-hyuk, expected to appear in The Remarried Empress, were posted on online communities and social media.
The released photos show Lee Jong-suk and Lee Jun-hyuk dressed in outfits suited to their characters, sharing a light conversation. In the drama, Lee Jong-suk plays Prince Hainri of the Western Kingdom, and Lee Jun-hyuk plays Hainri’s older brother, the late king Warton III. Lee Jun-hyuk makes a special appearance in The Remarried Empress and appears as the husband of Kang Hanna, who plays the Western Kingdom’s empress, Krista.
Internet users who saw the post praised it with comments such as “The emperor outfit looks fine,” “The costume is pretty,” “I’m relieved it’s better than I worried,” “Everything looks good because Lee Jun-hyuk is handsome,” and “The actor’s pale complexion matches the costume well.”
Since The Remarried Empress premiered last week, viewers have repeatedly criticized the scale of the Eastern Empire and the costumes and props of the main and supporting cast as sloppy and crude. Despite hundreds of millions of won in production costs to adapt a globally popular romantic fantasy, the art direction—arguably the area that required the most care—disappointed. That led to comparisons to MBC’s reenactment series ‘Surprise’ and comments that the sets undermine immersion.
On the 9th, with episode 5 due this week, The Remarried Empress released “royal pictorial stills,” and an absurd allegation arose that the necklace worn by Lee Seyoung, who plays Rasta, was a 2,000-won necklace bought from the Chinese shopping site Temu. Viewers noted that a necklace mixing black stones and gold looked identical to products sold on the ultra-cheap Chinese e-commerce platform Temu.
An identical-looking necklace to the one Lee Seyoung wore was being sold on Temu for about 2,100 won, and because the designs were so similar some people asked, “Is this really a Temu prop?”
That was not true. The Remarried Empress quickly told OSEN that “the prop was purchased from a vintage shop in Europe and has no connection to Temu products.”
Meanwhile, The Remarried Empress will release episodes 5 and 6 worldwide on Disney+ today (the 11th) in the afternoon.
[Photos] Online communities, SNS, Disney+
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