The highly-acclaimed South Korean historical drama The King’s Affection is currently one of the most popular dramas on Netflix worldwide. It also ended with a national viewership average of 12.1% when it aired in Korea on KBS.
It should be no surprise then that The King’s Affection was also successful at the International Emmy Awards in New York last night, beating out Brazil’s Nos Tempos Do Imperador, Spain’s Two Lives, and China’s You Are My Hero in the Best Telenovela category.
No wonder really as the sweeping historical drama features gorgeous cinematography, stunning costumes, superb performances by all the cast, and a plot that has an interesting take on gender roles.
The King’s Affection stars Park Eun Bin (Extraordinary Attorney Woo), Rowoon (Tomorrow), Nam Yoon Su (Beyond Evil), Choi Byung Chan (Live On), Bae Yoon Kyung (Undercover), and Jung Chae Yeon (My First First Love), and aired on Korean TV late last year, before streaming on Netflix soon after.
The K-drama has also won awards at the Korean Broadcasting Awards for Best Actor/Actress (Park Eun Bin), as well as a Best Writer award for Han Hee Jung at the Seoul International Drama Awards.
And that was my only complaint about the International Emmy Awards last night — Park Eun Bin should have been nominated (and won) for her role(s) as Crown Prince Lee Hwi/Dam-yi/Yeon-seon in The King’s Affection.
She is honestly that good.
The International Emmy Awards event itself was hosted by Penn & Teller’s Penn Jillette, with work from 23 countries and 60 nominees nominated for awards in 15 categories.
Korean actor Lee Sun Kyun was also nominated in the Best Performance by an Actor category for his work in Dr. Brain, but lost out to the UK’s Dougray Scott for his role in Irvine Welsh’s Crime.
Watch The King’s Affection on Netflix now.