The first episode of the most awaited project starring Lee Min Ho, The King: Eternal Monarch opened to a massive opening yesterday (April 17). Also starring Kim Go Eun, the SBS drama crossed the 10 percent mark in its opening episode. According to AGB Neilsen, the drama opened to 10.1 percent rating nationwide and 11.4 percent rating in Seoul.
The King: Eternal Monarch is a fantasy drama of two parallel universes- One based in Korea's constitutional monarchy and the other set in modern-day Korea. Lee Min Ho plays the title role of Emperor Lee Gon and Kim Go Eun plays detective Jung Tae Eul in the modern-day. Another major role is played by Woo Do Hwan who impresses with dual role as Jo Young, chief imperial bodyguard and Emperor Lee Gon's best friend, and Jo Eun Seob, a public service worker at the National Police Agency's civil service office (in modern Korea).
SBS drama crossed the 10% mark in its opening episode
The King: Eternal Monarch is a story of a Korean emperor Lee Gon who aims at closing the doors to a parallel world that was opened by a demon. The main plot also deals with detective Jung Tae-eul who strives to protect the people and the one she loves from any harm. The drama is written by Kim Eun Sook and directed by Baek Sang Hoon.
With the massive ratings, the drama has also become one of SBS's highly rated Friday-Saturday drama on its premiere so far. Other SBS dramas to open to a high rating are "The Fiery Priest" (10.4 percent), "Vagabond" (10.4 percent), and "Hyena" (10.3 percent).
Meanwhile, across channels, JTBC's "The World of the Married," that opened to 6.260 recently aired its seventh episode and has got 18.501 percent viewership nationwide and 21.406 percent viewership in Seoul. Channel A's "Eccentric! Chef Moon" recorded 0.8 percent ratings. Meanwhile, KBS2's Welcome drama that is also known as "Meaw the Secret Boy" also got 0.8 percent ratings, making it the lowest-rated series.
However, The King: Eternal Monarch is Lee Min Ho's re-entry into Korean dramas as his last series was Legend of the Blue Sea opposite Jun Ji Hyun that was released in 2016. This is why Lee Min Ho fans were waiting for the release of The King: Eternal Monarch and have commented that it was worth the wait.
