In the 2000s, the zombie trend was huge in the United States. It seemed like every franchise, every brand, was trying to cash in on the popularity of the genre. After a while, however, a lack of innovation led the genre to become stale, and the explosion of zombie films faded away. Not true for other countries, though. The zombie film genre has taken off in South Korea in the last six years, starting with the success of Train to Busan (2016) and continuing with films like #Alive (2020) and the Netflix series All of Us Are Dead (2022). These films/shows create a sense of originality by limiting the action to one small location during an outbreak — a train, an apartment complex, and a school, respectively — and seeing how its characters can survive in that location. But the most innovative, creative, and refreshing of all South Korean zombie productions is the Netflix series Kingdom.

Kingdom mixes historical fiction, political thriller, and zombie horror into a brilliant and utterly unique concoction. It is produced by the television studio AStory, which has also made the highly acclaimed true crime drama Signal (2016) and the ongoing legal drama Extraordinary Attorney Woo (2022), which is currently Netflix’s #1 non-English language series in the world. Kingdom premiered on the streaming service in 2019, and its second season was released in March of 2020, right as the COVID-19 pandemic was hitting the United States and lockdowns were going into effect around the world (which added a strange new layer to the zombie drama).

Now, it has been over two years since the release of season two, and the series has still not been renewed for another season — although a prequel film, Ashin of the North, was released in the summer of 2021 to tide fans over. By delaying the release of a new season of the show, Netflix and AStory are missing out on a tremendous opportunity.

Kingdom is the Most Original Zombie Production in Years

Bloody zombie samurais in Kingdom
Netflix

Kingdom is the most original zombie production in many years, if not decades. Its biggest innovation is to place the zombie outbreak in a fictional version of Korea’s 17th century. This unique historical setting completely changes how zombie apocalypse stories normally work. In this era, for example, battles were fought with swords, spears, or bows, although a small number of muskets were available on the peninsula as well. In other words, most characters who try to fight zombies must do so from terrifyingly close-up.

However, one of the most unique aspects of the show is how slowly the zombie outbreak progresses. In most zombie films, the outbreak occurs at a breakneck pace, and the entire world could be overrun in a matter of days. The rapidity and abruptness of the typical outbreak are perhaps best captured by The Walking Dead, in which police officer Rick wakes up from a coma to find that the entire world is overrun by zombies. Things go from 0 to 100 in a matter of seconds.

In Kingdom’s medieval-inspired setting, however, everything moves slower. Travel in this period took place on foot or, if one was somewhat wealthy, on horseback — meaning a trip between cities could take weeks or even months. Likewise, the zombie outbreak in Kingdom starts in a low-population rural area and proceeds at a glacial pace. We watch as one village is overrun, then perhaps another one days or weeks later, and eventually another. The fact that major cities at this time were surrounded by stone walls also considerably slows down the pace of the zombies.

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What this allows the series to do is introduce a refreshing variety of other dramatic elements. Even as news of the zombie outbreak in a few distant rural villages reaches the Korean royal court, political infighting leaves it woefully unprepared to handle the crisis. Furthermore, some clans hope to use the chaos to their advantage, letting it shake up the power structure and using the national emergency as an excuse to take drastic action while the zombies shamble their way from village to village. This kind of large-scale drama and deliberative government response, which includes the question of what will be done with the nation’s army, is something that has almost never been seen before in zombie shows or films.

Kingdom Could Explode Like Squid Game Did

kingdom cho hak-ju staring into camera
Netflix

Kingdom has received nearly universal critical praise, sitting nicely at a 96% on RottenTomatoes as of writing, with a critical consensus that calls it “an enthralling blend of blood, terror, and political intrigue.” After the release of the second season, The New York Times even ranked it as one of “The Best International Shows of 2020.” Although Netflix doesn’t release viewership data, they have said the show was highly successful for the platform.

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There is no better time than the present to release season three of Kingdom. Every year, South Korean media gets more and more popular worldwide, especially in the arena of music and television. Given the unprecedented mainstream success of Squid Game in the United States (which tends to be very insular) and throughout the world, it’s the perfect time for a new season of Kingdom. In fact, the longer they wait, the more the memory of Squid Game fades, and the more Netflix and AStory risk missing out. People who don’t normally watch international series have been primed to do so and have a positive association with South Korea because of Squid Game. And Kingdom is the perfect successor.

South Korea is a giant in the international television landscape, but not all shows would appeal to a mainstream audience in the United States and elsewhere. The popular Crash Landing on You, for example, carries too many artistic markers that would classify it as something like a soap opera. Even the recent Café Minamdang, which is certainly not a soap opera, still relies on over-the-top scenarios and exaggerated artistic effects, which for a mainstream U.S. audience might relegate it to the category of low-brow entertainment. This is not to say, of course, that these shows deserve such judgment or that they are inferior to any other shows. But the United States has specific requirements for what can qualify as so-called serious entertainment (most of which have to do with gender associations).

One of the reasons Squid Game blew up in the United States is that it almost entirely avoided such exaggerated effects — and as a result, was not categorized as low-brow entertainment and was treated as serious art that made a political statement about society. Likewise, Kingdom avoids over-the-top scenarios, silly special effects, or exaggerated comedy and crafts only a serious and dark atmosphere, in addition to a scathing critique of medieval Korean society. For this reason, and because it resides squarely in a genre familiar to international audiences, Kingdom could be the successor to Squid Game. If Netflix and AStory released the third season now, it would have a solid chance to go mainstream in international markets. Unfortunately, there’s no word on when a third season could come. Netflix still has not officially renewed the series, although reportedly, another feature film is in production.