Amid mixed reactions to the highly anticipated Disney+ series Remarried Empress, the first look at actor Lee Jun-hyukβwho plays Lee Jong-suk’s older brother and the King of the Western Kingdomβhas been officially revealed.
Recently, photos capturing the on-set appearance of Lee Jun-hyuk for Remarried Empress were posted across various online communities and social media platforms.
The published photos show Lee Jong-suk and Lee Jun-hyuk having a casual conversation while wearing outfits suited to their respective characters. Lee Jong-suk plays Heinrey, the prince of the Western Kingdom, while Lee Jun-hyuk plays Heinrey’s older brother and the former king, Wherton III. Lee Jun-hyuk makes a special appearance in Remarried Empress, forming a couple with Han Na, who plays Empress Krista of the Western Kingdom.
The most striking aspect of the two-shot featuring Lee Jong-suk and Lee Jun-hyuk is their costumes. True to the imperial romance genre, the extravagant outfits immediately drew attention. Lee Jong-suk exuded a sophisticated royal vibe using gold embroidery, epaulets, and silver chains. Meanwhile, Lee Jun-hyuk opted for a bolder blue suit complemented by silver epaulets and overall shimmering decorations. Above all, opinions were divided over the cape-like mantle draped across his shoulders.
Netizens who encountered the post offered mixed reviews. While some praised the look with comments like "The emperor’s outfit looks decent," "The clothes are pretty," "I’m glad it’s better than I feared," "I like everything because Lee Jun-hyuk is just so handsome," and "His skin is fair so it goes well with the outfit," others did not hold back harsh criticisms.
Critics commented, "It looks genuinely tacky," "He looks ready to perform at a trot music festival," "The clothes are just too bad," "It has Lotte World parade vibes," "Why are the clothing colors like that?" and "I feel bad for the art team… they seriously lack a sense of style."
Ever since its release last week, Remarried Empress has faced relentless criticism regarding the lackluster and crude scale of the Eastern Empire, as well as the costumes and props of its main and supporting cast. Despite investing tens of billions of won in production costs to adapt the globally popular romance fantasy hit into a video series, critics argue that the most crucial elementβthe art directionβis disappointing. This has drawn unfavorable comparisons to the MBC reenactment drama ‘Surprise’ and broken viewer immersion.
Adding fuel to the fire, ahead of the release of episodes 5 and 6 this week, the production team of Remarried Empress previewed an ‘Imperial Pictorial Still’ on the 9th. This sparked a bizarre controversy over whether a necklace worn by Lee Se-young (playing Rashta) was a "2,000 won necklace bought from the Chinese shopping mall Temu." Viewers pointed out that the necklace, featuring a mix of black stones and gold, looked identical to a product sold on the ultra-low-cost Chinese e-commerce direct-purchase platform Temu.
Because the product looked precisely like the one worn by Lee Se-young and sold on Temu for around 2,100 Korean won, suspicions arose asking whether it was genuinely a prop sourced from Temu.
This, however, turned out to be false. The Remarried Empress team quickly clarified to OSEN, stating, "The prop in question was purchased at a vintage shop in Europe and has nothing to do with Temu products."
Meanwhile, episodes 5 and 6 of Remarried Empress are scheduled to be released globally today at 5 PM through Disney+.
