사진 확대 ‘21segi Daegunbuin’. Photo | MBC
Actors Noh Sang-hyun and Gong Seung-yeon are set to transform with elegance in the new series ‘21segi Daegunbuin’.
In MBC’s new Friday-Saturday drama ‘21segi Daegunbuin’ (written by Yoo Ji-won, directed by Park Joon-hwa and Bae Hee-young), which will premiere in April 2026, Noh Sang-hyun and Gong Seung-yeon will play Prime Minister Min Jung-woo and Queen Dowager Yoon I-rang, respectively. Their characters will inject a unique tension into this romance about defying social status and seizing one’s destiny.
In the drama, Min Jung-woo is the eldest son of the prestigious Min family, a political dynasty where both his grandfather and father served as prime minister, and he has now followed in their footsteps. On top of his elite background, he has good looks, a sharp mind, and a gentle personality, making him the number one “man women want to marry” and the focus of attention and admiration from women across Korea.
He maintains a flawless public image and rarely reveals his true feelings, but he is completely honest with Grand Prince Lee An (played by Byun Woo-seok), with whom he has built deep friendship and trust since their school days. After Grand Prince Lee An decides to marry his junior from school, Sung Hee-joo (played by IU), Min Jung-woo’s heart begins to waver as well. Viewers are left wondering what kind of variable Min Jung-woo will become in the pair’s contract marriage.
While Min Jung-woo underpins the political establishment, Queen Dowager Yoon I-rang is the main pillar of the royal family. Born into the Yoon clan, which has produced four queens, Yoon I-rang grew up learning to hide her emotions and live like a flower. She has willingly accepted her fate to become the highest-ranking woman in the country and a part of history, and has presented the image of a perfect queen.
However, when her young son suddenly ascends the throne and she becomes queen dowager, Yoon I-rang’s life slowly shifts onto a different track. In particular, the presence of Grand Prince Lee An, who enjoys overwhelming public support, causes her anxiety to grow day by day. Attention is focused on whether Yoon I-rang will be able to protect the fate of both her son and herself amid this precarious reality.
The newly released stills capture the graceful aura of Min Jung-woo and Yoon I-rang standing at the center of the political world and the royal household. Min Jung-woo exudes the presence befitting a prime minister leading a nation, with a gentle smile that radiates authority, while Yoon I-rang reveals the dignity of the royal family’s senior matriarch with her poised and refined appearance.
Accordingly, expectations are rising for Noh Sang-hyun and Gong Seung-yeon, who will portray Min Jung-woo and Yoon I-rang as they struggle to protect their respective destinies. Having left a strong impression on viewers through their work across both film and television, the two actors are drawing interest for the new sides they will reveal through their characters in ‘21segi Daegunbuin’.
Set in a 21st-century Republic of Korea under a constitutional monarchy, ‘21segi Daegunbuin’ tells the story of a chaebol heiress who has everything but is annoyed by her commoner status, and a king’s son who is royal by blood yet cannot have anything. It is a romance about breaking down social status and carving out one’s own destiny, and it will premiere this coming April.
[Reporter Kim So-yeon, Star Today]
This article has been translated by GripLabs Mingo AI.