Lee Jong-suk returns as a fairy-tale prince in The Remarried Empress

02The story and how to watch

The Remarried Empress is based on a web novel by Alphatart that also became a Naver webtoon. Shin Min-a plays Navier, the Empress of the Eastern Empire. Emperor Sovieshu, played by Ju Ji-hoon, ends their marriage to marry Rashta, a runaway slave played by Lee Se-young. Navier does not simply accept it: she asks to remarry, and the man she chooses is Prince Heinrey.

The series has ten episodes. The first four arrive on Disney+ on November 4, then two more every Wednesday until the finale on November 25. In the United States, it streams on Hulu. Its main trailer passed 13 million views worldwide in its first 48 hours.

03From model to Best New Actor

Lee Jong-suk was born in 1989 and started out as a model, walking the Seoul Collection runway at fifteen. His breakout came with School 2013, which won him Best New Actor at the KBS Drama Awards.

In 2013 he starred in I Can Hear Your Voice on SBS, his first drama with Jo Soo-won. He played Park Soo-ha, a high school student who can hear other people's thoughts. That year he also won an Excellence Award at the Korea Drama Awards.

04The same director, a year later

A year later, Jo Soo-won directed him again in Pinocchio on SBS. He played Choi Dal-po, a young man who decides to become a television reporter. In 2014 he also became the youngest winner of Best Actor at the Grimae Awards. The same year he played Park Hoon, a gifted surgeon raised in North Korea, in Doctor Stranger.

05Webtoon worlds, then a darker turn

In 2016 came W on MBC, a drama built around a webtoon. He played Kang Chul, the hero of a popular webtoon, and Han Hyo-joo played a doctor who is pulled into his world. W won him the Grand Prize, the Daesang, at the 2016 MBC Drama Awards. Ten years later, The Remarried Empress takes him into a webtoon world once again.

In 2017 he played Jung Jae-chan, a prosecutor, opposite Bae Suzy in While You Were Sleeping on SBS. In 2019 came the tvN romance Romance Is a Bonus Book, with Lee Na-young.

On March 8, 2019, he began his mandatory military service, and he was discharged on January 2, 2021. His first drama after that was Big Mouth on MBC in 2022, with Im Yoon-ah. He played Park Chang-ho, a lawyer suspected of being a notorious con man known as Big Mouth. Outside Korea, Big Mouth streamed on Disney+. It brought him his second Daesang at the MBC Drama Awards, six years after W. After the romantic heroes of his twenties, it was a much darker part.

In 2025 he returned to tvN with Law and the City, a 12-episode drama about five associate lawyers. He played Ahn Joo-hyung, a skilled associate with nine years at his firm and no interest in becoming a partner. From an ordinary office lawyer, his next step is a prince from a fairy tale.

06Why a fairy-tale prince

At a Busan screening on October 9, Lee Jong-suk talked about why he chose the role. He said he thought it would be a gift for his fans, and he wondered if he would ever get another chance to play a prince. Heinrey's bird, Queen, was made with computer graphics, so he said he could not picture it during filming.

Director Jo Soo-won said he showed a side of himself he had never shown anywhere before. According to Ilgan Sports, Heinrey is open about his feelings for Navier but cold and composed with Emperor Sovieshu.

So why a fairy-tale prince? Because it is a part he said may never come again, and it brings him back to the director of I Can Hear Your Voice and Pinocchio. The Remarried Empress starts on Disney+ on November 4, with new episodes every Wednesday. Which Lee Jong-suk role is your favourite: Pinocchio, W, or Big Mouth?

You can find his full profile on the Lee Jong-suk page.