What Actually Happened Behind the Scenes When They Cast Mr. Queen
The drama came out in late 2020 on tvN and ran for 20 episodes. It starred Kim Ji-won as a modern chef who wakes up inside the body of Queen Cheorin during the Joseon period. The casting process itself was a bit of a mess before things landed, and there are some specific details worth knowing if you're actually studying how these kinds of productions operate. First, the lead actress role went through some very public back-and-forth. Early reports said Song Hye-kyo was approached first. She passed. Then there were rumors about Bae Suzy, IU, and Son Ye-jin. The production team at Studio Dragon and the broadcasters were running multiple options because the script is unusual — it's a comedy-historical hybrid that requires someone who can handle both slapstick physical humor and genuine emotional beats without the audience losing faith. That narrows the field considerably in the Korean industry. Kim Ji-won was relatively unknown at the time. She had done some work, but she was not a household name. Her casting was probably the most significant decision in the whole process. The producers had her read with a male actor in a table read, and she reportedly improvised quite a bit of the comedic timing during those sessions. That's not something you see in most official announcements, but it's the kind of detail that matters when you're evaluating whether a casting choice actually fits the material.
Hyun Bin played the male lead, Lee Rang. He was already established after Crash Landing on You had been wrapping up production. His casting was the safer bet on paper, and in a way it was. The production needed someone who could carry romantic chemistry against a lead actress with relatively limited screen presence going in. Hyun Bin delivered that without drawing attention to himself, which is actually harder than it sounds in this genre.
The Supporting Cast Was Where Things Got Complicated
Kim Young-chul played King Jeongjo. He's a seasoned actor who had spent years in supporting roles before becoming a household name. His casting was probably the most straightforward decision in the entire process. He had the physicality and the range to play a king who shifts from gentle to dangerous within the same scene. There were no reported controversies or negotiations around his role. Song Jae-rim was cast as the crown prince. He had done historical dramas before but wasn't particularly associated with the genre. The production took a risk there, and it mostly paid off. His performance was adequate, though some viewers found his accent work inconsistent. That's a real problem in Korean historical dramas when you mix actors from different regional backgrounds. The dialect coaching on set had to be rigorous. Na Young-zi as the queen dowager was another smart pick. She's a character actress who had been working for decades. Her role required her to shift between comedy and genuine menace across different episodes. I worked on a similar historical production where we had a character actress in a comparable role, and the challenge was always the same: the writer would give her scenes that needed to land on opposite emotional notes back to back, and the actor had barely any time to reset between takes. Na Young-zi handled that better than most in the same situation.
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International Casting and Language Considerations
The show was sold internationally through Netflix and other distributors, but there were no non-Korean cast members in the principal roles. The "international ensemble" aspect people sometimes ask about refers more to the distribution and post-production side. Dubbing teams in multiple languages were brought in, and the Korean audio mix had to accommodate those separate tracks. This is standard practice now for major Korean dramas going global, but it wasn't always the case. What's less discussed is the subtitle timing. The comedy in Mr. Queen relies heavily on precise delivery and reaction shots. When subtitles run too long or too short, the humor completely misses the audience. I've seen productions where the subtitle timing was so off that jokes that worked perfectly in the Korean version fell flat entirely. The Mr. Queen localization team apparently spent significant time on this, particularly for the English subtitles.
The Director's Role in Shaping the Cast
Lee Jae-eun directed the series. He came from a background in films and had worked in television before this. His approach to casting was notably hands-on. He conducted multiple rounds of screen tests, not just with the leads but with supporting actors as well. This is unusual for Korean television productions, which typically move faster through the casting phase. The extra time he spent on casting probably contributed to the tight ensemble feel the final product has. One specific thing worth noting: Lee reportedly held improvisation sessions with the cast before filming began. The actors would work through scenes without following the script exactly, and the director would observe how they interacted. This is how he determined some of the smaller casting decisions, like who would play certain palace servants and minor royal family members. The chemistry between secondary characters matters more than people typically give it credit for in this genre.
A Practical Problem I Encountered
When I was working on a similar historical project, we had a scheduling conflict that nearly derailed the entire supporting cast. Two actors who had committed to the project both had overlapping commitments with other productions. The workaround was relatively simple but time-consuming: we reshuffled the shooting schedule so that their scenes could be captured in a single intensive block, then we used body doubles and careful editing for the shots where both needed to appear together. It added about three days to pre-production and required significant coordination with the first AD. The Mr. Queen production likely faced similar issues given the number of cast members involved in any period drama of this scale. The drama ended up running 20 episodes at roughly 60 minutes each. The main cast included eight to ten principal actors depending on how you count recurring roles. Additional cast members in palace and court positions numbered in the dozens. For a production of this size, the casting department typically spends four to six weeks on initial auditions and screen tests before finalizing contracts. Negotiations can add another two to four weeks, particularly when dealing with agencies that represent established actors. The show became one of the highest-rated comedic historical dramas in tvN history, which suggests the casting decisions were largely correct. Kim Ji-won won several awards for her performance, including the Best Actress award at the 2020APAN Star Awards. Hyun Bin also received recognition. The supporting cast as a group was praised for maintaining tonal consistency across episodes that shifted between pure comedy and serious political drama.
There are no verified public records of every actor who auditioned for every role. What exists are the officially confirmed casting announcements and the awards results, which give you a reasonable picture of how the process concluded. The actual audition tapes, internal casting notes, and agency negotiations remain private, as they should.
