‘Kingdom’ Season 3: Renewal Status, What to Expect & Netflix Release Date
Another bloody good season of Kingdom, fans will be even more ravenous to see the Korean horror series return for a third season. We’re still waiting for Netflix to confirm a third season is happening, but that won’t stop us speculating on what we can expect from Kingdom season 3.
Kingdom is a Netflix Original South Korean horror series written by Kim Eun-hee. The series is based on the book Land of the Gods, which was also written by Kim Eun-hee. First arriving in 2019, the horror series has since become one of the most popular non-English titles available to stream on Netflix.
Has Kingdom been renewed for season 3?
Official Netflix Renewal Status: Pending (Last Updated: 13/03/2020)
At the time of writing it is still far too early for Netflix to announce the renewal of Kingdom.
Regardless, we are 99.9% confident that the series will be renewed for a third season. We’ve had some idea for a long time now that the series would be renewed, and that epic finale all but confirmed it.
What to expect from season 3 of Kingdom
Below we’ll be discussing what we can expect to see from the third season of Kingdom.
*Spoilers for Kingdom season 2*
Outbreak in the North
After 7 years and three months since Prince Chang faked his death, we learned from Young-Shin in a reunion with Cho Beom-Pal that his royal highness had been investigating the resurrection plant, hunting it all over Korea. We learned that the resurrection plant had been growing in regions all over Korea, and a mysterious seller from the Chinese/Korean border had been selling it to the common folk.
Taking Prince Chang, Seobi and his guard north, they discovered an abandoned village. Upon investigating, they soon discovered that the village had become infected. The ringing of bells around the ankles of the villagers indicated, even more, were on the way.
With only three trained fighters among them, from what we saw, it’s highly likely that Prince Chang may need to retreat from the north. Without the relevant number of soldiers to take down zombies, there could be another outbreak in the north.
More undead on the way…
Who is the plant seller?
Tracking the mysterious seller north, it was finally revealed the person trying to spread the plague was a woman. Her motives are unclear at this point, but as one of the peasants revealed he had purchased the resurrection plant from the border between China and Korea, she could be working for the Ming Dynasty.
The intention could be to annihilate the population of Korea, then allow Chinese forces to conquer with ease.
Alternatively, she may just want to watch the world burn.
Who is she!?
The new undead prince?
Despite removing the worms from the young Prince as a baby, of at least one had remained in his system, laying dormant until his brain had developed enough for it to take over.
For now, all we know is that the worm carrying the infection has spread to the Prince’s brain. Taking into consideration it has been lying dormant for seven years, it may impact the young royal differently to other victims.
Personally, it would be too easy for infection to claim the prince, turning him into a mindless monster and spreading the plague within the palace walls. It’s likely we’ll see a new form of contamination, one that may corrupt his mind until eventually turning him into a smarter and even deadlier zombie.
Will a cure ever be found?
Seobi had spent the better part of seven years trying to discover a cure for the undead plague. Other than the discovery that submerging a victim in water destroys the worms, very little progress had been made.
In her research, Seobi was able to round up all that we knew about the virus;
- The worms are affected by weather, favoring colder temperatures over warmth, but are highly volatile when exposed to extreme heat.
- The undead lay dormant during the months of Spring and Summer
- In Autumn and Winter, the undead are only active during the night when temperatures drop
- After the Winter solstice until the first day of Spring the dead remain active day and night.
- Submerging the victims in water before infection takes hold will destroy the worms inside of the body
Sadly, Seobi had been mistaken about newborns immunity, as the worms laid dormant within the prince even after submerging his wounds.
Seobi’s research has been left in the hands of Cho Beom-Pal, in case of another outbreak, which may arrive sooner than anyone would have hoped for.
Casting news for Kingdom Season 3
We said goodbye to plenty of cast members in the second season, many sadly falling victim to the undead plague.
One cast member we’ll definitely be seeing more of for the third season will be Jun Ji Hyun. While that may name be unfamiliar for some, the South Korean actress was seen in the dying seconds of Kingdom season 2, revealing her to be the culprit spreading the resurrection flower around Korea.
It was revealed late 2019 that Jun Ji Hyun had been cast, but her role was a fiercely guarded secret. We can now understand why, because her being cast all but confirms a third season of Kingdom.
Cast members, we’re expecting to see returning for season 3 are:
| Role | Actor/Actress | Where have I seen/heard them before? |
|---|---|---|
| Crown Prince Chang | Ju Ji-Hoon | Asure: The City of Madness | Antique | The Spy Gone North |
| Seo-Bi | Bae Doo-Na | Sense8 | Cloud Atlas | The Host |
| Young-Shin | Kim Sung-Kyu | The Outlaws | Tunnel | The Accidental Detective |
| Jo Beom-Pal | Jun Suk-Ho | Strong Woman Do Bong-Soon | Intruders | Lucid Dream |
| Moo Young’s Wife | Ahn Eun Jin | Hospital Playlist | Stranger From Hell | The Crowned Clown |
We’ll ensure to catch you up on all the latest news and information for the third season of Kingdom.
When can we expect filming to begin for the third season of Kingdom?
While we would rather avoid talking about the subject, Covid-19 is the elephant in the room. The global pandemic has shut down all manner of businesses, sporting events, theatrical releases, and even the postponement of filming for Netflix Originals.
Grace and Frankie have halted production for season 7, and Russian Doll had been scheduled to begin filming for the second season at the end of March but has since been postponed.
Russian Doll season 2 was scheduled to start filming at the end of the month in New York.
That’s now been postponed due to Coronavirus. https://t.co/aeYTp9wezL pic.twitter.com/IjfYa6hx4J
— What’s on Netflix (@whatonnetflix) March 12, 2020
We’re not sure when AStory would have scheduled filming for Kingdom season 3, all we know is whatever plans they had in mind will be greatly impacted as they think about the safety of all those involved with the series.
When can we expect to see Kingdom season 3 on Netflix?
As we’ve speculated above, Covid-19 could greatly impact the production of the third season, which means we could see the series delayed by of least a few months.
If we’re lucky we’ll see Kingdom season 3 by the summer of 2021. Sadly, at this rate, it’s looking like we may not see Kingdom return until late 2021, or early 2022.
How many episodes will season 3 feature?
We’ve always known that Kingdom had been pushed from eight episodes to twelve, but plans for a third season may not have been considered if it wasn’t for the overwhelming popularity.
Now that we’re in uncharted territory, we could see more episodes for the third season of Kingdom. We’d certainly like to see more, but Netflix can be strict with the number of episodes it orders for new seasons.
Regardless, if we’re receiving of least six new episodes than that’s more than good enough for us.
Would you like to see a third season of Kingdom? Do you have any theories you’d love to share? let us know in the comments below!
Courtesy of: whats-on-netflix.com
