KBS 2TV’s upcoming epic historical drama “Munmu” has unveiled character posters for its four leading men, raising the curtain on a large-scale war saga less than three weeks before its premiere. The posters, released on October 27, feature Lee Hyun-wook, Jang Hyuk, Kim Kang-woo, and Park Sung-woong standing at the center of a battlefield, each carrying the fate of a kingdom on his shoulders.
The drama is set to premiere on November 14 at 9:20 p.m. KST. According to Sports Kyunghyang, which first reported the poster release, “Munmu” follows leaders who stake everything on a single victory amid 600 years of warfare and upheaval among the Three Kingdoms. The series is led by executive producer Lee Ho, with a script by Kim Ri-heon and Hong Jin-i, and is produced by KeyEast and Monster Union.
Each character poster pairs a portrait with a tagline that sums up the figure’s creed. Lee Hyun-wook plays Kim Beop-min, the ruler of Silla, shown with a bloodied face and his sword raised high. His cold stare, fixed on the enemy, conveys a monarch determined to protect a people whose lives are under threat and a nation thrown into chaos, along with his resolve to open a new era of peace. His tagline reads, “I will protect it, the guardian who protects Silla.”
Jang Hyuk plays Yeon Gaesomun, the man holding Goguryeo’s fate in his hands. Dressed in ornate armor and carrying himself with relaxed confidence, he fixes his opponent with a piercing gaze. His tagline is a boast befitting an iron-fisted ruler at the front line of battle: “To reach Goguryeo, you must surpass me; no one can surpass me.”
Kim Kang-woo plays Kim Chun-chu, captured with tears in his eyes as he confronts the grim reality of war. A man who has walked the path of countless negotiations and hard choices in a time of national crisis, Kim Chun-chu finds even his hardened resolve shaken by the bloodshed before him. His tagline states his dream plainly: “The dream I, Kim Chun-chu, pursue is the unification of the Three Han.”
Park Sung-woong plays Kim Yu-sin, shown in full battle armor with a weary face and windblown robes that bear the marks of hard fighting. His tagline is the bluntest of the four: “Peace will come only when we kill the enemy or die ourselves.” The line underlines a loyalty that puts the survival of Silla above his own life.
The production team said the posters were designed to reveal the real faces of the heroes behind the history. “Through the posters, we wanted to show the true faces of heroes who press forward with their own convictions amid turbulent times,” the team said, adding that viewers should look forward to discovering what awaits these figures at the end of the paths they are willing to risk their lives to follow. The team also praised the four actors for expressing the weight of their characters’ stories through their eyes and expressions alone.
The character posters arrive two weeks after the drama’s main poster, which was released on October 13 and introduced the same four figures bearing the fate of the nation. That earlier poster carried the phrase “the last war for one nation, written in blood” for Kim Beop-min, who is identified in coverage as King Munmu, the 30th monarch of Silla. The new posters sharpen the central standoff the series is built on: three Silla leaders determined to save a wavering kingdom, set against the Goguryeo strongman who stands in their way.
The setup gives “Munmu” its dramatic engine. Rather than a single hero’s story, the drama tracks four leaders whose different beliefs and goals collide in an unavoidable clash, with unification as the prize and survival as the price. The posters’ emphasis on faces over battle spectacle signals that the series intends its political and personal conflicts to carry as much weight as its war sequences.
“Munmu” premieres November 14 at 9:20 p.m. KST on KBS 2TV.
