The Crowned Clown

The Crowned Clown^[1] (Korean: 왕이 된 남자) is a 2019 South Korean television series starring Yeo Jin-goo, Kim Sang-kyung, and Lee Se-young. A remake of the 2012 film Masquerade, the series centers on the tale of a Joseon King and his doppelganger, a clown whom he puts on the throne to escape the intense power struggles afflicting the royal court. It aired from January 7 to March 4, 2019, on tvN.^[2][3][4][5]

The Crowned Clown
Promotional poster
Hangul	왕이 된 남자
Hanja	王이 된 男子
Literal meaning	The Man Who Became King
Revised Romanization	Wang-i Doen Namja
Genre	Historical Romance Melodrama
Developed by	Studio Dragon
Written by	Kim Seon-deok Shin Ha-eun
Directed by	Kim Hee-won
Starring	Yeo Jin-goo Kim Sang-kyung Lee Se-young
Country of origin	South Korea
Original language	Korean
No. of episodes	16
Production
Executive producer	Kim Kyu-tae
Camera setup	Single-camera
Production company	GTist
Original release
Network	tvN
Release	January 7 (2019-01-07) – March 4, 2019 (2019-03-04)
Related
Masquerade (film)

Synopsis

The story takes place in mid-Joseon period, when upheavals and power struggles surrounding the throne had reached extremely devastating levels. In order to escape those who plan to assassinate him, the King puts a clown, who looks exactly like him, on the throne. As the clown settles into his role, the palace is upended as the King's enemies are confounded by the imposter's creativity and his ever-expanding circle of allies, who are glad to see the “King” finally become the ruler they have always wanted.^[6]

Cast

Main

• Yeo Jin-goo as Ha-seon, the clown / Yi Heon, the King^[7]
• Kim Sang-kyung as Yi Kyu (Haksan), the Chief Royal Secretary^[8]
• Lee Se-young as Yoo So-woon, the Queen^[9]

Supporting

People around Ha-seon

• Jang Gwang as Eunuch Jo^[10]
• Yoon Jong-suk as Jang Moo-young, a military officer^[11]
• Shin Soo-yeon as Dal-rae, Ha-seon's sister and fellow performer^[12]
• Yoon Kyung-ho as Kap-soo, Ha-seon and Dal-rae's elder performer^[13]

People around So-woon

• Oh Ha-nee as Ae-young, a maid^[14]
• Kim Soo-jin as Court Lady Park

People around Yi Heon

• Kwon Hae-hyo as Shin Chi-soo, the Left State Councillor^[10]
• Jang Young-nam as the Queen Dowager^[10]
• Lee Moo-saeng as Prince Jinpyung^[15]
• Min Ji-ah as Court Lady Kim
• Choi Kyu-jin as Shin Yi-kyeom, Shin Chi-soo's son and a member of the Office of Censors^[16]
• Seo Yoon-ah as Seon Hwa-dang, Shin Chi-soo's niece and Yi Heon's favourite concubine
• Lee Mi-eun as Court Lady Jang
• Park Si-eun as Choi Kye-hwan, a 15-year-old kitchen maid^[17]

People around Yi Kyu

• Jung Hye-young as Woon-sim, a courtesan^[10]
• Lee Yoon-gun as Yoo Ho-joon, So-woon's father
• Lee Kyu-han as Joo Ho-geol^[18]
• Choi Moo-in as Lee Han-jong
• Lee Chang-jik as Seo Jang-won
• Song Duk-ho as Woo Jeong-rim
• Jang Sung-won as Jung Saeng, a Buddhist monk

Special appearances

• Jang Hyuk as King Seonjo, Yi Heon's father (Episode 1)^[19]
• Yoon Park as Lord Kiseong (Episode 16)

Production

The first script reading took place on October 8, 2018, in Sangam-dong, Seoul, South Korea.^[20]

Original soundtrack

The Crowned Clown Original Soundtrack
Soundtrack album by Various artists
Released	2019
Genre	Soundtrack
Language	Korean English
Label	MUSIC&NEW, Music Buddy

Part 1

Released on January 14, 2019 (2019-01-14)

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"If I See You Again" (다시 볼 수 있다면)	Jung Young-ho	Jung Young-ho	Oh Yeon-joon	4:00
2.	"If I Can See You Again" (Inst.)		Jung Young-ho		4:00
Total length:					8:00

Part 2

Released on January 21, 2019 (2019-01-21)

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"That Day, We." (그날, 우리)	JPG	JPG	Baekho (NU'EST)	4:12
2.	"That Day, We." (Inst.)		JPG		4:12
3.	"Serenade I (Hasun's Theme)"				2:47
4.	"Serenade II (Soun's Theme)"				2:21
Total length:					13:32

Part 3

Released on January 28, 2019 (2019-01-28)

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"Tell Me" (말해줘요)	Kim Beom-joo, Kim Shi-hyuk, Park Se-joon	Kim Beom-joo, Kim Shi-hyuk, Park Se-joon	Eunha (GFriend)	4:32
2.	"Tell Me" (Inst.)		Kim Beom-joo, Kim Shi-hyuk, Park Se-joon		4:32
Total length:					9:04

Part 4

Released on February 4, 2019 (2019-02-04)

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"Five Seasons" (오계절)	VIP	VIP	HAEUN	4:16
2.	"Five Seasons (Soft Ver.)" (오계절 (Soft Ver.))	VIP	VIP	HAEUN	4:16
3.	"Five Seasons" (Inst.)		VIP		4:16
Total length:					12:48

Part 5

Released on February 11, 2019 (2019-02-11)

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"Always"	TAIBIAN	TAIBIAN, Bark	Seulgi (Red Velvet)	4:35
2.	"Always" (Inst.)		TAIBIAN, Bark		4:35
Total length:					9:10

Part 6

Released on February 19, 2019 (2019-02-19)

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"If I Could Be By Your Side" (니 곁이라면)	Shim Hyun-bo	Sung Si-kyung	Sung Si-kyung	4:30
2.	"If I Could Be By Your Side" (Inst.)		Sung Si-kyung		4:30
Total length:					9:00

Part 7

Released on February 25, 2019 (2019-02-25)

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"Light Saver" (위화(衛華))	Ahn Ye-eun	Ahn Ye-eun	Ahn Ye-eun	3:37
2.	"Light Saver" (Inst.)		Ahn Ye-eun		3:37
Total length:					7:14

Part 8

Released on February 26, 2019 (2019-02-26)

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Artist	Length
1.	"A Long Way From Now" (아주 먼 훗날)	SE O, Park Se-joon	SE O, Park Se-joon	SE O	3:12
2.	"A Long Way From Now" (Inst.)		SE O, Park Se-joon		3:12
Total length:					6:24

Disc 2:

No.	Title	Artist	Length
1.	"Man who became king" (Opening Title)	Various Artists	2:27
2.	"A Failure"	Various Artists	2:27
3.	"Before fall down"	Various Artists	2:57
4.	"Back to the dust"	Various Artists	4:15
5.	"Burning Sequence"	Various Artists	3:02
6.	"Change the world"	Various Artists	2:29
7.	"Communist Ideology"	Various Artists	2:07
8.	"Dark one"	Various Artists	2:21
9.	"End of Winter"	Various Artists	1:43
10.	"Evil Flower"	Various Artists	2:34
11.	"Firefly"	Various Artists	2:47
12.	"Frozen Tears"	Various Artists	2:25
13.	"Face off"	Various Artists	3:30
14.	"Green Teacher"	Various Artists	2:08
15.	"Gretchen"	Various Artists	3:30
16.	"Lose King's face"	Various Artists	1:49
17.	"My Reflection in the lake"	Various Artists	2:44
18.	"Red Eagle"	Various Artists	2:18
19.	"Ridicilous Trace"	Various Artists	2:20
20.	"Rewrite"	Various Artists	2:55
21.	"Search Block"	Various Artists	3:26
22.	"Silent Eyes"	Various Artists	2:46
23.	"Snow field"	Various Artists	2:33
24.	"Sleepy"	Various Artists	2:10
25.	"Song for a love"	Various Artists	2:51
26.	"Stalking"	Various Artists	2:55
27.	"Storm Beat"	Various Artists	1:55
28.	"The Coup"	Various Artists	2:51
29.	"The End of the road"	Various Artists	4:00
30.	"The Night before farewell"	Various Artists	3:15
31.	"The way of truth"	Various Artists	5:47
32.	"The Letter"	Various Artists	2:37
33.	"Time of Blood"	Various Artists	2:43
34.	"To be seen or not"	Various Artists	3:12
35.	"Turning point"	Various Artists	3:09
36.	"Who is real?"	Various Artists	3:41
37.	"Serenade III"	Various Artists	2:46
38.	"Storm Beat" (Ending Title)	Various Artists	1:08

Ratings

The Crowned Clown : South Korea viewers per episode (millions)

Season		Episode number																Average
		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16
	1	1.364	1.499	1.849	2.055	1.829	1.651	1.845	2.064	1.575	1.871	1.966	1.868	2.189	1.926	2.114	2.447	1.882

Source: Audience measurement performed nationwide by Nielsen Media Research.^[21]

Average TV viewership ratings

Ep.	Original broadcast date	Average audience share (AGB Nielsen)^[22]
		Nationwide	Seoul
1	January 7, 2019	5.709%	6.130%
2	January 8, 2019	6.559%	7.212%
3	January 14, 2019	8.022%	9.802%
4	January 15, 2019	8.933%	9.515%
5	January 21, 2019	8.053%	8.939%
6	January 22, 2019	7.597%	7.962%
7	January 28, 2019	8.375%	9.434%
8	January 29, 2019	9.455%	10.092%
9	February 4, 2019	6.576%	6.899%
10	February 11, 2019	8.240%	8.983%
11	February 12, 2019	9.316%	10.179%
12	February 18, 2019	8.695%	9.110%
13	February 19, 2019	10.002%	11.119%
14	February 25, 2019	8.698%	9.757%
15	February 26, 2019	9.472%	10.007%
16	March 4, 2019	10.851%	11.783%
Average		8.410%	9.183%
Special	January 1, 2019	1.696%	2.051%
Special	February 5, 2019	2.517%	2.767%
In the table above, the blue numbers represent the lowest ratings and the red numbers represent the highest ratings. This drama aired on a cable channel/pay TV which normally has a relatively smaller audience compared to free-to-air TV/public broadcasters (KBS, SBS, MBC and EBS). Due to the Lunar New Year holiday, episode 10 aired on February 11, 2019 instead of February 5.

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Recipient	Result	Ref.
2019	55th Baeksang Arts Awards	Best Actor	Yeo Jin-goo	Nominated	^[23]
		Best Supporting Actor	Kim Sang-kyung	Nominated
	12th Korea Drama Awards	Excellence Award, Actress	Lee Se-young	Won	^[24]

References

1. THE CROWNED CLOWN [티저] 용상을 향해 휘몰아치는 광대의 춤사위! 190101 EP.0. YouTube (in Korean). tvN Drama. from the original on August 16, 2023. Retrieved December 2, 2018.
2. "[공식] 여진구X이세영, '광해' 리메이크작 tvN '왕이 된 남자' 주연". Naver (in Korean). August 29, 2018. from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved December 3, 2018.
3. "여진구-이세영, 영화 '광해' 리메이크작 '왕이 된 남자' 출연! 대본리딩 현장 공개 | MBC 연예 스포츠". Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (in Korean). October 31, 2018. from the original on December 2, 2021. Retrieved November 13, 2018.
4. "tvN begins 2019 with period drama 'The Crowned Clown'". The Korea Times. January 7, 2019. from the original on January 7, 2019. Retrieved January 7, 2019.
5. "'The Crowned Clown' tops weekly TV chart with its debut". Korea JoongAng Daily. January 17, 2019. from the original on August 23, 2021. Retrieved January 18, 2019.
6. "드라마 '왕이 된 남자' 여진구 x 여진구 x 이세영 x 김상경 줄거리·인물관계도·배역정보". 에프이타임스 (in Korean). 2019-02-24. from the original on 2021-08-27. Retrieved 2021-08-30.
7. [단독]여진구, '광해' 드라마 리메이크 주인공. Naver (in Korean). August 8, 2018. from the original on December 4, 2018. Retrieved December 3, 2018.
8. "Kim Sang-kyung to Star in tvN Drama "Gwang-hae, the Man Who Became King"". HanCinema. October 9, 2018. from the original on July 30, 2023. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
9. [단독] 이세영, '광해' 리메이크작 '왕후의 남자' 여주인공. Naver (in Korean). August 22, 2018. from the original on July 30, 2023. Retrieved December 3, 2018.
10. "Kim Sang-kyung, Kwon Hae-hyo, Jang Gwang, Jung Hye-young and Jang Young-nam in "The Crowned Clown"". HanCinema. October 10, 2018. from the original on October 14, 2023. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
11. Yeo, Dong-eun (January 4, 2019). 윤종석, ‘왕이 된 남자’ 호위무사로 돌아온다! 장무영 役으로 안방극장 컴백!. MyDaily (in Korean). from the original on March 22, 2023. Retrieved January 12, 2019.
12. ‘미션’ 수미 신수연, 여진구 동생된다 ‘왕이 된 남자’ 출연[단독]. Newsen (in Korean). October 1, 2018. from the original on July 30, 2023. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
13. "'대세' 윤경호, tvN '왕이 된 남자' 합류...여진구·이세영과 호흡". 10Asia (in Korean). October 22, 2018. from the original on July 30, 2023. Retrieved January 11, 2019 – via Naver.
14. 사극 연기도 잘하네…오하늬, '왕이 된 남자' 감초 활약. SBS funE (in Korean). January 9, 2018. from the original on November 2, 2022. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
15. 이무생, 첫 사극 '왕이 된 남자' 합류..여진구과 날선 대립각 [공식입장]. Osen (in Korean). November 27, 2018. from the original on July 30, 2023. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
16. "[공식입장] 최규진, '왕이 된 남자' 합류…여진구X이세영과 호흡". Xports News (in Korean). December 5, 2018. from the original on July 30, 2023. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
17. . TenAsia (in Korean). October 31, 2018. Archived from the original on July 23, 2019. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
18. 배우 이규한 ‘왕이 된 남자’ 합류, 조선 제일 수학자 주호걸 役. Sports Chosun (in Korean). November 26, 2018. from the original on March 27, 2023. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
19. 장혁, ‘왕이 된 남자’ 첫 회 특별출연…여진구와 첨예 대립각. Naver (in Korean). January 2, 2019. from the original on January 2, 2019. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
20. 여진구-이세영, 영화 '광해' 리메이크작 '왕이 된 남자' 출연! 대본리딩 현장 공개. Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (in Korean). October 31, 2018. from the original on December 2, 2021. Retrieved November 13, 2018.
21. "Nielsen Korea" (in Korean). from the original on December 2, 2020. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
22. "Nielsen Korea" (in Korean). from the original on February 26, 2021. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
23. "55회 백상예술대상, TV부문 최종 후보 공개". Ilgan Sports (in Korean). April 4, 2019. from the original on April 4, 2019. Retrieved April 4, 2019.
24. "'2019코리아드라마어워즈(KDA)' 연기대상 후보..김해숙·최수종·염정아·조정석 등". Sedaily (in Korean). September 27, 2019. from the original on September 27, 2019. Retrieved September 27, 2019.

External links

• Official website (in Korean)
• The Crowned Clown at HanCinema
• The Crowned Clown at IMDb