The King's Warden

"1457 Joseon, a story untold by history."

2026 1h 57m KO

👍

7.2

SOLID

★7.2TMDB · 32

HistoryDrama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

In a remote mountain village of 15th-century Joseon, humble headman Heung-do hears a rumor that any village hosting an exiled nobleman will be blessed with abundance and fortune. Hoping to bring prosperity to his impoverished community, he eagerly submits a petition to host one—unaware that his guest is none other than the fallen monarch, deposed boy-king Danjong.

“1457 Joseon, a story untold by history.”

WhatsApp X Facebook Telegram

Where to watch · US

Rakuten VikiSubscription

Amazon VideoRent

Apple TV StoreRent

Google Play MoviesRent

Google Play MoviesBuy

YouTubeBuy

Fandango At HomeBuy

Cast

Yoo Hai-jin
Eom Heung-do
Park Ji-hoon
Yi Hong-wi / Nosan / King Danjong
Yoo Ji-tae
Han Myeong-hoe
Jeon Mi-do
Mae-hwa
Kim Min
Eom Tae-san
Park Ji-hwan
Eo Se-gyeom
Lee Jun-hyuk
Geumseong / Yi Yu
Ahn Jae-hong
Norugol village chief

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Chang Hang-jun
Writers: Hwang Sung-goo, Chang Hang-jun
Languages: Korean
Countries: South Korea

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Grossed $112M — a 16.2× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released this year — you're seeing it while it's still in the cultural conversation.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Chang Hang-jun, shot by Choi Young-hwan. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Dalpalan. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Heo Sun-mi shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Yoo Hai-jin and Park Ji-hoon and Yoo Ji-tae carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "1457 Joseon, a story untold by history.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt38626703 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Chang Hang-jun directs. Choi Young-hwan behind the camera. Dalpalan scores. Heo Sun-mi cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in South Korea. Dialogue in Korean.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Grossed $112M — a 16.2× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.
2Released this year — you're seeing it while it's still in the cultural conversation.
3Directed by Chang Hang-jun, shot by Choi Young-hwan. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Dalpalan. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Heo Sun-mi shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Yoo Hai-jin and Park Ji-hoon and Yoo Ji-tae carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "1457 Joseon, a story untold by history.".
8IMDB entry: tt38626703 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Only 32 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.
10Classified under 13 themes, including "coup d'etat", "exile", "based on true story", "king".

The technical file

Cinematography: Choi Young-hwan
Original score: Dalpalan
Editing: Heo Sun-mi
Production design: Bae Jung-yoon
Costume design: Shim Hyun-seob
Makeup / hair: Song Jong-hee
Runtime: 117 min · 1h 57m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $6,900,000
Box office: $111,782,570
Return: 1620% of budget
Original language: KO
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: The King's Warden (2026)

Also by

Chang Hang-jun

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2026-03-12
★ 7/10
Based on real events from Joseon history, this tells us the story of the enthusiastic efforts of village chief Um-Heung Do (Yoo Hae-jin) to improve the lot of his citizenry. When a hunting expedition goes quite bizarrely wrong for him, he finds himself in a neighbouring town where the people are doing rather better. Why? Well that’s because a previously high-ranking official from the government had been exiled there and some of his prudent friends had lavished gifts on him, and the townsfolk, in eager expectation that he would be reinstated. When he duly was, their policy left them much better off and better educated. When a new king accedes, he anticipates that there will be more such banishments and so volunteers the former home of their shaman as a place to house a prestigious prisoner. Guess what? He gets one. It is not, however, a distinguished looking gent with a big hat and grey beard. Instead it is a teenage boy (Park Jo-hoon) who arrives in a palanquin with a devoted servant (Jeon Mi-do) and who seems pretty determined to starve himself to death. Having his charge die on his watch is no use to the locals and so they begin an hybrid mixture of charm offensives to see if they can reinvigorate their guest. It’s only when gossip finally reaches them revealing the true identity of Lord Dosan that the ante is upped for everyone in quite a perilous fashion. For the first half hour of this, I found the relentlessness of Yoo Hae-jin’s performance downright annoying, but once we’ve established the dynamic of who is who and what’s gone and going on here, I felt he played into his role engagingly. A man of courage and integrity emerges as he and his son (Yoo Ji-tae) begin to bond more with a visitor who, gradually, begins to realise that his supposed destiny might be more in his own hands that he’d originally thought. There’s a bit of intrigue, plotting, some humour and even a fairly dastardly enemy mixed into this and what’s more, unless you are familiar with 15th century Korean history, you are unlikely to predict it’s denouement. It’s a very human story that is delivered well, especially by the young Park Jo-hoon; the production design is stylish and once it got going, I quite enjoyed it.

Production companies