Premiere Watch: My Royal Nemesis
by stroopwafel
Time slot: Friday & Saturday
Broadcaster: SBS
Genre: Fantasy, rom-com
Episode count: 14
Global streamer: Netflix
Reasons to watch: Im Ji-yeon is making her 2026 dramaland return as the headliner for the new SBS fantasy rom-com, My Royal Nemesis. Heo Nam-joon joins her as her leading man, with Jang Seung-jo as second lead.
The drama plunges us back centuries to introduce us to our antiheroine, Im Ji-yeon. She was once a favored (and infamous) concubine, but by the time the drama starts, she’s fallen from grace and her many enemies are celebrating her punishment: death by poison.
She fights hard, but it’s futile. She takes her “last” breath but, to her shock, she awakes very much alive and in the middle of present-day Seoul. The hand of fate has dropped her soul into the body of a struggling actress, and though she has to learn the ways of this new world, it’s a second chance at life– and she’s not about to waste it. Fate strikes again when she has a meet cute meet hate with Heo Nam-joon, a chaebol heir who is famously an arrogant ass. Though he’s cold and rude, she’s brash and strange, and their clashes also spark something romantic between them. He turns out to be a much-needed ally in this battle called modern life, and it seems that Heo and Jang Seung-jo have a connection to Im that goes beyond the 21st century.
A love that transcends space and time, with the high drama life or death stakes? I’m here for it! I’m expecting a lot of wild energy and fun mixed in with a few darker elements that will show us how and why Im landed in the present. If you adore a fish-out-of-water story, and if you loved Im Ji-yeon in The Tale of Lady Ok, you won’t want to miss this as it’ll be a great chance to watch her flex her sageuk and comedic muscles.
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