‘My Royal Nemesis’: Korean historical rom-com tops Netflix’s global non-English TV chart

Lim Ji-yeon / Courtesy of SBS

Less than a week after its release, "My Royal Nemesis" has emerged as one of Netflix’s most popular non-English titles, rising to No. 1 on the platform’s global chart.

The SBS romantic comedy, which premiered Friday, centers on Shin Seo-ri, an unknown actress who becomes possessed by a notorious villainess from Korea’s Joseon era, and her love-hate relationship with Cha Se-gye, a conglomerate heir nicknamed the “monster of capitalism.”

Immediately after the release, the drama drew a strong response from overseas viewers. Following the release of its second episode, "My Royal Nemesis" ranked No. 1 on Netflix’s global non-English TV chart and No. 2 on the platform’s overall global TV chart.

According to FlixPatrol, the series topped Netflix Korea’s daily Top 10 series chart and landed in the Top 10 in 84 countries and regions, including the United States, Spain, Poland and Japan. It also claimed the No. 1 spot in 24 markets, including Brazil, Taiwan, Qatar, Peru and Singapore, showing the breadth of its overseas popularity.

Domestic audiences also showed positive reception. Its second episode recorded a nationwide peak viewership rating of 6.9 percent, up 1.5 percentage points from the first episode’s 5.4 percent, according to Nielsen Korea.

The drama has gained widespread attention and built word of mouth with its fresh enemies-to-lovers setup involving unusually drawn characters, along with Lim Ji-yeon’s commanding performance across genres from period drama to comedy, its tightly written script and immersive direction.

The series, so far having released two episodes, showed the Joseon-era villainess crash-landing in the 21st century struggling to adapt to the modern world, as well as her comical first encounter with the infamous heir.

Her period clothing, archaic dialect, goofy attempts to make sense of modern life and blunt manner of speaking have drawn laughs from viewers. One scene, in which she snaps, “How dare you run your vile mouth before a Senior First Rank Royal Consort?” went viral online, with viewers turning it into a meme dubbed “possessed by Jang Hui-bin,” a reference to one of the most famous royal consorts in Korean history.

The episodes also revealed the deeper ties between Shin Seo-ri and Cha Se-gye, including their connection from 300 years ago and their shared link to Choi Mun-do (played by Jang Seung-jo).

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.