[article] Jang Geun-seok as Joseon’s top gambler in Jackpot

Credit: dramabeans

Here’s the first character poster for SBS’s upcoming sageuk Jackpot, which probably means we’ll be getting one actor a day for a week or so. The second teaser is also out, which adds onto the first, pitting brothers Jang Geun-seok (Pretty Man) and Yeo Jin-gu (Orange Marmalade) in a game of fate, with all of Joseon on the line.

The drama is a heavily fictionalized retelling of the Sukjong-Gyeongjong-Yeongjo monarchy line in the early 1700s. Yeo Jin-gu stars as future King Yeongjo, and Jang Geun-seok is his forgotten brother, forced to hide his royal blood and live as a low-born man. He becomes Joseon’s greatest tazza, or card shark, and goes up against Yeongjo with the fate of the nation at stake.

The series comes from the writer of Warrior Baek Dong-soo, which is why we’ll see a familiar match-up in Choi Min-soo (Pride and Prejudice), who plays King Sukjong, and Jeon Gwang-ryul (Remember—Son’s War), who plays a rebel leader opposed to both Sukjong and Yeongjo. That’s just fine by me, since they were badass rivals in Baek Dong-soo, and will surely be again in Jackpot.

Im Ji-yeon (High Society) is a woman determined to kill the king; Hyun-woo (Awl) will play Yeongjo’s half-brother who ruled for a very short time before Yeongjo’s reign; and Yoon Jin-seo (Girl Who Sees Smells) is Yeongjo’s mother Lady Choi, and in this drama she’ll be a femme fatale who holds King Sukjong’s heart in her hands. That’s not exactly how history tells it, but I’m pretty sure Yeongjo never gambled with his throne either.

The second teaser just adds more characters to the glimpse we got of Jang Geun-seok and Yeo Jin-gu, with Jeon Gwang-ryul as “the one after the throne,” Im Ji-yeon as “the one after the king’s life.” It ends with the message: “Those dreaming of a new world. One game that will change fate begins now.” It’s flashy and dramatic, which seems perfect for the premise. Here’s hoping that the story lives up to the excitement I have for this cast.

Jackpot follows Six Flying Dragons on Mondays and Tuesdays beginning March 28.