Hong Il-kwon - Hong Gye-hun; Palace Lady Hong’s older brother and palace bodyguard who protected Empress Myeongseong at the time of the Imo Incident and gained trust. After that, he continued to protect Empress Myeongseong, but was killed while resisting the Japanese during the Eulmi Incident.
? - Karl Ivanovich Weber; He strives to expand Russian power in Joseon through the Imperial Russian Federation. When Empress Myeongseong leans toward her pro-Russia, she actively cooperates with it (discussing arms imports), but is consistent with a passive attitude when the Eulmi Incident takes place. Later, when the Agwan collapse occurred, he led the pro-Russian cabinet and tried to gain interest in Korea.
? - Weber’s wife
Kim Jin-ah - Marie Sontag; German-Russian woman. Executioner of Weber and interpreter of the Imperial Russian Legation. She speaks fluent Russian in a scene where Prince Weber and Empress Myeongseong discuss arms imports.
Britain figures
Kim Rin (Lynne Louise Kim) - Isabella Bird; An English geographer and writer who wrote Korea and its neighbors, a story of her travels to Joseon. In the first scene of episode 1, a western woman played Isabella Budd Bishop, who is clumsy in the Joseon Dynasty, but eats rice with chopsticks.
? - William Esden; British Consulate General
American figures
? - Dayi; A foreign training instructor who disbanded a training unit trained by a Japanese military officer and took charge of training the newly created demonstrators. At the time of the Eulmi Incident, he led the protesters against the Japanese army, but was defeated and taken prisoner due to the inferiority of the troops.
? - Pateu (Lucius Foote); an American corporate executive
? - Horace Allen; a Methodist missionary and doctor
? - Yang-ui; a doctor
? - Francis Ann; Horace Allen’s wife
? - Denny; the successor to Mok In-deok and a diplomatic adviser
? - Nickson
Two Empress Myeongseong Actresses
The role of the young Empress Myeongseong in the drama was played by Moon Geun-young (episodes 1–9), while the adult Empress was portrayed by Lee Mi-yeon (episodes 10–80). Originally planned as a 100-episode series, the drama was extended by 24 episodes due to its unexpected popularity. However, Lee Mi-yeon had only signed on for 80 episodes, so Choi Myung-gil took over the role from episode 81, which covered the Gapsin Coup, and played the character until the end.
It was initially believed that Lee Mi-yeon refused to extend her appearance in the drama, but it was later revealed that this was not the case. From the beginning, her contract with the production company was for 80 episodes, not the originally planned 100 episodes. When this fact became public, KBS and the drama’s production team faced significant criticism.
The version of Empress Myeongseong played by Lee Mi-yeon was portrayed as a tragic heroine with an angelic image, drawing viewers and achieving ratings of over 30%. However, from the spring of 2002, when the SBS drama special Successful Story of a Bright Girl aired, ratings began to decline. After the lead actress was changed to Choi Myung-gil, ratings plummeted to single digits. Opinions are divided on whether Lee Mi-yeon or Choi Myung-gil gave the better performance: Lee Mi-yeon played a pure and delicate character who awakened to the necessity of political power, while Choi Myung-gil portrayed an intelligent and politically adept heroine.
