IU and Byeon Woo Seok's Epic Meeting

Actors IU and Byeon Woo-seok will meet in MBC's new Friday-Saturday drama, '21st Century Princess'. IU received great love for her previous work 'When My Love Blooms', and Byeon Woo-seok for 'Lovely Runner', both proving their artistic merit and popularity. With the meeting of these two actors, '21st Century Princess' is receiving high expectations even before its first broadcast.

'21st Century Princess' depicts the romance between Seong Hee-ju (played by IU), a woman who has everything but is frustrated by her commoner status, and Prince Ian (played by Byeon Woo-seok), a prince who has nothing despite being the king's son, set in 21st-century constitutional monarchy Korea. The drama will premiere on the 10th at 9:40 PM.

IU will play Seong Hee-ju, a chaebol born as the illegitimate son of the Castle Group, possessing outstanding management skills but having the weakness of being a commoner. To overcome her weakness, she aims for a contract marriage with Prince Ian, who is royalty.

Byeon Woo-seok will play Prince Ian, the second son of the royal family. He has lived hiding himself within his birth limitations but is called 'the most beloved royal in Korea' by the public. After the deaths of his father and brother, he leads the royal family by acting as regent for his young nephew. However, his daily life changes with Seong Hee-ju's contract marriage proposal.

Despite not having aired its first episode yet, '21st Century Princess' has proven to be the most anticipated work of the first half of 2026, ranking second in overall buzz for TV-OTT dramas. This is analyzed to be greatly influenced by the legendary meeting of IU and Byeon Woo-seok.