Choi Dae-hoon Keeps Lee Jong-suk’s Prince In Check In ‘the Remarried Empress’

New character stills introduce the royal aides, ambitious nobles and dangerous figures surrounding the Disney+ fantasy romance, premiering November 4.

Even a charming prince needs someone willing to tell him when he is being unreasonable. In Disney+’s “The Remarried Empress,” that responsibility falls to Choi Dae-hoon, whose character McKenna serves as both secretary and cousin to Lee Jong-suk’s free-spirited Prince Heinrey.

New stills released on October 29 introduce McKenna alongside four other supporting characters whose loyalties and ambitions reach into the heart of the royal household. While some provide reassurance to the central characters, others see the palace as a route to power or arrive holding secrets that could threaten a carefully constructed new life.

The images broaden the world around Shin Min-a, Ju Ji-hoon, Lee Jong-suk and Lee Se-young ahead of the series’ November 4 premiere, revealing the people working closest to them when their relationships begin to change.

Choi Dae-hoon as McKenna, Prince Heinrey’s secretary and cousin, in “The Remarried Empress.” / Walt Disney Company Korea

Choi Dae-hoon Plays the Cousin Who Can Challenge Heinrey

McKenna occupies an unusual position beside Heinrey: he works for the prince but also knows him as family, giving him the freedom to speak with a familiarity that others cannot. Described as the one person able to nag the unpredictable royal without restraint, he regularly worries about where Heinrey’s next decision might lead.

That relationship introduces a lighter dynamic within the larger palace story. Their exchanges are shaped by both professional responsibility and family ties, allowing McKenna to look beyond Heinrey’s title and respond to the person behind it.

For Choi, the role places him at the intersection of the prince’s public duties and private behavior. The newly released character description emphasizes his concern for Heinrey and the easy familiarity between them, establishing a partnership that extends beyond the usual royal-and-servant hierarchy.

The Trusted Aides Beside the Empress and Emperor

Lee Bong-ryun plays Lady Eliza, the head attendant of the Western Palace and a dependable presence beside Empress Navier, portrayed by Shin Min-a. Calm and attentive, Eliza watches over the empress through the complications of palace life, offering support that can feel maternal at one moment and sisterly at another.

Across the imperial household, Nam Yoon-ho’s Marquis Lant assists Emperor Sovieshu, played by Ju Ji-hoon. His composed approach to handling royal affairs brings him into frequent contact with Eliza whenever matters concern the empress.

The two aides therefore serve different sides of a marriage heading toward rupture. Their positions give them a close view of the changing relationship, while their own encounters add another connection between the emperor’s and empress’s households.

Choi Dae-hoon as McKenna, Prince Heinrey’s secretary and cousin, in “The Remarried Empress.” / Walt Disney Company Korea

Two New Threats Surround Rashta

Jung Young-joo’s Lady Albani enters the story with a clear ambition: restoring her fallen family’s standing. She adopts Rashta, played by Lee Se-young, as her daughter and works persistently to isolate Navier, tying her family’s prospects to the shifting balance of influence at court.

Park Ho-san’s Viscount Rotesch presents a different danger. Introduced wearing an eyepatch, he is Rashta’s former enslaver and knows the history she wants to conceal. His arrival threatens to bring that past into the palace just as she is trying to secure her new position.

Together, these characters expand the pressures surrounding the central romance, bringing family ambition, personal loyalty and concealed history into the same royal setting.

Four Episodes Arrive on November 4

“The Remarried Empress” follows Navier after Sovieshu, having fallen for Rashta, tells her he wants a divorce. Navier accepts but asks for approval to remarry Heinrey, setting the story’s central conflict in motion.

The ten-episode series launches on Disney+ with episodes 1–4 on Wednesday, November 4. Two episodes will follow each Wednesday, introducing viewers to a royal household where the people standing behind the principal figures have ambitions and responsibilities of their own.

Editor’s Note: “The Remarried Empress” originated as a web novel by Alphatart and also has an internationally published comic adaptation. English-language publisher Yen Press credits Alphatart as author, SUMPUL as artist and HereLee for the adaptation. That distinction is useful for newcomers discovering the story through television, since the novel, comic and live-action series are separate versions of the same underlying work.