Netflix series 'Black Knight' portrays social divide in apocalyptic world

By Kim Eun-jung

SEOUL, May 10 (Yonhap) -- Netflix's new series "Black Knight" depicts an apocalyptic world where oxygen is scarce due to devastating air pollution and a brutal social hierarchy determines who has the access to resources for survival.

Based on Lee Yong-gyun's webtoon under the same title, the six-episode sci-fi series tells a story set in a dystopian future devastated by air pollution following a comet strike. In this wasteland, the survival of humanity depends on deliverymen known as "Black Knights," who deliver parcels of oxygen and other necessities.

Kim Woo-bin plays a former refugee, identified as 5-8, who takes on this job and recruits others from the bottom ladder of society to help him overthrow the hierarchy.

Song Seung-hyeon stars as an heir of the powerful conglomerate, which unevenly distributes resources depending on the class divide, while Esom plays a military intelligence officer who joins the rebel group led by 5-8.

Director and screenwriter Choi Eui-seok said the series remains faithful to the original webtoon's universe but was restructured into a compact version with new characters.

"I read the original webtoon and loved its universe. I decided to make it into a series as I really liked the idea of deliverymen providing oxygen and necessities to people," Choi said during a press conference on Wednesday.

Kim said the dystopian world where people must wear masks for survival is a plausible setting as the mask mandate had been in place until recently in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I thought these kinds of things could really happen in the future. I was also interested in various characters in the story," Kim said.

Kim introduced his character as a "legendary" figure who fights against social injustice as he knows the sorrow of being born as a refugee in the starkly divided world.

"I wondered what it would feel like if I am abandoned and suffer just because I was born as a refugee," he said.

"Black Knight" premieres on Friday.

ejkim@yna.co.kr
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