Who Made Me A Princess

what is who made me a princess

Who Made Me a Princess is a Korean fantasy drama that premiered on Netflix in 2023. It stars Kim So-hyun as Athanasia, a fictional princess born on the day her father, the Emperor Justinian, supposedly killed her mother, the First Empress. From the moment she's born, her father is constantly trying to assassinate her, and the story follows her attempts to survive while uncovering the truth behind what really happened to her mother. The series is adapted from the webtoon of the same name by SujiKim, which was serialized on Naver. It has 12 episodes across two parts, with Part 1 releasing in March 2023 and Part 2 in September 2023.

how to watch who made me a princess

The show is available exclusively on Netflix. You need an active subscription to stream it. The entire series is subtitled in Portuguese, and some regions have a Portuguese dub available as well. If you're on mobile, the app supports downloads for offline viewing, which is useful if you're somewhere with spotty internet. The episodes are roughly 40 to 50 minutes each, so budget accordingly if you're planning a binge. There's no free trial that covers Netflix, so if you don't already have an account, you're looking at the standard monthly fee for whatever tier you sign up for. One thing people don't always realize: the Korean audio track is significantly better mixed than the dub. The voice acting in the original carries more emotional nuance, especially in the heavier scenes involving the Emperor and his relationship with Athanasia. If you're capable of reading subtitles, I'd recommend sticking with the Korean audio. It makes a real difference in how the characters come across. The Portuguese dub isn't bad, but it flattens some of the subtler performances.

the basic premise and why people watch it

Athanasia is a reincarnated character. She wakes up in her body as a toddler and remembers her past life from a popular fantasy novel. In that novel, her character dies early and brutally at the hands of her father. Armed with that knowledge, she spends every scene navigating a social and political minefield while trying to avoid the same fate. The core tension is that her father is both terrified of her and desperately trying to kill her, which creates this weird push-pull dynamic that drives the whole show.

The magic system is based on "mana," which is essentially energy that certain people can use. Athanasia can absorb mana from other beings, including animals, and she also has a special ability to restore or manipulate mana directly. This makes her a target from multiple angles. The nobility wants her dead. There are rival factions within the court who want her dead. The imperial family itself has a complicated history with mana users. It gets tangled fast, but the show does a reasonable job of keeping the basic stakes clear even when the politics get complicated. I should mention a specific problem I ran into when trying to follow the lore. The show skips over several key backstory revelations between Part 1 and Part 2 without clear transitions. If you pause after episode 6 and don't return for weeks, you'll feel lost by episode 8. There are no recaps built into the Netflix stream. The workaround I found was to check the official subtitles for small bridging lines that reference events from earlier, but honestly the best approach is just to watch both parts in the same sitting or within a few days of each other. The continuity matters more than it seems.

what works and what doesn't

The production design is consistently strong. The palace sets, the costumes, the visual effects around the mana abilities — they all look like they had a real budget behind them. Kim So-hyun carries the show entirely on her back, and she's capable of shifting between wide-eyed childlike innocence and sharp strategic calculation in a single scene. That's not easy to do consistently across 12 episodes, and she mostly pulls it off.

The pacing is where things get uneven. The first six episodes move quickly because Athanasia is constantly in survival mode. After the first major turning point, the show slows down considerably and spends more time on political maneuvering and character relationships than on the central survival question. Some viewers find this engaging. I found it dragged in the middle episodes. The finale resolves the main plot threads, but it does leave a few subplots intentionally open-ended, presumably for a potential second season. The romance subplot develops gradually. If you're watching purely for the fantasy survival angle, don't expect the romantic elements to drive the plot early on. They build slowly and become more prominent in Part 2. The love interest is a supporting character from the original webtoon, and his role is expanded compared to the source material, but he never overshadows Athanasia's central arc.

common questions people ask

Is it too similar to other K-dramas? Yes and no. The reincarnated princess trope is well-established in Korean webtoon adaptations, and the father-trying-to-kill-the-daughter premise shares DNA with other family conflict dramas. But the execution here focuses more on Athanasia's agency and intelligence rather than pure victimhood, which separates it from some of the lesser entries in the genre. The mana-based worldbuilding also gives it a fantasy edge that most court intrigue dramas lack.

Do you need to read the webtoon first? Not at all. The drama condenses and restructures several plot points from the original story, so reading the webtoon beforehand won't necessarily help you follow the show. If anything, it might confuse you because certain scenes play out differently. The drama stands on its own. Is there a second season confirmed? As of mid-2024, Netflix has not officially renewed the series for a second season, though the open-ended nature of the finale and the commercial performance of the show suggest it's a possibility. Nothing is guaranteed until it's announced.

The show is rated TV-14 for thematic elements and mild violence. It's not graphic, but there are scenes of attempted assassination, political intrigue involving murder, and some emotional intensity that may not be suitable for younger viewers. The violence is implied more than shown, which is standard for this type of production. If you're looking for something that leans harder into the fantasy combat aspects, this isn't it. The mana abilities are used strategically rather than in battle sequences. The conflict is primarily political and personal. If that's what you want, you'll probably enjoy it. If you were hoping for more action set pieces, you might find the middle section of Part 1 underwhelming. I'd suggest watching the first two episodes before committing to the full series.