The Tyrant

The Tyrant.. A Missed Opportunity in The Witch Universe..

I honestly cant believe this is part of The Witch Universe.. What was this even about?? There was no real story.. The action scenes were bad.. VFX were poor.. The color grading was even worse.. With such a strong cast this is the best they could do??

First of all this should have just been a movie.. The four episodes felt like fillers with a slow dragging storyline. .. They could have atleast fitted in a well choreographed action scene just to compensate for the weak plot.. Jo Yoon Soo's acting didnt do her character any justice.. Her coldness just felt forced.. And Kim Seon Ho was completely underutilized.. He is a great actor.. And though his acting was solid here.. It wasn’t enough to save the series..

Considering the potential of the cast and the The Witch movies released before this.. It’s hard to believe they couldn’t deliver a more engaging series.. Instead it was a drawn out.. Underwhelming experience.. Overall The Tyrant was a major letdown for me..

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Short action kdrama with not that compelling story being a spin-off to Witch universe

Disclaimer: Watching both Witch part 1 and part 2 doesn't seem like needed, but you can find some mythos from those movies appearing in this series.

Even though I've watched both movies before watching Tyrant. Like both movies I found world building as a nice thing. What is missing in it was adding reasoning why the things are happening, reasons for certain characters decisions etc. This makes plot feel really flat. Someone kills someone, there're some factions which fight each other, but all those things make impression similar to adding diffrent spices, toppings to your pizza, but it never aims to make a final consitent product, but rather just ends being a mix of things with main focus on "decoration". The best conclusion for flatness is one of dialogue line from main character: "I apologize, but this is very serious government business"...

What stand out for me was acting especially I was impressed with acting from Cha Seung Wong , Kim Seong Ho and Joo Yoon Soo. They kept me interested when they appeared on screen. At the same time their quality acting overshadowed how much other actors/actresses weren't on par. Characters played by Kim Kang Woo, Mu Jin Sung and Kim Joo Heon were much less interesting not to mention that I had an impression that everyone else acted below their capabilities.

Action scenes still delivered, I'd say this is on par with what you could see in Witch part 2. One small caveat is that some scenes are a bit too dark which made it harder for me to follow up on what was happening.

Conclusion:
Like I've said plot felt flat with really good acting from certain actors and it added new things to established universe. Overall after finishing Tyrant I find similarities between progression of Park Hoon Jung works of Witch universe to progress of Dragon Age video game series.
We've got really great introduction to the world with Witch part 1 where plot and characters had some meaning and relation between each other, but with part 2 we got incluion of more world building, but with less enthralling stories and much more focus on action scenes. From my perspective this trends keep in Tyrant which is a bit of shame.

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Jo Yoon-soo’s Breakout Carnage: The Tyrant Asks More Questions Than It Answers

The Witch universe just keeps expanding, and The Tyrant comes in as an intriguing side dish before the long-awaited The Witch: Part 3. Instead of another feature-length film, this one takes the form of a short, high-impact, four-episode K-drama spin-off, diving deeper into the secret government experiments that have been lurking in the background since the first movie. With a star-studded cast, top-tier action sequences, and a tightly packed runtime, The Tyrant delivers just enough to keep us entertained—though it doesn’t exactly blow the doors open on the Witch universe lore.

The premise is simple: a secret bioweapon project called The Tyrant has been dismantled, and the last remaining sample has gone rogue. Various factions—Korean intelligence, the CIA, and an ex-hitman—are all racing to retrieve (or eliminate) it. This leads to a high-stakes chase full of betrayals, intense action, and shady motivations. If you came in expecting layered storytelling like Moving, you might be a bit disappointed. But if all you want is stylish action with a touch of world-building? This one's got you covered.

One of the biggest surprises of The Tyrant is its new female lead, Chae Ja-gyeong, played by Jo Yoon-soo. Unlike Ja-yoon or Ark 1, she wasn’t part of the Witch clone project—she’s a highly skilled assassin with Dissociative Identity Disorder. And Jo Yoon-soo? Absolutely nails it. She seamlessly shifts between her different personas—her innocent girl self, her brother’s personality, and her final form as The Tyrant. The way she embodies these distinct identities makes her a worthy successor to Kim Da-mi and Shin Si-ah in the Witch universe. Her transformation into The Tyrant is both terrifying and fascinating, leaving us wondering just how she’ll factor into The Witch: Part 3.

The action is, of course, a highlight. The cinematography is stunning, with wide shots showcasing the intensity of each battle, and the fight choreography is still on brand with the franchise. While the gore has been toned down (likely due to this being a Disney+ release), it doesn’t take away from the high-stakes brutality that defines this universe. Every gunfight, chase scene, and melee battle feels tight and personal, keeping the adrenaline pumping from start to finish. The budget might be lower than the films, but the execution still looks premium.

Another standout is Kim Seon-ho as Director Choi, a complete departure from the roles he’s known for in standard K-dramas. His cold, calculating performance keeps you guessing about his true motives the entire time. Meanwhile, Cha Seung-won’s Lim Sang brings a different kind of energy—a weary, deadly ex-agent who just wants to clean up this mess. And let’s not forget Kim Kang-woo as Paul, the CIA operative who is equally determined to secure the last Tyrant sample. The way these three men collide and manipulate each other makes for an engaging game of cat and mouse.

Now, while the drama delivers on action and performances, the plot itself is fairly simplistic. It doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel; instead, it just gives us a fast-paced chase where everyone’s after the same thing. And while that’s fine for a side story, it doesn’t necessarily add much depth to the Witch universe. If you’re hoping for deeper world-building about the origins of the Tyrant program or how it connects to the broader narrative, you might leave with more questions than answers.

Another issue is the sheer number of side characters. Much like The Witch: Part 2, The Tyrant introduces too many players with too little development. There’s no proper explanation of what the organization behind The Tyrant actually is—only vague mentions of it having branches in China and the U.S. Even Director Choi’s motivation to create The Tyrant is briefly mentioned once and then never expanded upon. The focus is so much on securing The Tyrant that the “why” behind everything gets lost.

And then, of course, we have the cliffhanger ending. If you were hoping for The Tyrant to provide concrete answers, you won’t find them here. Instead, the drama clearly sets up future projects, leaving some key elements—like Chae Ja-gyeong’s full backstory—entirely unexplored. This could be fine if you’re invested in the Witch universe, but if you’re just a casual viewer, it might feel unfinished.

Final verdict? The Tyrant is a solid, action-packed side story that does its job—keeping fans engaged while we wait for The Witch: Part 3. The stellar cast, brutal fight sequences, and intense pacing make it a fun watch, but it doesn’t truly expand the universe the way we might have hoped. That said, Jo Yoon-soo absolutely kills it as the new FL, and if her role as The Tyrant plays into the next film, she could become one of the most interesting characters in the series.

If you’re deeply invested in The Witch universe, it’s worth the watch. If you’re just here for great action and don’t mind an open-ended narrative, you’ll have fun. But if you’re looking for major story revelations? You won’t miss much by skipping it.

Final Score: 7/10—entertaining, but more of a stepping stone than a must-watch.

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Four Episode Pilot for a New Franchise? Plus 2nd watch Comments

First, you do not need to see either of the Witch movies (Parts 1 & 2). Any connections are slim and add nothing. So if you're looking for some sort of continuation of those stories you won't find it here. Instead an action thriller is served up for the first three episodes before the Sci-Fi main course gets fully underway.

I found the first few episodes hard to follow. It's like A Shop For Killers in that the viewer is thrown into the middle of intense action and in machine gun fashion the plot and characters' backgrounds are unlayered.

The fourth episode brings things to a conclusion which sets up a potentially interesting franchise led by a fascinating new main character with super powers (Venom character comes to mind).

I wish this Korean series followed the usual 16 episode pattern, because I really wanted to see another 12 episodes of a longer series. So that's my only disappointment here - that it ended just when the set up for something really good was in place.

Hopefully this was a four episode pilot for a new series.

Follow up comments after rewatching.
Much more coherent second time around. Better left apart from the Witch 1 & 2, particularly W2 which I found chaotic at best. These 4 episodes are a great set up for a continuation of an interesting story. There's a hint at the very end via that flashback scene of much deeper early complications involving the main character. Also interesting the director/screenwriter borrowed an idea from All of Us Are Dead where some of the zombies retain their sentience and full cognitive abilities. In this story the main character retains her sanity whereas it's revealed that all of her predecessors infected with the same virus did not. Why that is, how it is, and where this new super powered character goes from here deserves a few follow on seasons hopefully longer than 4 episodes each.

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What an action firework...

While this series has sci-fi elements, it's more a spy thriller with suspense, Who betrays who is the question. James Bond would search for a superweapon, they search for a supermutagen which turns a human into an nearly invincible superhuman,

The story is interesting, the plot-twists not always expected and good acting. This series has outstanding cinematogrpahy, VFX and action/fighting sequences. I have not seen such good VFX and fighting scenes in a series, but I guess it was expensive as hell, so we get only four episodes. That's the reason this got a 10 from me.

If you dig action but expect an interesting story as well, this is for you!

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MISSING: EPISODE 1

For once I will try not to be a chatterbox and get straight to the point.

Pros
- Production quality
- Acting
- Kim Seon Ho's performance in the last episode
- Dark atmosphere -it can get too dark though, so have your brightness as high as possible-
- Action scenes
- Violence/Gore
- Lim Sang as a comedic relief -that wasn’t too much to ruin the atmosphere of the drama-
- Ja Kyung! She was the highlight of the series and I hope we get to see the actress more in the future
- How I love ruthless women in action series!
- Good concept
- Pretty entertaining last two eps

Cons
Plot
This is the biggest flaw of the series. The Tyrant starts very abruptly. It’s like they expect the viewers to know what is happening and what has already happened. There are way too many characters that appear and we don’t know who they are, what is their aim and who they are working for. It’s funny, cause I actually double checked to make sure that I was indeed watching the first episode of the drama and not like the third. As a result, first two episodes were not only a bit boring, but also incomprehensible (especially if you haven't read the synopsis). In other words? It felt like an entire episode, that was supposed to work as a set-up for the plot and the characters, was missing.

Duration
Why is this even a series? It felt like a movie. Like they didn’t want it to be too long and they were like ‘’let’s just make it into a four episode drama’’. There are no cliffhanger episodes and no real character development that would justify making this into a series. And let's be honest, it wouldn’t be even that long as a film, if they combined all the episodes.

Kim Kang Woo as Paul
He was overacting here and there trying to be the bad guy, but it felt completely out of place in a series that was pretty dark and had a serious atmosphere.

English
They have to add this in every series apparently! I do not get what is the point of having that one scene where an actor is in a foreign country, speaking English and heading to Korea to "take care of a business". There was zero reason for that, and it got worse when they spoke English in Korea out of freaking nowhere. It is extremely obvious that the actors, and mostly Kim Kang Woo who was the main English speaker, don’t have a good understanding of the language. It was like they were just reading the script and it was cringy at times, even though -and I will admit that- it was one of the better performances in that aspect compared to most series/movies.

CGI/Special Effects: They were great when it came to action scenes and violence, but what was the point to try making something more from it? I won’t say anything specific, cause of spoilers, but that one scene in the beginning of episode 2 was completely unnecessary and ruined the drama.


All in all, this ended up being an entertaining watch with some commendable action scenes, but it is in no way a great series and unfortunately it is not close to the greatness of The Witch: The Subversion.

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Good action scenes, but the story is very rushed

"Tyrant" it's about people fighting because of a virus, everyone wants it and kills to get it. There's also Ja Gyeong, a gangster's daughter who got caught in between that.

I really don't like this format for dramas, 8 episodes were already too little, but now we have only 4? It's getting worse.
You can see the similarities with the movie "The Witch", but how there were only 4 episodes, the drama ends so fast, it barely gives you any time to process what happened.
The fight sequence on the last episode was really impressive, I couldn't take my eyes of the screen.

The cast is spectacular, to be able to see Cha Seung Won, Kim Kang Woo and Kim Seon Ho acting together, that was incredible <3

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A short and literally dark action-packed drama with little substance

There is not much I can say about The Tyrant.

It's bloody, gory, super dark (literally), but doesn't provide much in the way of an interesting plot. That's perfectly fine if you're like me and watched this just to see the returning Kim Seon Ho. Other than that, this 4 episode long drama was ok...at least from the parts I saw of it.

This might sound like I'm overexaggerating, but I struggled to actually see what the heck was going on.

I don't know if the entire lighting department decided to go on vacation during the filming of this drama, or the director intentionally wanted the cinematography to be dark. Whatever the reason, I struggled to make out what was happening. I guess it worked out though because really, there was nothing of worth that occurred in all 4 eps. There was nothing but action, some minor character motivations, and more action.

Do you have to watch The Witch Part 1 and Part 2 in order to understand what's happening in this?

Short answer: no. Long answer: You won't find any obvious signs of this drama fitting into The Witch universe. You can jump right into it without knowing what's going on.

There is one possibly returning character from The Witch Part 2: The Other One. I stress "possibly" here because I may be mistaken. The actor from the sequel, Justin Harvey, has a non-speaking role in this drama. Acting credits just call him Crocodile #1 so I don't know if Justin reprises his character, Tom, from Part 2 but under a different name or if he's playing an entirely different character. It's clear I gave this more thought than others. Don't judge me.

The drama follows closely to the theme of both Witch movies - South Korea experimenting on folks to try to create a super solider. By the end, SK will be three for three on creating, whether intentional or not, super powerful and uncontrollable women who leave a trail of bodies in their wake. Somewhere down the line, preferably in a movie, I want to see all three women in one movie (The Witch Part 3 hopefully). I mean, that's where it seems like things are headed anyway.

All in all, The Tyrant was ok. Basic, easy to follow plot with tons of action and gore.

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The Pursuers

Why was this a series though ? It was more like a director's cut of a movie than it was a series. In fact, it felt like the sequel of a movie that hasn't been released.

The biggest drawback of this is the fact that the series begins from the middle of the story. All the characters are introduced straight away and you're expected to know the backstory. If I hadn't read the synopsis before I had started, this would've been even more confusing than it already was.
In addition to being confusing, because I couldn't figure out what exactly were the motivations and interests of each character, the episodes were a little slow. Watching them do things they have reasons to do, but not knowing what they are, is frustrating.
The last episode did clear some things up, but I was left wanting more. Especially more backstory, since this wasn't a case where the mysterious happenings will have a proper explanation, no, the story here just happened.

The action sequences were pretty good, full of violence and gore, as expected from the director after The Witch. Same goes for the acting, four episodes isn't a long amount of time to set up a plot and character development, but most of the actors did a great job.

But for audiences sake, BRIGHTEN YOUR PRODUCTIONS! Seriously, increase the brightness of your screen while watching because I couldn't see half of it no matter how much I increased the brightness.

It isn't necessary to watch The Witch (either movies) because this can be watched as a stand alone series, but there were a couple of references to some characters and storylines from the movies. I would be curious to see if and how they can bring all these stories together, because albeit confusing, the premise is interesting.

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