Park Jihoon Hits 10 Million Viewers — And His Wanna One Brother Just Said What Everyone Was Thinking

When Park Jihoon walked off the stage as a member of Wanna One in 2019, no one could have predicted exactly how far he would go on his own. Now, six years later, the answer is clear: he has become one of the biggest names in South Korean entertainment, and the people who know him best could not be prouder.

The former K-pop idol turned film and television star recently crossed the extraordinary milestone of attracting 10 million viewers to a single movie — earning him the coveted status of "ten-million actor" in South Korean entertainment circles. And when news reached his former Wanna One bandmate Kim Jaehwan, the reaction was anything but competitive envy.

A Milestone That Changed Everything

Park Jihoon's film The King's Warden surpassed 10 million cumulative viewers, placing him in an elite tier of Korean screen talent. In a film industry where blockbuster thresholds are taken very seriously, the ten-million mark represents not just commercial success but cultural penetration — the kind of wide, cross-generational reach that only a handful of actors achieve in a generation.

The achievement did not go unnoticed by his former groupmates. In a recent interview, Wanna One member Kim Jaehwan addressed the milestone directly and with unmistakable warmth. Far from the quiet tensions that sometimes emerge when one former group member outpaces another, Kim Jaehwan made clear that Park Jihoon's success is celebrated, not complicated, within their circle.

"He deserves every bit of it," Kim Jaehwan said, reflecting on how Park Jihoon's hard work and growth have translated into results. The sentiment, according to reports, is broadly shared among Wanna One members who have remained close despite pursuing their own separate careers since the group's disbandment.

From Idol to Ten-Million Actor

Park Jihoon's trajectory from idol trainee to ten-million actor is itself a remarkable story. He first captured national attention through the survival competition program Produce 101 Season 2 in 2017, where his expressive performance style and distinctive stage presence made him a fan favorite. His debut with Wanna One that same year, alongside members who would also go on to successful solo careers, established him as a recognizable figure in the K-pop landscape.

After Wanna One disbanded in 2019, Park Jihoon signed with a management agency and began the process of building a solo career from the ground up. His journey into acting was gradual but purposeful, and The King's Warden proved to be the role that crystallized everything he had been working toward.

The dedication that went into preparing for the film has since become part of his public narrative. Park Jihoon revealed in a recent appearance on the YouTube show Nothing to Serve But with host Lee Young Ji that he had lost 15 kilograms for a role — surviving largely on apples and disciplined exercise. He also admitted to seriously considering weight-loss medications like Wegovy before ultimately deciding against it, reflecting the kind of methodical preparation that serious actors bring to transformative roles.

The Legend Continues: New Drama, New Highs

With the momentum from The King's Warden still building, Park Jihoon has moved directly into his next project: the Tving original drama The Legend of Kitchen Soldier, which began airing on tvN in May 2026. The drama, based on a popular webtoon, follows a young military conscript who becomes a cook against his will and discovers unexpected strengths in the process.

The response has been enthusiastic. The drama's first episode achieved a nationwide household rating of 5.8 percent — already a strong debut for a cable and streaming production. By the second episode, that number climbed to 6.2 percent, with a peak of 7.6 percent, placing it first among all cable and general programming channels during its time slot. It also ranked first in the coveted male-and-female viewers aged 20 to 49 demographic, including all broadcasting channels.

Tving reported that The Legend of Kitchen Soldier ranked first in subscription contribution among all its original content in the days following the premiere — a metric that reflects how many new paying subscribers the show directly attracted to the platform. The numbers suggest that Park Jihoon's star power has successfully transferred from cinema to streaming.

Why Former Groupmates' Support Matters

In K-pop, the bonds formed during group activities are often described as unlike anything else — forged through shared hardship, intensive practice, and the particular pressure of performing as a unit in front of millions. When those groups disband, the relationships do not always survive, particularly when individual success creates obvious comparisons.

Kim Jaehwan's vocal pride in Park Jihoon's achievement is, therefore, more meaningful than it might appear at first glance. It signals that the camaraderie of Wanna One's relatively brief existence — the group was formed for a fixed contract period — was genuine and has endured. Fans who followed the original group closely will recognize the significance of that continuity.

Park Jihoon, for his part, has spoken about Wanna One with consistent gratitude and affection, describing the experience as foundational to everything that followed. The group's intense debut period and the public scrutiny it attracted gave him a thick skin and a clear-eyed sense of what audiences want from a performer.

What Comes Next

As The Legend of Kitchen Soldier continues to air and build its audience, Park Jihoon is also pursuing his music career in parallel. He released his first solo single "RE:FLECT" in late April 2026, marking a personal artistic statement as distinct from his idol group output. The balance of acting and music is a path that several former K-pop idols have walked with varying degrees of success; Park Jihoon's early results suggest he may navigate it more effectively than most.

For fans of Wanna One — and for those who discovered Park Jihoon through his solo work — this moment represents the fulfillment of a potential that many believed in long before the broader public caught on. His former groupmate said it simply: he deserves it. The numbers, and the history being made, seem to agree.