Lead: The Remarried Empress anime is officially in production at TROYCA for a 2027 broadcast, with Yoko Hikasa leading the cast as Navier and Crunchyroll attached as the streaming partner.
What happened
Crunchyroll announced the TV adaptation during its Crunchyroll Showcase panel at New York Comic Con 2026 on Thursday, October 8. The series adapts the webtoon drawn by SUMPUL and adapted by HereLee, which is itself based on Alphatart’s original Korean web novel. The official anime website launched alongside the announcement with a special promo trailer, character art for the four leads, and a celebration illustration with handwritten messages from the original creators.
The main cast is Yoko Hikasa as Navier, Ryohei Kimura as Heinrey, Tomoaki Maeno as Sovieshu, and Reina Ueda as Rashta. Tetsuya Yanagisawa (Berserk of Gluttony, High School DxD) is directing at TROYCA. Akiko Inoue (An Observation Log of My Fiancée Who Calls Herself a Villainess) handles series composition and scripts, Jun Nakai (GATE, NieR:Automata Ver1.1a) is designing the characters, and Yuki Fukazawa is composing the music. HAYATE is credited as producer.
The anime is the headline title of a new co-production framework between HAYATE, LINE Digital Frontier (a WEBTOON Entertainment subsidiary), and Crunchyroll. Under that deal, the three companies will develop anime adaptations of around 15 webtoons available through LINE Digital Frontier’s app, with HAYATE leading production and Crunchyroll streaming the results exclusively in select territories. Teenage Mercenary and The Boxer were the other two titles shown at the panel. HAYATE president and CEO Leo Watanabe said the goal is to “transform globally loved digital-native stories into world-class anime franchises.”
The story follows Navier, the flawless Empress of the Eastern Empire, who accepts a divorce after Emperor Sovieshu moves to replace her with his mistress Rashta, then requests approval to remarry Heinrey, a prince of the Western Empire. According to the official site, the webtoon has passed 2.97 billion views worldwide. Anime News Network reports it has been translated into 10 languages and wrapped its main run in January after seven years, with side stories returning this fall.
Why the Remarried Empress anime matters
This is the biggest name in the new webtoon pipeline, and putting it first is a statement. Korean romance fantasy has been a huge draw on vertical-scroll platforms for years, but much of the recent webtoon-to-anime attention has gone to action titles like Solo Leveling. A palace-intrigue drama with nearly three billion views is a different bet: it tests whether the “villainess” and royal-romance audience that devours these comics will show up for weekly anime in the same numbers.
The staff list reads like a deliberate fit. Inoue already wrote a noble-romance comedy, and Yanagisawa has directed fantasy adaptations before. Hikasa as Navier is the sort of casting that sells composure first and emotion second, which is exactly what the character needs. The tougher job lands on Nakai and TROYCA: SUMPUL’s art is lush, detailed, and full-color, and flattening it into limited TV animation without losing the gowns, jewelry, and lighting is where many webtoon adaptations stumble.
Timing helps too. A live-action series based on the same webtoon premieres on Disney+ and Hulu on November 4, according to ANN, so the property will be in front of a wide audience months before the anime airs.
What we know vs what is rumored
- Confirmed: TV anime from TROYCA, produced by HAYATE, set to debut in 2027, announced by Crunchyroll at NYCC 2026.
- Confirmed: Main cast (Hikasa, Kimura, Maeno, Ueda) and main staff (Yanagisawa, Inoue, Nakai, Fukazawa) per the official site.
- Confirmed: The series is part of a HAYATE, LINE Digital Frontier, and Crunchyroll deal covering around 15 webtoon adaptations.
- Unconfirmed: Premiere season or month, episode count, broadcaster in Japan, English dub plans, and which territories Crunchyroll will cover.
- Unconfirmed: How much of the 251-chapter webtoon the first season will adapt.
What happens next
The live-action drama arrives first: two episodes every Wednesday from November 4 through its November 25 finale, 10 episodes in total, per ANN. For the anime, expect a season slot, a full trailer, and supporting cast reveals as 2027 approaches. Readers who want the source now can find the webtoon in English on WEBTOON, and Ize Press publishes the print edition, with volume 11 due October 20.
Sources: Anime News Network — The Remarried Empress Webtoon Gets TV Anime From TROYCA in 2027; The Remarried Empress official anime website — “The Remarried Empress” anime adaptation coming in 2027!; HAYATE, LINE Digital Frontier and Crunchyroll press release (via ANN) — Partnership to adapt WEBTOON series into anime; MyAnimeList — Webtoon ‘The Remarried Empress’ Gets TV Anime in 2027