Netflix's 'The Devil's Plan' returns with star-packed season 2
The battle of wit and strategy returns, featuring star-studded casts including legendary Go player Lee Se-dol
Netflix Korea's beloved survival competition series "The Devil's Plan" is set to return with a second season, featuring an expanded cast and evolved gameplay.
"The Devil's Plan," which premiered in 2023, quickly ascended Netflix's global charts, debuting at No. 3 on the streamer's Top 10 Non-English TV Shows list during its first week.
The series, known for its cerebral gameplay and high production values, features contestants from diverse professional backgrounds competing in games that test strategic thinking and mental agility.
The new season, titled "The Devil's Plan: Death Room," ups the ante with 14 players — two more than the first season — selected from a mix of celebrities and noncelebrities. The latter were chosen through a highly competitive open recruitment process, which drew over 1,000 applicants.
Among the headline cast in the show's second season is legendary Go player Lee Se-dol, who famously challenged AlphaGo, the artificial intelligence program from DeepMind. Other high-profile cast members include "The Umbrella Academy" star Justin H. Min, Super Junior's Kyuhyun, former JTBC announcer Kang Ji-young, actress and KAIST alum Yoon So-hee, and professional poker player/music producer Seven High.
Returning to helm the series is star producer Jung Jong-hyun, best known for creating beloved Korean survival game hits such as "The Genius" and "Great Escape."
"We expanded the cast to 14 participants because, based on our simulations, we realized that if one player were eliminated each day, we would run out of players too soon. We felt it would be better to add a couple more. In reality shows like this, having a wide variety of characters is absolutely crucial," said Jung at a press conference held Tuesday in Seoul's Mapo-gu.
This season also introduces a dramatic shift in the show's setting. Instead of one unified residential space, players will now be divided between two distinct zones: the Living Area and the Prison Area.
"Players in the Prison Area must compete in Prison Matches, and the place where these matches are held is called the Death Room. It may sound simple, but the Death Room brings a significant shift to the entire tone of this season," said Jung.
In another major shakeup, the game creation process has been reimagined. Rather than relying solely on the production team, the new season brought in teams from the applicant pool to help develop the games themselves.
"In the past, the production team handled all the game planning and preparation internally, but this time, we formed teams from among the applicants and had them participate in the game development process," said Jung.
"Instead of the same old, worn-out games, you'll be seeing a lot of fresh, new ones this season."
"The Devil's Plan: Death Room" will roll out in three parts, starting with Episodes 1–4 on May 6, followed by Episodes 5–9 and Episodes 10–12 released on the subsequent Tuesdays.
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- Korea Herald
[김대균의 영어산책] "Flex" – 뽐내기와 자신감의 영어 표현
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Korea Herald
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Director Byun Sung-hyun crafts this character study around the relationship between the late Lee Sun-kyun's Machiavellian campaign mastermind and Sol Kyung-gu's principled presidential candidate, exploring how far good intentions can bend before they break entirely. The film shines in its refusal to romanticize either man. Chang-dae's dirty tricks prove devastatingly effective — vote buying, character assassination, and stoking the regional divisions that still plague Korean politics today all get deployed with ruthless efficiency. But Byun never lets us forget the human cost of these tactics, particularly as the two men's friendship fractures over the question of means and ends. The late Lee Sun-kyun brings measured calculation to the role that portrays depths of ambition beneath the surface, while Sol delivers one of his finest performances as a politician wrestling with his own complicity. Based loosely on the real-life relationship between future president Kim Dae-jung and his strategist Eom Chang-rok, "Kingmaker" asks whether winning at all costs in the name of democracy can ultimately betray the very ideals it claims to uphold. The answer it offers feels uncomfortably relevant to today's politics worldwide. Available on Google Play and Amazon Prime with English subtitles. "The Man Standing Next" (2020) Days before President Park Chung-hee's assassination in 1979, Korean CIA director Kim Gyu-pyeong finds himself caught between loyalty to an increasingly paranoid dictator and his own moral compass. The regime's inner circle becomes a nest of competing ambitions, with Kim facing off against the president's warmongering security chief (Lee Hee-jun) as he grapples with growing popular unrest and pressure from Washington. 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"The Fortress" (2017) Winter of 1636 finds Korea's Joseon dynasty trapped in a mountain fortress, besieged by Qing forces demanding submission to their new Chinese empire. Director Hwang Dong-hyuk (of "Squid Game" fame) uses this crucible of crisis to examine how high-stakes political maneuvering unfolds when a nation's survival hangs in the balance. The film centers on the philosophical divide between two royal advisors: Lee Byung-hun's pragmatic minister Choi, who advocates for immediately surrender to save lives, and Kim Yun-seok's idealistic minister Kim, who insists on fighting till the end to preserve honor. Park Hae-il's young king becomes the fulcrum between these opposing forces, ultimately responsible for decisions that will determine not just his own fate but that of his entire kingdom. 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