If your K-drama queue has gone quiet, Netflix has something for the 17th. The East Palace is a Korean period mystery with a supernatural spine, and the main trailer and posters are now out ahead of its premiere. It is the sort of show that arrives with a curse, a haunted palace and a very good cast, and does not pretend otherwise.
The premise
The East Palace is set between a royal palace and a shadowy spirit realm known as the Realm of Gwi. At the centre is Gu-cheon (Nam Joo-hyuk), a man who can move between the world of the living and the world of the dead. The king (Cho Seung-woo) summons him to the palace and pairs him with Saeng-gang (Roh Yoon-seo), a court lady who can hear the voices of spirits.
Together they are sent to find the source of a deadly curse that has taken root in the East Palace, a haunting that first surfaced 30 years ago and is now starting again. As the two travel between life and death under the king’s secret orders, they peel back a history the royal family would rather stayed buried.
Who made it
The series comes from director Choi Jung-kyu, whose credits include The Devil Judge and Children of Nobody, working with writers Kwon So-ra and Seo Jea-won. That writing pair is a useful signal: they are the names behind Bulgasal: Immortal Souls and The Guest, two of the better Korean occult dramas of recent years. If you liked the way those shows treated folklore as something with rules rather than set dressing, this is aimed squarely at you.
On casting Nam Joo-hyuk, Choi said: “From the first time I saw Nam Joo-hyuk, I was convinced he was the one who would choose to step into the Realm of Gwi and face his destiny.”
What the trailer shows
The mood is the point. The palace is beautiful and the silence over it is heavy. A spirit’s voice shrieks into the king’s ear, vowing to erase every trace of the royal bloodline. The king, recognising what happened three decades ago, calls Gu-cheon in and places Saeng-gang beside him to watch him closely. From there the pair slip back and forth between the real world and the Realm of Gwi, and each clash with the spirits drags another royal secret into the light.
The main poster leans into that partnership. Standing in a pond lit by the crimson aura of the Realm of Gwi, Gu-cheon is bound by a coarse rope that Saeng-gang pulls with everything she has.
When to watch
The East Palace premieres on Netflix on 17 July. Clear the Friday night.
Images courtesy of Netflix.