The East Palace

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As the King's sons die one after another in the East Palace, the residence of the Crown Prince, a man who sees ghosts and a court lady who hears their voices are secretly ordered by the King to track down the cause in The East Palace, an eight-episode Netflix occult period drama starring Nam Joo-hyuk, Roh Yoon-seo and Cho Seung-woo.

Netflix released all eight episodes on July 17, 2026. The Netflix Korea page rates it 15+ and lists it under mystery series, action & adventure series, period pieces and horror series. It was produced by Showrunners and Imaginus. The Korean title, Donggung, refers to the residence of the Crown Prince, the heir to the throne. On Netflix's Global Top 10, it ranked No. 2 on the Non-English TV list for the week of July 13–19, which included only its first three days of release, with 4.9 million views (hours viewed divided by runtime), and held No. 2 the week of July 20–26 with 8.1 million views. It spent four weeks in total in that list's Top 10.

The series is directed by Choi Jung-kyu, who made MBC's Children of Nobody (2018) and tvN's The Devil Judge (2021), and written by Kwon So-ra and Seo Jea-won, the duo who co-wrote Entourage, OCN's The Guest and tvN's Bulgasal: Immortal Souls. At the press conference, Choi introduced the series as an occult fantasy horror built on a fictional world. The two writers said Korean folktales and folklore are full of gwimae, or ghostly creatures, and that they picked the ones with the powers the story needed and adjusted some of their traits to fit the series. Choi said he saw color as the most intuitive way to separate the real world from the world of spirits, and that he gave a lot of thought to the production design, VFX and camera techniques. He added that he wanted to show off the beauty of the palace architecture and costumes in every scene.

Nam Joo-hyuk plays Gu-cheon, who began seeing ghosts after he alone survived when he and his mother, a shaman, fell into the water when he was a child; Roh Yoon-seo plays Saeng-gang, a court lady who can hear the voices of ghosts; and Cho Seung-woo plays the King, who secretly summons the two to the palace. The story opens as the King's sons are dying one after another in the East Palace and rumors are spreading through the palace of a curse by the pond ghost. The King, who has dismissed ghosts and curses as superstition, has Gu-cheon brought into the palace in strict secrecy after even Prince Yeongan, his last remaining son, collapses, and on the King's orders Saeng-gang assists Gu-cheon in his work while also keeping watch on him. Gu-cheon can leave the palace alive only if he completes his mission. In episode 2, after a narrow escape while chasing the pond ghost, Gu-cheon joins forces with Saeng-gang, and the two begin digging into the story behind the "salt mine ghost." Jang Young-nam plays the Queen Dowager, Hwang Young-hee plays Consort Sukbin Choi and Tae In-ho plays Prince Ik-sang, with Hong Seo-jun, Lee Hong-nae and Hong Su-zu among the cast and a special appearance by Kwak Dong-yeon.

Nam Joo-hyuk, for whom this is the first work released since he completed his military service, said he received the script while he was still in the army. On the action, he said he kept working through the fight choreography at an action school and on set from before filming began, adding that practice was the only answer. Roh Yoon-seo said that since it was her first period drama and her first occult project, fear came first, but she approached it with a joyful mindset. For Cho Seung-woo, it is his first drama in three years, since Divorce Attorney Shin (2023), and his first streaming series; he said it was his third collaboration with director Choi and that he gladly joined after receiving the script. In an interview after the release, Nam said he had expected the little gwimae Kkeomeoksari to become the show's mascot, and that right up until the cameras rolled he would look at the Kkeomeoksari doll on set to find the right emotion for the scene. Choi said that if an offer for a second season came, he would like to do it.

See alsoBulgasal: Immortal Souls 2021The Devil Judge 2021Children of Nobody 2018

Drama Lineup editors · Fact-checked against: tenasia.co.kr, elle.co.kr, yna.co.kr, m.seoul.co.kr, netflix.com, Wikipedia, wikitree.co.kr, enews.imbc.com, mobile.newsis.com, news.mtn.co.kr · 2026-10-18