‘The East Palace’ Review: Netflix’s Creepy New Supernatural K-Drama
The East Palace is a new dark fantasy series for those who love palace intrigue and spooky supernatural horror. The K-Drama successfully blends horror, humor, mystery, and the supernatural with palace intrigue to make it a satisfying and bingeable watch. The series, which landed on Netflix on July 17, 2026, was directed by Choi Jung-kyu and written by Kwon So-ra and Seo Jae-won.
The plot of The East Palace
The story takes place in a fictionalized depiction of Joseon-era Korea and may have taken some inspiration from that history and ghost stories from that time. Here we follow Gu-cheon (Nam Joo-hyuk) as a man who can walk in the spirit realm after a tragedy of his own, and court lady Saeng-gang (Roh Yoon-seo), who has a tragic past she seeks justice for as well.
These two start off on the wrong foot, as often happens when there is a touch of romance in a story. But it isn’t long before the two have bonded and begin to show they care for one another. They become a formidable pair as they try to solve the mystery of the pond spirit and why the crown princes keep dying.
30 years prior, the kingdom’s crown princes, one by one as they get named, mysteriously died, as did many other innocent people to further the tragedy. The dowager queen (Jang Young-nam) believes it to be an angry spirit. She watches with disdain as the son of a lower-ranked concubine becomes the king and not the pure royal bloodline she believes should have.
But then the sons of the new king start dying again after 30 years, and an angry pond spirit seems to be involved. The king (Cho Seung-woo) dismisses the idea that dark spirits have done this, but later, when his youngest son is threatened, he employs (i.e., kidnaps and forces into servitude) Gu-cheon to investigate this and stop the threat to save his son.
As events in The East Palace unfold, it is revealed that the spirit’s aim is to destroy the royal bloodline entirely due to the past sins of the king himself. But who did what, when, and why is all part of multiple terrible royal family secrets that only certain royal personages and the spirit world know. The devastating secrets and politics in the palace complicate things for Gu-cheon and Saeng-gang quite a bit.
There is an element of danger for the show’s leads, as finding out too much could mean a death sentence, even to the king’s daughter. Saeng-gang, who has the ability to hear the spirits and has gotten in trouble in the past for it. Unfortunately for Gu-cheon, doing nothing could mean a death sentence as well if the king’s young heir dies as well.
Stranger Things underworld vibes mixed with Korean ghost stories
The East Palace features a few grotesque monsters, and while I am not a huge horror fan, I do appreciate unique monster character designs. There’s even an adorably creepy little guy called a Ggeomeoksali who attaches to Gu-cheon and tries to drain his yang energy. It steals a few scenes in the series and even helps out a bit. Think acorn-faced baby, but creepier. I fully expect to find plushies of this weird little guy somewhere on the internet.
The grudge-holding resentful spirits at the center of the story are called won-gwi, and they lurk in an underworld reminicent of the Stranger Things upside down. There is a dark and blood-red aesthetic to this world, referred to as the world of Gwi. Gu-cheon can project himself there through near-death experiences and fight the won-gwi to try to stop them or let them pass on to a more peaceful afterlife.
The worst of all is an evil spirit called the awk-gwi, whose lingering resentment aims to destroy the royal bloodline entirely and doesn’t care who else gets hurt in the process. Who that spirit actually is and why they have gone down this path, was a pretty neat twist that I didn’t see coming. So I won’t spoil it here.
Final thoughts on Netflix series The East Palace
For those missing Stranger Things, this show should scratch that itch. It should also satisfy those who love the twists and turns of a good mystery or the thrills of dangerous palace politics. There are also some strong acting performances from the lead cast, as well the younger actors in the series.
Could there be a season 2 of The East Palace? Should there be? There is certainly room for the series to continue, as it leaves us off with some threads for Gu-cheon and Saeng-gang, along with their creepy little buddy, to return to the palace and deal with more spirits there or elsewhere. And I believe it is deserving of another season to find out what happens next.
I enjoyed the chemistry between the two leads and would definitely like to see romance blossom more between them if there’s a season 2. The mystery itself, both the one from 30 years ago with the princes dying and the new one, has enough twists to be satisfying when the truth is revealed.
I was only slightly unsatisfied with the ending. I would have liked to see more justice doled out at the end for a certain character, but I suspect that’s where season 2 could take us if that is greenlit by Netflix.
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