The SBS weekend drama ‘Haunted Palace’ has received high praise from international media and global drama fans, properly proving the status of K-fantasy.
The SBS drama kingdom is spotlighting ‘Haunted Palace’ (written by Yoon Soo-jung, directed by Yoon Sung-sik), a fantasy historical drama that it uniquely presents in 2025. The story features the shaman Yeori, who rejects the destiny of a medium, and the serpent spirit Gang-cheol, trapped in the body of Yeori's first love, Yoon-gap, as they confront the vengeful palchae-gi, leading to a tangled body and soul in a physical struggle fantasy rom-com. With the exciting material of the serpent's possession and the actors' divine character play, the engaging palace mystery and the spine-chilling presence of K-fantasy are appropriately blended, maintaining a continuous rise in viewership ratings to secure the top spot in both the same time slot for three weeks in a row and for Saturday mini-series.
Meanwhile, ‘Haunted Palace’ has maintained an unstoppable box office success on the global stage. For the third week of airing, it has claimed the number one title across various global over-the-top (OTT) platforms, showcasing its presence as a global hit. It ranked first on Lemino (NTT Docomo), a Japanese OTT platform, for the top spot in Asian genres, and secured the overall drama category's top position on Hami Video, a Taiwanese OTT platform, while also achieving number one on VieON and FPT Play in Vietnam, and topping the Hallyu genre on the Indonesian OTT platform Vidio, proving its global popularity. Furthermore, it recorded an impressive 8.6 points on IMDb, the world's largest content rating site (as of May 7, 2025), showing its power as the highest-rated K-drama currently airing, with an overwhelming score of 9.7 on Rakuten Viki, also as of May 7, 2025. For the third week of airing, it has positioned itself at number one in 89 countries, including major markets such as the U.S., U.K., France, and Australia, spreading the charm of K-fantasy to the world.
In addition, foreign media are focusing intensely on ‘Haunted Palace.’ In an article from the prominent Hong Kong outlet South China Morning Post, journalist Pierce Conran noted, “The strength of this drama is its ability to interestingly mix multiple genres and seamlessly combine a dense plot. ‘Haunted Palace,’ featuring shamans, serpent spirits, and other fantastical beings, delivers continuously frightening scenes in line with its name, but does not terrify the viewers. These scenes offer a visual allure that imparts a sense of coherence not conveyed in fragmented storytelling. Under the direction of Yoon Sung-sik, who is highly experienced in historical dramas, these elements are neatly stacked together.” Additionally, the foreign film and entertainment media Leisurebyte praised it, stating, “It brings both laughter and warmth amidst the millennia-old serpent spirit and human interactions. Even in the chaotic storyline with body-swapping and the appearances of fantastical beings, it provides perfect entertainment.”
At the same time, the reactions from international viewers are also enthusiastic. They express thoughts like, “I have been waiting for this kind of fantasy drama,” “The unique romance and traditional exorcism are so interesting. Who wouldn’t like this drama?” “I am completely captivated by the serpent spirits, fantasy, action, and mystery woven into this traditional culture,” and “Every scene with the serpent spirit Gang-cheol is truly charming.”
Meanwhile, in the latest broadcast, episode 6, Gang-cheol (played by Lee Seung-jae) and Yeori (played by Kim Ji-yeon), along with King Lee Jeong (played by Kim Ji-hoon), attempted to eliminate the palchae-gi, but they failed to completely extinguish it. During this, the visually impaired expert Pan-soo (played by Kim Sang-ho), who lost power due to the palchae-gi's internal injuries, caused chaos in the palace again by targeting the unborn child of the Queen (played by Han So-eun) using the spirit stone (played by Kim Jun-won). In addition, as Gang-cheol became aware of his love for Yeori, the drama ended with Yeori in a horrifying situation while trying to catch the spirit stone, raising curiosity about future developments.
[Photo] SBS ‘Haunted Palace’
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