The star producer moves away from rookie-focused casting formula to explore what happens when seasoned players meet again
Forget rookies, the masters are back.
Netflix Korea's entertainment show franchise "The Devil’s Plan" took global Netflix charts by storm in 2023 with a simple, unique premise: Throw lawyers, gamers, science YouTubers, and K-pop idols into an intellectual war zone and see who survives. Previous seasons pitted prominent figures — including Go legend Lee Se-dol — against one another in complex board and memory challenges.
Now, star producer Jung Jong-yeon ("The Genius," "The Great Escape") returns for Season 3.
Breaking with the franchise's long-standing tradition of debuting fresh talent, the new installment, titled “The Devil’s Plan: Dead Again,” gathers seasoned competitors and former champions for the first time.
One of the biggest talking points surrounding the new lineup is the return of Jung Hyun-gyu, the winner of Season 2, whose victory sparked considerable controversy.
Jung, who first gained widespread attention through the dating reality hit “EXchange 2,” walked away with the 380 million won ($283,000) grand prize last year. However, his gameplay had drawn its share of backlash. Viewers criticized his perceived disrespectful attitude toward fellow contestants, including Super Junior member Kyuhyun and actress Yoon So-hui.
At a press conference in Seoul on Thursday, Jung acknowledged his past conduct and said he hoped to show a more mature side of himself through the new competition.
“I was too immature to consider how viewers would perceive my gameplay in Season 2. ... I decided to take on this challenge again because I wanted to make up for that with a more mature attitude and prove that through this season,” he said.
Season 1 champion and actor Ha Seok-jin, a familiar face from brain-game programs, is also reentering the fray. A veteran of cerebral hits like "Problematic Men" and "Brain Academy," the actor quipped that the show's producers badgered him relentlessly into making a comeback.
“The production team was relentless. They even came all the way to my house,” he said.
Ha noted that bringing familiar faces back created a markedly different social dynamic among the contestants.
“The new season felt almost like a dating show. Netflix has shows like ‘Single's Inferno,’ and it was as if they had gathered all the popular men and women from those programs and told them to date each other again. Everyone was a heartthrob or a leading lady,” he said.
Another major addition is comedian Jang Dong-min, a veteran who has won five survival competitions: tvN's “The Genius: Black Garnet,” “The Genius: Grand Final,” and “Society Game 2,” alongside Wavve's “Bloody Game 3” and “Betting on Fact.”
Producer Jung admitted that bringing in Jang presented its own casting dilemma because of the comedian's towering reputation.
"Casting Jang was a difficult decision in some ways. If he joined, all the spotlight would inevitably be on him. He's such an overwhelmingly dominant player,” Jung said.
“If we were talking about the NBA, he'd be Michael Jordan. I imagine he's one of the contestants viewers are most looking forward to seeing.”
Jung explained that shifting to a veteran-heavy roster broke the franchise's long-standing casting rules.
“We had generally followed the principle of casting people with no prior survival-show experience. But this time, I started wondering what it would be like to see people who already had that experience go through it all again. That led me to think we should bring back the winners,” he said.
To round out the cast, the production team set three criteria: players capable of turning the game around even without prior wins, select fresh faces and competitors strong enough to hold their own against the veterans.
According to Jung, compared to earlier runs, the new season zeroes in on pure tactical gameplay and mental skill.
"We focused on making this a brains-first competition. Compared with previous seasons, we put more emphasis on the intellectual and strategic face-off between the players,” he said, adding that he incorporated devices tailored specifically for dedicated fans of cerebral survival shows.
“The Devil’s Plan: Dead Again” premieres Wednesday exclusively on Netflix.
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