Seo Yea-ji is returning to the big screen with ‘Geumwoldo,’ a Korean vampire mystery film that casts her as Kim Ji-hoo, a woman who confronts her fate on a remote island.
Sports Dong-A reported the casting on November 4, citing Seo’s agency, B Wave Entertainment. The report said filming is scheduled to begin in mid-November, with a theatrical release targeted for 2027.
‘Geumwoldo’ takes its starting point from an actual cannibalism case recorded in the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty, according to the report. Set on a remote Korean island and within a closed community, the film presents a Korean-style take on the vampire genre, a combination the production is positioning as a fresh genre experiment.
Baek Dong-hoon, the director of ‘Le Grand Chef: Kimchi War,’ is set to direct the film. His appointment gives the unusual premise a director with a feature-film background, while the island setting and closed community provide the mystery with a contained, high-tension world.
In the story, Kim Ji-hoo arrives on Geumwoldo after receiving a message from her mother. Once there, she begins to investigate the mysterious events unfolding on the island, following a hidden secret that drives the film’s tension. The role puts Seo at the center of the mystery, as her character’s search shapes the unfolding story.
No direct quote from Seo Yea-ji was included in the report of the announcement.
The casting continues a recent broadening of Seo’s work across screen, television and stage. The report notes that she has taken on a range of characters across film and television, and that she recently made her stage debut in the play ‘Praise of Death,’ where her delicate emotional expression drew praise from audiences. A genre-led mystery is a different kind of test from that stage work: it asks her to carry sustained tension and investigation across a feature, while grounding an unusual premise in a recognizably human character.
With filming due to start in mid-November, ‘Geumwoldo’ now moves from announcement to production. A 2027 theatrical release remains the stated target, with further casting and production details expected to emerge as that schedule takes shape.
