Netflix’s “The Devil’s Plan: Dead Again” premiered on November 10, but the third season of the brain-survival series arrived under a cloud, as a viral online post resurfacing past controversies involving producer Jung Jong-yeon drew 500,000 views in a single day, according to MK Sports.
The post, uploaded to an online community on November 9, called for renewed scrutiny of Jung’s past directing work, raising claims including misogynistic directing choices, a cat abuse allegation, and secondary harm related to illegal filming. MK Sports noted that not all of the claims raised in the post have been confirmed as fact.
The incidents cited in the post date back several years, and each drew a response at the time. In 2020, tvN’s “The Great Escape 3,” directed by Jung, received a “recommendation” from the Korea Communications Standards Commission after characters were given names the commission said risked reinforcing gender stereotypes. The same year, “Nyang Is Fake” drew criticism over the adoption process for a cat featured on the show; the production team apologized and returned the cat to the shelter after it emerged that the adoption conditions given to the shelter differed from the actual filming environment. In 2022, TVING’s “Girls’ High School Mystery Class 2” faced criticism for an episode built around a student fabricating an illegal filming case; Jung apologized at the time, saying he should have handled crime-related material more carefully.
The producer controversy is the second cloud over the premiere. Cast member Lee Do, a star CSAT geography lecturer, halted his remaining lectures on October 29, three weeks before the national college entrance exam, and drew backlash after attending the show’s press conference on November 5. His agency Etoos apologized on November 9, and Lee Do issued a handwritten apology on November 10. MK Sports stressed that the two controversies involve different people and timelines, but their simultaneous surfacing has put the new season in the spotlight for reasons beyond its games.
“The Devil’s Plan: Dead Again” is the third season of Netflix’s brain-survival franchise, featuring returning champions including Jang Dong-min, Hong Jin-ho, Ha Seok-jin, and Jung Hyun-gyu. The 14-episode season released its first five episodes on November 10, with the rest rolling out over three weeks.
Neither Netflix nor Jung had issued a statement on the resurfaced post. With episodes still to come, attention now turns to whether the controversy affects the season’s reception.
