Reunite the two leads of Uncontrollably Fond, hand them a script by the writer of Goblin and The Glory, and you get the kind of release Korea talks about for weeks. Genie, Make a Wish (Korean: 다 이루어질지니, Da Irueojiljini) landed on Netflix on October 3, 2025, and pulled roughly 8 million views in its first full week — enough to top the platform’s non-English chart out of the gate. It’s a 2025 fantasy rom-com, streaming worldwide with subtitles and dubs in several languages.
The premise (no spoilers)
A genie named Iblis comes loose from his lamp after 983 years locked inside it. The person who frees him is Ki Ka-young, who has built her life around routine and keeps other people at arm’s length. He offers her three wishes, and the show runs with that on two tracks at once: big fantasy set pieces and brisk comedy up top, a slow-burn between two badly mismatched people underneath. The real subject is quieter than the lamp suggests — loneliness, free will, and what someone actually reaches for once everything is suddenly on the table. Stylish and light on its feet, with more emotional ballast than the premise lets on.
Lead cast and characters
Kim Woo-bin (김우빈) plays the genie Iblis (이블리스), centuries old, mischievous, and getting his bearings in the modern world. Bae Suzy (배수지) is Ki Ka-young (기가영), the guarded woman who ends up his master — a casting reunion after Uncontrollably Fond that fans had been waiting on. The bench around them is deep: Ahn Eun-jin (안은진) as Lee Mi-joo, Noh Sang-hyun (노상현) as Ryu Su-hyeon, Ko Kyu-pil (고규필) as Sade, and Lee Joo-young (이주영) as Choi Min-ji.
Why it matters
The byline does a lot of the talking. It’s written by Kim Eun-sook (김은숙) — Goblin, Descendants of the Sun, The Glory — and directed by Ahn Gil-ho (안길호), who also made The Glory. That pairing came loaded with expectation, and the opening numbers held up: per South Korean tracking data, Suzy and Kim Woo-bin took the top two spots in actor buzz rankings during the early weeks, and it was the most-talked-about OTT drama at home. If you’re new to K-drama, the star wattage and Kim Eun-sook’s fantasy-romance instincts make it an easy on-ramp; if you’ve watched her work for years, you already know the register.
Real Korean filming locations to visit
Some of it was shot abroad in Dubai, but most of Genie, Make a Wish stayed in South Korea, which makes for a watch-and-travel route. The marquee stop is N Seoul Tower (남산서울타워) on Namsan, alongside the Inspire Resort (인스파이어 리조트) in Incheon and the quiet Bulamsa Temple (불암사) in Namyangju. In Seoul itself, the department store The Hyundai Seoul (더현대 서울) and the long-running Korean BBQ institution Samwon Garden (삼원가든) in Gangnam both turn up. For the rural stretches, the production headed to the historic Uirimji Reservoir (의림지) in Jecheon, the Byeolmaro Observatory (별마로천문대) in Yeongwol, and the wood-themed cafe Suyeonmokseo (수연목서) in Yeoju.
Korean food featured
Two dishes are worth chasing down. There’s gamjatang (감자탕), the spicy pork-bone-and-potato soup, eaten at a Paju restaurant, and Korean BBQ (한우 숯불구이) — beef over charcoal — at Samwon Garden. Both are everyday comfort food, so you can have them at the actual filming venues or at any decent neighborhood spot.
Where to watch: Stream Genie, Make a Wish exclusively on Netflix.
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