All of Us Are Dead (Korean: 지금 우리 학교는, Jigeum Uri Hakgyoneun, literally “Now at Our School”) is a 2022 South Korean zombie series that streams worldwide on Netflix. It dropped on January 28, 2022, climbed to the top of Netflix’s global charts almost immediately, and remains one of the most-watched non-English titles the platform has ever carried. Think of it as Train to Busan with room to breathe — the same gut-tightening tension, paced out over twelve episodes.
What it’s about
A science experiment at the fictional Hyosan High School goes badly wrong, and a fast-moving zombie virus tears through the building during a normal school day. The kids who survive the first hour are trapped on campus, cut off from any adult who can help them, and left to fight, hide, and improvise. The series comes from the wildly popular Naver webtoon by Joo Dong-geun (주동근), and it holds onto one nasty, irresistible question: what would teenagers actually do if the apocalypse interrupted a chemistry class? The answers run from brutal to genuinely tender — friendships get tested in real time, and a small act of courage can decide who lives.
The lead cast
The young ensemble carries the whole thing. Park Ji-hu (박지후) stars as Nam On-jo (남온조), a level-headed student whose firefighter father quietly drilled survival skills into her. Yoon Chan-young (윤찬영) plays Lee Cheong-san (이청산), the childhood friend who would walk through fire for her, and Cho Yi-hyun (조이현) is the cool, guarded class president Choi Nam-ra (최남라). The core group also includes Lomon (로몬, Park Solomon) as the popular Lee Su-hyeok (이수혁) and Lee Yoo-mi (이유미) — who became a global name that same year in Squid Game — as the self-absorbed Lee Na-yeon (이나연). Yoo In-soo (유인수) is the one you won’t shake: the bully Yoon Gwi-nam (윤귀남). The adult side leans on veterans: Kim Byung-chul (김병철) as science teacher Lee Byeong-chan (이병찬), Lee Kyu-hyung (이규형) as detective Song Jae-ik (송재익), and Jeon Bae-soo (전배수) as On-jo’s father Nam So-ju (남소주).
Why it matters
Directors Lee Jae-kyoo (이재규) and Kim Nam-su (김남수) pair the zombie chaos with something sharper underneath. The gore is real, but the show keeps circling back to school bullying, the gap between rich and poor kids, and how the institutions meant to protect the young simply fail when things go bad — and that’s what carried it past Korea. It topped Netflix’s non-English TV rankings in dozens of countries, riding the same global wave Squid Game had kicked up months earlier. Reviewers kept coming back to the teenage cast, several of whom announced themselves here. Netflix renewed it for a second season on June 6, 2022, with production running into 2026.
Where it was filmed (a K-Tour tie-in)
The looming Hyosan High set was partly purpose-built, but a lot of the school footage was shot at Seonghui Girls’ High School (선희여자고등학교) in Andong (안동), Gyeongsangbuk-do. VisitKorea points fans to the recognizable school gate and the covered bridge between buildings that turn up in several key scenes. Andong earns the trip on its own: it’s home to the UNESCO-listed Hahoe Folk Village (하회마을), with its traditional hanok houses and a centuries-old mask dance. Tack the village onto a filming-location stop and you’ve got an unhurried day in Korea’s heritage country.
A taste of Korea on screen
Watch closely and you’ll catch that Cheong-san’s family runs a Korean fried chicken (치킨) shop — a small detail that roots these kids in ordinary life right before everything falls apart. Crispy, double-fried Korean chicken, ideally as chimaek (chicken and beer), is the country’s go-to comfort food, and its brief appearance here quietly stands in for the everyday world the students are trying to claw their way back to.
Should you watch it?
If fast survival thrillers with real emotional weight and a strong young cast are your thing, All of Us Are Dead delivers. It’s tense and, yes, sometimes gory, but it never loses the human thread. Stream it on Netflix with subtitles or dubbing in plenty of languages — and know going in that the ending is built to hand you straight to Season 2.
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