Gyeongseong Creature Season 1: A Netflix K-Drama Guide to 1945 Colonial Seoul, Cast, and Filming Locations

Gyeongseong Creature (경성크리처, Gyeongseong Keuricheo) drops a body-horror monster into the last spring of Korea’s colonial occupation — a swing that could have collapsed under its own ambition and mostly doesn’t. The South Korean period thriller streams worldwide on Netflix, where Season 1 landed in two drops: Part 1 (seven episodes) on December 22, 2023, then Part 2 (three episodes) on January 5, 2024 — ten episodes that read as one continuous story. Kang Eun-kyung (강은경) wrote it, Chung Dong-yoon (정동윤) directed, and the marquee draw is the pairing of Park Seo-joon and Han So-hee, two of the biggest names Korean TV could put on a poster.

The premise (spoiler-light): It’s the spring of 1945 in Gyeongseong — the name Seoul carried under Japanese rule — in the months before liberation. A creature, born from human greed and cruelty, starts moving through the city, and two young people get pulled toward it from different directions: a wealthy, fast-talking pawnshop owner who knows everyone worth knowing, and an investigator looking for someone she lost. A missing-persons job turns into a fight to stay alive. The show wants to be both a monster picture and a clear-eyed look at a brutal stretch of Korean history, and to its credit it carries the emotional weight without letting the jump-scares off the hook.

Lead cast and characters:

• 박서준 Park Seo-joon as Jang Tae-sang (장태상), the owner of the House of Golden Treasure pawnshop and the most well-connected man in Gyeongseong — charming, shrewd, and far braver than he lets on.
• 한소희 Han So-hee as Yoon Chae-ok (윤채옥), a fearless sleuth with a reputation for tracking down the impossible, who arrives in the city searching for her missing mother.
• 클라우디아 김 Claudia Kim as Maeda Yukiko (마에다 유키코), the elegant and dangerous wife of a senior Japanese officer.
• 위하준 Wi Ha-jun (of Squid Game) as Kwon Jun-taek (권준택), Tae-sang’s friend with a hidden cause.
• 김해숙 Kim Hae-sook as Madam Nawol (나월댁), the formidable manager of the pawnshop.

Why it matters: This was one of Netflix’s big Korean bets of the 2023–2024 season, leaning hard on Park Seo-joon (Itaewon Class, What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim) and Han So-hee (My Name, Nevertheless). The production design and the chemistry between the leads got most of the praise; the show also refuses to soften the cruelty of the colonial period, which is worth knowing going in. It climbed Netflix’s global non-English charts and earned a second season that jumps the story into the present day. Watchers who like their historical K-dramas with a genre streak will find it in the same neighborhood as Mr. Sunshine and Pachinko.

Real Korean filming locations (a tourism tie-in): Most of 1945 Gyeongseong lives on purpose-built sets and in visual effects, but the production also shot at real spots around Seoul you can actually stand in:

• Gyeongbokgung Palace (경복궁) — the grand Joseon-era royal palace in central Seoul, a must-see for any first-time visitor and beautiful in hanbok.
• Dongdaemun Design Plaza (동대문디자인플라자, DDP) — the swooping Zaha Hadid-designed landmark whose futuristic curves stood in for grand interiors.
• Jogyesa Temple (조계사) — the serene head temple of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism, in the heart of the city.
• Gwanghwamun (광화문) — the iconic main gate and surrounding plaza near the palace district.
• National Folk Museum of Korea (국립민속박물관) and the National Museum of Korea (국립중앙박물관) — both showcasing the heritage the drama draws on.

The locations sit close together in central Seoul, so a half-day walking route linking Gyeongbokgung, Gwanghwamun, and Jogyesa is genuinely doable on foot.

A note on food: This is a horror-thriller, not a slice-of-life series, and it never turns a particular Korean dish into a plot beat — so there’s no signature meal to chase down here. Come for a different title if food is the reason you’re watching.

Where to watch: All ten Season 1 episodes are on Netflix with subtitles and dubs in several languages. Begin with Part 1 and roll straight into Part 2 — they’re one story split across two drops.