The South Korean series “Spooky in Love” is confirmed to premiere on July 18, 2026. The 12-episode production will air on weekends on the tvN network, taking over the time slot previously held by the series “Love Under Investigation,” and will be available globally through Netflix and the streaming service TVING.
Directed by Lee Min-soo with a screenplay by Choi Jung-mi, the work is a television adaptation of the 2011 film of the same name. Actors Park Eun-bin, Yang Se-jong, and Ong Seong-wu make up the main trio of this new version.
Restructuring the original story
While the 2011 film followed a street magician and a woman isolated from society, the 2026 adaptation changes the characters’ professions and socioeconomic status, placing the narrative within a corporate and legal context.
The plot now focuses on Cheon Yeo-ri (Park Eun-bin), a chaebol heiress and CEO of the Reina Hotel. Yeo-ri acquired the ability to see dead entities after a yacht accident. In the dynamic established by the series, anyone whose skin comes into direct contact with hers begins to see the same ghosts, which leads the protagonist to constantly wear gloves and isolate herself emotionally to avoid transferring the trauma to others.
The co-protagonist is Ma Kang-uk (Yang Se-jong), an elite public prosecutor. The script documents the growing closeness between the two when Kang-uk, who has a phobia of ghosts, begins investigating cold cases of murders and wrongful deaths reported by the entities that haunt Yeo-ri. The central relationship shares space with corporate intrigues involving the protagonist’s family hotel empire.
Main cast and characters
The narrative distributes its conflicts between the judicial system, family dynamics, and the struggle for control of large corporations.
- Cheon Yeo-ri (Park Eun-bin): The CEO of the Reina Hotel. The character maintains a strict professional demeanor during the day but deals with the harassment of supernatural entities at night.
- Ma Kang-uk (Yang Se-jong): The prosecutor responsible for conducting investigations into homicides linked to the apparitions. The character serves as the link of legal rationality who must deal with supernatural events.
- Kang Min-hwan (Ong Seong-wu): The antagonist of the plot. He is the heir to the CL Hotel & Resort Group, a direct competitor to the Reina Hotel. The character has a cold and calculating profile, rivaling the protagonist in the business sphere.
Corporate and judicial support groups
The struggle for succession in the Reina group and the prosecutor’s office work environment house the series’ supporting characters.
In the Reina family core, the matriarch and president Baek Kyung-ja (Ye Soo-jung) pressures her granddaughter Yeo-ri to take full control of the business. In silent opposition are her aunt Ok Kye-hee (Baek Ji-won) and her children, Cheon Ha-ri (Jo Hye-joo) and Cheon Dong-jun (Lee Dal), who are trying to change the company’s line of succession. The corporate team also includes general manager Bong Ji-uk (Lee Jun-hyeok) and secretary Eom Ji-soo (Kim Han-na).
At the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, investigations are supported by investigator Go Pil-dong (Lee Chang-hoon), prosecutor Lim Seo-hyun, and administrative employee Son Hyeong-min (Kim Min-ho).
Rounding out the plot are Kang-uk’s grandmother, Paeng Myo-sun (Cha Mi-kyung), the vice president of the rival CL group, Song Hee-won (Kim Seo-ra), and the ghost Ji-hwan (Kim Min-cheol).
Behind the scenes and transmedia material
Filming for the series took place between November 2025 and June 2026. The team recorded some of the outdoor scenes in the Republic of Singapore, using locations such as Lau Pa Sat and the Marina Bay area to represent the environment of large Asian real estate and hotel developments.
The television release is accompanied by parallel materials developed by the production company CJ ENM. A webtoon based on the script begins publication on the Naver platform one day before the series premiere, on July 17. The official soundtrack will be released on audio platforms on July 19, featuring the track “Tunnel,” performed by singer Liz from the group IVE.
The adaptation “Spellbound” expands on the premise of its source material, positioning supernatural phenomena within the corporate gears of modern South Korea. The series will be part of the official South Korean summer programming schedule and the Netflix catalog.