'Money Heist: Korea'— Everything We Know About Netflix's New Spin-Off

Life and Trends Reporter

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Netflix has unveiled more details on the Korean spin-off of Money Heist, the cult Spanish crime drama of the same name (known as La Casa de Papel in Spanish), in the show's latest action-packed official trailer.

The original series sees members of a group, who are recruited by a mysterious man known as the "Professor," come together to undertake a grand heist.

The Korean remake—titled Money Heist: Korea - Joint Economic Area—stars Squid Game actor Park Hae-soo (who was contestant no. 218 in the hit Netflix K-drama series) as the "Berlin" character, the older brother of the Professor and second-in-command on the heist team.

The new show aims to "breathe new life" into the original storyline, Netflix said back in March.

Here's everything we know so far about the highly anticipated upcoming K-drama series.

Money Heist: Korea - Joint Economic Area Release Date

Netflix confirmed Money Heist: Korea - Joint Economic Area Part 1, consisting of six episodes, will be released on June 24, 2022.

Money Heist: Korea - Joint Economic Area Plot Details

The upcoming spin-off is set on the Korean peninsula and will follow the same premise as the original series, with a group staging an "unprecedented hostage robbery" in the face of "extraordinary challenges," according to Korean media.

The latest trailer, released on June 3, opens with the Professor recruiting the show's Tokyo character in a dark alleyway, telling her: "I have a plan. A huge one."

The clip then switches to the Professor laying out the plan of the grand heist, which will entail stealing "four trillion [Korean] won" of a unified currency under the peninsula's Joint Economic Area and "be gone like the wind."

The video then features scenes of screaming hostages, with a purple-haired heist member pointing a gun at a hostage saying: "I'll blow your head off if you do something stupid."

A voice in the clip then asks North Koreans to stay on one side, while South Koreans are instructed to go on the other side, noting that: "If anyone on either side makes a mistake, the other side will be punished for it."

Following several more action sequences, from police raids and shootouts to car chases, another voice says: "But not everything in life happens as planned."

The trailer concludes with a dramatic confrontation that sees Tokyo pointing a gun at Berlin before turning around to see a gun also being pointed at her by someone else.

"Getting the public on our side is the last piece of the puzzle," the Professor says, adding: "Our heist will go down in history as a revolutionary crime," before the video ends.

Still from Korean remake of "Money Heist". — A still from "Money Heist: Korea - Joint Economic Area Part 1" on Netflix, which is out on June 24, 2022. Netflix

In a teaser clip released by Netflix on April 28, members of the heist team clad in the classic red jumpsuits were seen sporting white masks inspired by the traditional Korean Hahoe mask.

According to Netflix, the "bloodstains scattered on one side of the white mask raises yet another question, foreshadowing that this heist will also entail life-threatening overturns."

With close-up shots tracing the curves of the mask, a voice in the clip said: "A robber who steals petty cash either gets killed while being chased or ends up in jail. But a robber who steals on a massive scale can change the world and even become a hero."

The video later pans to a wide shot of six masked heist members in red jumpsuits, along with one purple-haired member in a black coat and heels—all holding guns within an enclosure. One heist member is then shown pressing a mysterious red "close" button (next to a green "open" button) on a device before the scene blacks out.

"Of all the money heists, we'll pull off the biggest one yet. The public will watch this greatest show on Earth live. And they will root for us," the narrator in the clip concludes.

A special teaser video released by Netflix on January 17 features a collection of different masks, including the Salvador Dali-inspired masks worn by the heist team in the original series.

The video begins with a spotlight on the Professor who is seen standing over a desk. The scene transitions to reveal a wall of different traditional Korean masks used in "talchum" or "talnori"—which are masked dance drama performances that form part of Korean shamanist rites—as well as the mask from the original show.

The Professor is later seen looking at the wall of masks, with his hand seemingly reaching for the Dali-themed one before the scene cuts away. Could this juxtaposition of the Korean masks and the original one be symbolic of a plot crossover between the two series to be played out in the latest remake?

The second half of the title of the Korean series—"Joint Economic Area"—appears to be a play on the Korean peninsula's real-life Joint Security Area (JSA), the portion of the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) where North and South Korean soldiers stand face to face.

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Money Heist: Korea - Joint Economic Area Cast

In addition to Squid Game's Park, the series stars Yoo Ji-tae, the Korean actor known from several Korean films including Oldboy, as the Professor.

Kim Yunjin—the Korean actress who featured in Lost (the U.S. television series) and various Korean films and K-dramas—plays Seon Woo-jin, the chief of the crisis negotiation team of the National Police Agency.

The Korean remake also stars Jun Jong-seo as "Tokyo." Jun is known from the masterful psychological Korean thriller Burning, starring Minari's Steven Yeun and Yoo Ah-in from the recent hit Netflix K-drama Hellbound.