Disney+ Sets US Premiere Date For New Korean Drama

Snowdrop, a Korean drama starring Jung Hae-In (Tune in for Love) and Blackpink singer Jisoo, will debut on Disney+ on February 9th, the streaming service announced today. While Disney has leaned hard into its intellectual properties on Disney+, with original Marvel and Star Wars content coming almost weekly, they have also managed to greenlight a handful of original, international series that will serve as staples in non-U.S. countries that carry the platform. American audiences are then getting a look at those productions as well, included as part of they same Disney+ membership that brings them U.S. content.

Per TheWrap, who first reported on the announcement, Snowdrop is a period drama, set in 1987, which “tells the forbidden love story of a Southern Korean college student (Jisoo) and a North Korean spy (Jung Hae-in) as South Korea fights for its independence.”

“Snowdrop is a heart-warming fictional melodrama about a young couple in love, and as the story unfolds, find themselves enduring an unbearable pain that one rarely encounters in a lifetime. I hope global audiences find this heartfelt series also gripping and suspenseful as the two come to face their fate,” said director Jo Hyun-tak in a press release from Disney+.

Of course, it’s a bit of a Disneyfied version of history, prompting criticism over its historical accuracy and, according to NME, campaigns to ban it in Korea. The protests managed to drive away a number of advertisers for South Korean TV network JTBC, where the series first aired.

According to Disney+, all 16 episodes of the series will drop at once on Disney+, foregoing the weekly release model that has become standard for many of the company’s Disney+ originals.

You can read the full synopsis for the series below.

“When a blood-soaked man (Jung Hae-In) bursts into the dormitory of a women’s university in Seoul, Korea, Eun Yeong-ro (Jisoo) will go against her better judgement and risk being expelled to hide the man from his attackers and tend to his wounds. Unbeknownst to Yeong-ro, the man has a harrowing secret that threatens to put her friends’ and family’s safety at risk, and the two young lovers will have to work together to overcome the obstacles.”