Surviving Dystopia: Immersive Spectacle as Transmedia Marketing in Netflix’s K-dramas
Hyun Jung Stephany Noh / Texas A&M Corpus Christi

Since K-dramas began circulating actively across continents in the 1990s, they have been more than just a television screen experience. For two decades since then, internationally popular K-dramas represented Korea as a romantic destination, with both domestic and international audiences traveling to famous production sites to immerse themselves in these affective experiences.[1] As K-dramas continued to evolve with the rise of cable platforms and the influx of foreign investment, a significant shift in genre and production quality occurred with the emergence of international streaming platforms, from the late 2010s. Netflix was leading the rise of dystopian speculative fiction and selected successful titles such as Squid Game (2021) and All of Us Are Dead (2022) to promote transmedia marketing strategies that extended into immersive experiences, including adventure theme parks and VR/AR environments. By presenting them as a thrilling experience, Netflix constructed visibly Korean spaces, not necessarily in Korea, to capitalize on the global success of its K-drama properties.

The Rise of Dystopian K-dramas, K-dystopia

Fig. 1: From left: Sweet Home, Hellbound, Squid Game, All of Us are Dead.

The mid 2010s was a tumultuous time for the Korean television industry. Main investors two decades long, China and Japan began pulling back investment across sectors, including media production, due to political and economic conflicts. At the same time, local Korean creators—mostly writers and directors—actively sought opportunities to produce innovative works that pushed beyond the creative and financial restrictions of K-drama staples commissioned by domestic networks. The creators found new opportunities by collaborating with a new international streamer, Netflix, quite interested in original production in Asia. Netflix Korea’s local strategy was to recruit A-list television writers and film directors with stories that challenged local network staples, offering them industry-leading compensation for IP ownership and exclusive worldwide distribution. This creative freedom and financial support paved the way for a wave of new genre series, including horror, monster, thriller, apocalyptic, and dystopian dramas. Among these Netflix Originals, Kingdom (2019–), Sweet Home (2020, 2023, 2024), Hellbound (2021, 2024), Squid Game (2021, 2024, 2025), and All of Us Are Dead (2022, 2026) stand out as notable productions that represented K-drama with specific genre conventions.[2]

The global success of the K-dystopian series was understood as a post COVID-19 pandemic response.[3] They also contained the orientalist characteristics of Asian cinema as extreme, cultlike[4] and masses following a faceless supreme leader.[5] They were reflections of the discourse of “Hell Joseon” or “Hell Korea,” a phrase that critiques the challenge of living a fulfilling life in Korea’s intense neoliberal society.[6] With Covid-19 and late capitalism as shared global experiences, Netflix’s release of original dystopian Korean series of the early 2020s emerged as a universal metaphor, reflecting and representing the collective trauma[7 ] experienced by audiences during this period. Although surprised by the breakout success of K-dystopian series, Netflix quickly strategized to expand these properties through transmedia marketing.

K-drama Themed Amusement Parks Around the World

Thus, K-dystopian theme parks began to be installed across major international cities. The spine thrilling experience could be enjoyed beyond the screen in person; spectacular K-drama themed sets were reproduced as theme-park attractions eliminating the need to travel to Korea to experience K-drama beyond the screen. The Korean setting was brought to international cities where the audiences could experience the spine-chilling thrill of Korean zombies and Korean death games. In Understanding Disney, Janet Wasko argues that Disney’s theme-park attractions function as ideological machines, selling fantasies and dreams through immersive spectacle in order to perpetuate global capitalist ends.[8] Similarly, Netflix’s immersive theme-park experiences based on successful dystopian K-dramas operate as spectacles of play, showcasing codified Korean elements as fresh and edgy entertainment. The sets and props in these constructed spaces simulated the K-drama experience in cities worldwide. The Korean setting is placeless and de-territorialized, yet exists in any city with identifiable K-drama theme, aesthetics, and characters, leading the audience back to the screen experience.

Netflix launched temporary to longer term theme park attractions based on K-dystopian series for audiences to become the characters and immerse into the story world. In Korea, during the Halloween season of 2024, the company collaborated with Everland—the biggest adventure theme park in Korea—to install horror themed experiences based on Netflix TV series All of us are Dead and Stranger Things as part of Blood City 8, Everland’s 8^th year in Halloween Festival installation. In addition to the spectacular sets, horror maze, and musical performance, zombie actors roamed the areas either posing for the camera or closing in on the participants. The rentable Hyosan High School uniforms and zombie-attacked-scar face painting added to the immersive experience of becoming the main character.

Fig. 2: Installation of spectacular sets and acting zombies themed by All of Us are Dead and Stranger Things at Everland, South Korea. Halloween season 2024.

Commensurate to Squid Game’s runaway success of ranking the highest in viewership, the transmedia marketing for the series gradually grew in scale. Setting aside a modest promotional set in Itaewon subway station in South Korea to publicize the show’s release in 2021, after becoming the most viewed series on Netflix, Squid Game themed experiences popped up in metropolitan cities around the world. Temporary immersive gaming sets called Squid Game: The Experience first launched in LA (2022), followed by Madrid, New York, and Sydney in 2024, then Seoul and London in 2025. The Experience not only sold reserved tickets for participants to play the games, but also Korean snacks and Squid Game merchandise. As seen in their promotional video, their main marketing phrase “Play Eat Shop” is not very different from other theme park attractions. The spectacular set immerses the participants to become the characters to play the game for “survival,” maximizing the thrill and edgy experience of K-dystopian themed amusement parks.

Fig. 3: Squid Game: The Experience, New York promotional video.

Conclusion

This temporary installation is now followed by a more permanent installation as part of Netflix House. Squid Game: Survival the Trials will be installed in Dallas alongside Stranger Things in December 2025, targeting a similar audience to that of Everland’s Blood 8. To “house” a permanent branding exhibition has emerged as a common marketing practice. The streamer’s selection of properties to be housed in Netflix House were globally successful seasonal productions, following in the footsteps of major legacy studios transmedia marketing strategies. Sarah Banet-Weiser analyzed how branding operates in cultural infrastructures, constructing ideology and identities,[9] which I find useful in analyzing Netflix’s branding practices as well. Netflix’s transmedia strategy of amusement theme parks with immersive and physical experiences demonstrates the company’s expansion into physical cultural spaces beyond the screen. Among Strager Things, Once Piece, and Wednesday, Squid Game’s experience stands out as offering a unique experience from Asia, engaging audience-turned-players with the series’ survival and gaming elements. The socially critical message of surviving dystopia is transformed into the spectacle of the game, elevating the Netflix brand as a globally exciting destination.

Image Credits:

1. From left: Sweet Home, Hellbound, Squid Game, All of Us are Dead.
2. Installation of spectacular sets and acting zombies themed by All of Us are Dead and Stranger Things at Everland, South Korea. Halloween season 2024.
3. Squid Game: The Experience, New York promotional video.

References:

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