By Lee Gyu-lee The global streaming platform Disney+ debuted another Korean original series, the sci-fi mystery Grid , this week, hoping to give a boost to its stagnating performance in Korea. Directed by filmmaker Lee Khan, who led the action film The Divine Move 2: The Wrathful (2019), the new suspense thriller series revolves around a mysterious figure called Ghost (Lee Si-young) who disappeared after developing a system known as Grid that protected humans from a deadly disaster. Some 24 years after her disappearance, she resurfaces and helps a serial killer get away. When detective Jung Sae-byeok (Kim A-joong) witnesses the existence of the mysterious being, she joins forces with government official Kim Sae-ha (Seo Kang-joon) to reveal the secret of Ghost and chase down the truth behind the link with the serial killer. The 10-part series was written by Lee Soo-yeon, who is the writer and creator of tvN’s hit crime thriller series Stranger . “It wasn’t easy to make up my mind to lead this series,” the director said this week. “What struck me was the series’ theme, which is ‘we should protect our planet Earth.’ Until now, I have actually been questioning why there are no series or films in Korea that talk about saving Earth. So I joined hands with the writer.” The 10 best movies from this year’s Berlin film festival The series would be a subtle sci-fi in genre with less visual effects, the director said. His main focus in making the series was creating a fictional universe in which to set the unfamiliar plot, he added. “There are a lot of sci-fi elements but our series doesn’t put forth the visual effects of those. It develops different stories that the writer wanted to unfold, anchoring on reality,” he said. “As the plot is rather unfamiliar, we put in a lot of effort to convincingly develop the fictional universe.” Kim is returning to the small screen after leading the fantasy medical series Live Up to Your Name in 2017. She said she was captivated by the story after reading the script. “I was drawn to how the plot developed. I could grasp the suspense throughout this mystery thriller story,” she said. “I was fascinated by the details and the style that writer Lee uniquely has.” Actor Kim Mu-yeol plays a senior government official, Song Eo-jin, who works for the department that manages Grid. He has been denying the existence of Ghost, so when Sae-byeok and Sae-ha team up to chase down the truth, he stands at odds with them. The actor said he was awed by the scientific background of the series, and hinted that it would offer an intriguing sci-fi story with a strong foundation in reality. “I once read an article on how the solar wind can affect the Earth. And then I read the script and I was really impressed,” he said. “The story was heavily based on the findings of actual research. I’ve heard that the writer scripted the story from a library. That’s how impressive and surprising the story is.” Grid will release one episode every Wednesday at 5pm Read the full story at the Korea Times