Watch: “The Scandal” Starring Son Ye Jin, Ji Chang Wook, And Nana Announces Premiere Date With First Teasers

Netflix’s upcoming drama “The Scandal” has unveiled new posters and a teaser!

“The Scandal” depicts the daring and dangerous love game between Lady Cho ( Son Ye Jin ), a woman whose exceptional skills far exceed the confines of the women’s quarters, and Cho Won ( Ji Chang Wook ), the greatest playboy of Joseon. Their risky bet ensnares another woman, Hui Yeon ( Nana ), who becomes entangled in their escalating deceit.

The posters capture the three characters entangled in a secretive seduction wager as if they were figures in a painting. Lady Cho, seated in the inner quarters amid a profusion of red flowers, teases why this seemingly virtuous noblewoman would propose the bet and what desires she harbors.

True to his reputation as a Joseon-era ladies’ man, Cho Won sits confidently among women who look as though they have stepped out of a portrait, teasing whether he will win the bet and obtain what he desires.

Hui Yeon, wearing a sorrowful expression amid luxuriantly blooming plum blossoms, deepens the mystery surrounding what fate awaits her after unknowingly becoming the object of the wager. Adding to the mystery is the phrase, “Desire what is forbidden,” which hints at how the bet that drives the characters to defy the taboos of their era and reveal their desires will ultimately end.

The accompanying teaser signals the beginning of a scandal that will turn Bukchon, where the noble class has established itself, upside down. The tension builds as Lady Cho, who sees through everything, makes her proposal, which Cho Won accepts with a look filled with desire, while Hui Yeon’s frightened expression is shown through cross-cutting. The subtle tension between Cho Won, who approaches Hui Yeon in pursuit of victory, and Lady Cho, who watches them, combines with Korean-inspired mise-en-scène that heightens the sensuality, sending anticipation for the series soaring.

“The Scandal” is an adaptation of French writer Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’s 1782 novel “Dangerous Liaisons,” transposed to the Joseon Dynasty. As director Jung Ji Woo commented, “I didn’t simply want a romance structure. I built the story around protagonists who possess the modern self-awareness of ‘Who am I?’” The series is expected to reinterpret the classic story from a contemporary perspective in 2026, portraying in three dimensions the desires of various characters who defy the taboos of Joseon.