(Spoilers for Seasons 1 and 2, including the winners. Season 3 premiered on November 10, 2026, so it’s covered with no spoilers.)
The Devil’s Plan is Netflix’s Korean “brain survival” show, where sharp minds live together and play strategy games for a big cash prize. Season 1 set the formula, Season 2 raised the stakes and caused a storm of controversy, and Season 3, Dead Again, brings back champions and veterans for a rematch. Here is everything, season by season.
Quick Facts
| Detail | Info |
|---|---|
| Platform | Netflix |
| Creator and director | Jung Jong-yeon |
| Season 1 | Premiered September 26, 2023, with twelve contestants |
| Season 2 (Death Room) | 14 contestants, with a prize fund of up to 500 million won |
| Season 3 (Dead Again) | Premiered worldwide on November 10, 2026 |
| Episodes | 12 each for Seasons 1 and 2, and Netflix plans 14 for Season 3 across three weeks |
| Winners so far | Ha Seok-jin (Season 1) and Jeong Hyun-gyu (Season 2) |
| Content rating | TV-MA |
| Where to watch in India | Netflix. Availability can differ by region, so check your app. |
What Is The Devil’s Plan About?
Contestants from different professions live together for about a week and compete in games of logic, memory, math, bluffing and betrayal. The games include social deduction, board games, card games and abstract strategy games like nine men’s morris. Players can form alliances, lie and backstab, and only one is crowned the winner. It’s often described as a milder Squid Game with no one getting hurt, only outsmarted.
How the Game Works
- Main Matches decide who gets eliminated or advantaged.
- Prize Matches add to the prize pot, and winners can also gain an edge.
- Each contestant starts with a gold piece they can use as leverage, so social tactics matter as much as intelligence.
- Players with fewer pieces face additional games to stay in the competition.
- Lies, alliances and betrayals are all part of the game.
Season 1: The Story (2023)
The setup. Twelve people lived together in one house for six nights and seven days, competing for up to 500 million won. The first four episodes dropped on September 26, with new episodes released weekly after that.
The cast. The players came from different backgrounds, including Boo Seung-kwan (Seungkwan of the group Seventeen), Park Kyeong-rim, Suh Dong-joo, Kwak Jun-bin and Suh Yu-min. Also in the mix were actor Ha Seok-jin, Lee Si-won, the player known as Orbit, and Kim Dong-jae, a poker player who stood out in the first season.
The middle. Hye-sung, Yeon-woo and Dong-jae were eliminated across Episodes 5 to 9, and the remaining players included Seungkwan, Dong-joo, Joon-bin, Kyung-lim, Yoo-min, Orbit, Si-won and Seok-jin. On day 4, one group made a fatal mistake as allegiances wavered and others got closer to unlocking the Devil’s secret. In the fifth main match, Lee See-won took on Orbit.
The finale. Ha Seok-jin and Orbit were the final two. Seok-jin won two of the three games, including Hexagon, which combined memorization and arithmetic, so the final Dice Poker game wasn’t needed. Viewers also debated whether Seok-jin had betrayed Si-won along the way. The Korea Times later interviewed both Seok-jin and the show’s creator about the strategy behind the game. Reports differ on how much he took home from the pot, so check a reliable source if you need the figure.
The reception. Reality Blurred gave it an A, praising simple but layered games that tempt players to put self-interest first, while Common Sense Media gave it 3/5, finding the game rather benign despite efforts to raise the danger. Another reviewer called the game design intricate but a bit exhausting because so much is going on.
Season 2, Death Room: The Story (2025)
The setup. Season 2 came two years after the first and went darker. The lowest scorers were sent to a prison block, where they competed in a second game in the Death Room. The 14 contestants included lawyers, poker players, doctors and actors.
The cast. The named players were Park Sang-yeon, Tinno, Jeong Hyun-gyu, Kang Ji-yeong, Lee Se-dol, Kim Ha-rin, CHUU, 7high, Choi Hyun-Joon, Lee Seung-hyun, Yoon So-hui, Justin H. Min and Son Eun-yoo, plus Kyuhyun, which makes 14. Justin H. Min is known from The Umbrella Academy and Beef, and 7high is a poker player.
The release. It was split into three parts: Episodes 1 to 4 on May 6, 2025, Episodes 5 to 9 on May 13, and Episodes 10 to 12 on May 20. Each batch streamed at 12:30 PM KST, which is 9:00 AM IST.
The twists. One game assigned roles of thieves and corrupt cops. Tinno and Yoon So-hui were chosen as thieves, while Kyuhyun and Jeong Hyun-gyu became the corrupt cops.
The finale. The last elimination game was a math challenge, and it left Jeong Hyun-gyu and Yoon So-hui as the final two. The final had three parts: Big-Small, Bagh-Chal and Questions and Truth. Jeong lost the second round, but recovered in the last part by accurately guessing So-hui’s answers. He took home 380 million won.
Who is Jeong Hyun-gyu? He first became known through the 2022 dating show Transit Love 2 (EXchange 2), and he reportedly scored 156 on the Mensa IQ test.
The backlash. Viewers criticized Jeong’s gameplay and decisions. In the finale, Kyuhyun sacrificed himself to save Jeong, and Yoon gave up betting in the final game, which confused viewers. Jeong, then 27, became the main target. He apologized in an interview and said he would donate his prize money. The producer also responded to the criticism, and some commentators argued that the contestants were bearing the blame while the platform did little to protect them. Despite the complaints, the season still dominated online conversation.
Season 3, Dead Again: What We Know (No Spoilers)
The premise. Season 2 centered on space with the “Death Room” concept, while “Dead Again” hints at the comeback of survival veterans who have already tasted “death” (elimination) and are ready to risk it all again. The tagline is “The Return. The Real Showdown.” At the production presentation on November 5, producer Jung Jong-yeon explained the title in his own words: people come to a survival show to be eliminated, so this time they have come to die a second time.
A new casting approach. The producer said he wanted to break from his earlier seasons, where he mainly cast people with no survival-show experience. This time he built the cast on three ideas: players who have won, players who didn’t win but changed the course of a show, and new faces strong enough to stand up to them.
A change in the games. The producer said the production focused on pure brain games, with more head-to-head mental showdowns between players than before.
The 16 players. The lineup mixes champions with stars from other survival shows.
| Player | Why they matter |
|---|---|
| Jang Dongmin | The “God of Survival Shows,” with a record five consecutive victories |
| Hong Jinho | Top-tier professional poker player with over $2.3M in career earnings |
| Oh Hyunmin | KAIST-educated “human calculator” from the “Jang-Oh Alliance” |
| Ha Seok-jin | Season 1 champion |
| Jeong Hyun-gyu | Season 2 champion |
| Kim Dong-jae | Season 1 standout and world-class poker player |
| XITSUH | Rapper and veteran of Game of Blood Seasons 2 and 3 |
| Yurisa | Mensa member (IQ 156) and winner of the Asian Ladies poker tournament |
| SHINDONG | Known for deductive instincts from Great Escape |
| Hyun Kyunglyul | Google engineer with a Ph.D. from SNU who dominated Society Game |
| John Park | Northwestern graduate and champion of The Time Hotel |
| JAE JAE | Core mastermind behind High School Mystery Club |
| Nucksal | 18-year veteran rapper and board game enthusiast |
| Yi Do | Star instructor and SNU graduate |
| Stella Jang | Multilingual singer and songwriter |
| Jung Wonyoung | Won both corporate survival contests and board game tournaments |
The man to beat: Jang Dongmin. He won The Genius Seasons 3 and 4, Society Game 2 and Game of Blood 3 for his record five straight titles. At the presentation, the producer compared him to Michael Jordan, saying all the spotlights naturally land on him. Jang said he has no plans to retire from survival shows, and joked that he came prepared for heavy targeting. His message was that the more he’s targeted, the stronger he gets, and he said this was the season with the heaviest targeting ever.
The champions’ view. Ha Seok-jin said the production team kept urging him to return, even coming to his door, and he compared the lineup to a gathering of the most popular stars from dating shows. Jeong Hyun-gyu named Jang Dongmin as the rival he was most wary of and said he wanted to face him head-on.
Release. Netflix plans 14 episodes across three weeks. That’s a single source, so confirm the exact schedule on Netflix. Earlier seasons followed a batch pattern of three to four episodes a week, which is why you can expect the winner to be revealed in the final batch.
Status. I couldn’t find episode results or reviews yet, since it premiered only yesterday, so I can’t say who wins.
Season-by-Season Comparison
| Season 1 | Season 2: Death Room | Season 3: Dead Again | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | 2023 | 2025 | 2026 |
| Players | 12 | 14 | 16 |
| Big idea | One house, gold pieces, social strategy | A prison block and Death Room games for low scorers | Past champions and survival veterans in a rematch |
| Winner | Ha Seok-jin | Jeong Hyun-gyu | Not known yet |
| Mood | Clever and fresh | Dark and divisive | Competitive and star-studded |
Pros
- Smart game design. The games reward logic, memory and psychology.
- Real social strategy. Alliances and betrayals drive the drama.
- Memorable casts. Champions, poker players, a Go legend and an idol keep things fresh.
- Easy to binge. Each batch ends on a cliffhanger.
- A comeback season. Season 3 gives the franchise a chance to fix what fans disliked.
Cons
- Complicated rules. New viewers may need a rewind.
- Low physical stakes. Some critics found Season 1 too mild.
- Season 2’s finale. Many viewers found the ending frustrating.
- Heavy editing. The story we see is a cut of what happened.
- Contestants take the heat. Season 2 showed how harsh the online backlash can get.
Season-by-Season Scorecard (Editorial)
| Season | Our rating | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Season 1 | 4 / 5 | Clever games, a deserved winner and a fresh format |
| Season 2: Death Room | 3 / 5 | Bigger twists and a strong cast, but a divisive finale |
| Season 3: Dead Again | Not rated yet | Just premiered, with a stacked lineup on paper |
Should You Watch?
Start with Season 1 if you like puzzles, strategy and social games. Move to Season 2 if you want a darker, bigger season, and expect some frustration at the end. Watch Season 3 last, because it brings back both champions, and knowing their stories makes it far more fun.
Where to Watch in India
All seasons stream on Netflix. Season 3 premiered worldwide on November 10, 2026, but release times can differ by region, so check your own app.
FAQs
What is The Devil’s Plan about? Contestants live together and play strategy games for a cash prize.
Who won Season 1? Ha Seok-jin, an actor.
Who was the runner-up in Season 1? Orbit.
Who won Season 2? Jeong Hyun-gyu, who took home 380 million won.
Who was the runner-up in Season 2? Yoon So-hui.
Why was Season 2 controversial? Viewers criticized the winner’s gameplay and some confusing finale decisions, and he apologized.
When did Season 3 premiere? November 10, 2026.
What is Season 3 called? Dead Again.
How many players are in Season 3? Sixteen.
Are the previous winners in Season 3? Yes, both Ha Seok-jin and Jeong Hyun-gyu are back.
Who is the favorite in Season 3? Jang Dongmin, with a record five straight survival-show wins, is the name everyone is watching.
Why is the season called Dead Again? The producer says the players have come to be eliminated a second time.
Is Lee Se-dol in Season 3? He isn’t on Netflix’s list of 16.
How many episodes does Season 3 have? One source says 14, released over three weeks. Check Netflix to confirm.
Do I need to watch the earlier seasons? Not strictly, but it helps to know the returning champions.
Is it like Squid Game? It has a similar survival feel, but with no violence. The danger is elimination.
Is Season 3 good? It’s too early to say, since reviews aren’t in yet.