Netflix’s new No. 1 series “All of Us Are Dead” is sweeping the globe.
“All of Us Are Dead” debuted at No. 1 as the most viewed show on Netflix and set a new first-week record for any Korean title.
According to Netflix’s Top 10 chart for Jan. 24 to 30, “All of Us Are Dead” raked in 124.79 million hours viewed. This is equivalent to three days of viewing, or 41.59 million hours viewed per day, since the zombie series was released on Jan. 28.
This beat the first-week record of the global hit “Squid Game,” which garnered 61.19 million hours viewed in its first week on the chart covering the period Sept. 13 to 19.
“All of Us Are Dead” is in the top 10 in 91 countries and territories and Netflix said, “This marks the most hours viewed in the first week for any Korean title since we started releasing our Top 10s last year, and makes the series our most viewed title of the week.”
Streaming analytics company FlixPatrol’s data showed that as of Feb. 2, “All of Us Are Dead” is No. 1 in 58 countries and territories from 25 last Jan. 29, or a day after the series was released.
As “All of Us Area Dead” continues to gain in popularity worldwide, here are some facts about the zombie series.
1. Netflix announced the production of “All of Us Are Dead” in April 2020. The series was based on the Korean webtoon “Now at Our School,” written by Joo Dong-geun, which was serialized from May 2009 to November 2011 for a total of 130 episodes.
In July 2020, Netflix confirmed the cast of “All of Us Are Dead.” They were Yoon Chan-yeong, Park Ji-hu, Cho Yi-hyun, Lomon and Yoo In-soo. It was supposed to be released in July last year but Netflix decided to release it before the 2022 Lunar New Year.
Filming for “All of Us Are Dead” started in the second half of 2020. Korean media outlet Sports Donga reported last year that the filming was completed in February 2021.
2. In “All of Us Are Dead,” the students go to the fictional Hyosan High School in the fictional city of Hyosan in Gyeonggi Province in South Korea. In reality, the series was filmed at Seonghui Girls’ High School in Andong in North Gyeongsang Province, about 207 km. away from Seoul.
A report by Korean newspaper Kyongbuk Maeil Shinmun on Feb. 2 stated that Seonghui Girls’ High School has become a tourist attraction because of “All of Us Are Dead” as people visited the school during the Lunar New Year holiday in South Korea and taking photos at the school playground and looked for other filming locations.
3. While “All of Us Are Dead” is about high school students whose school was invaded by zombies, all the stars except one already graduated high school at the time they were filming the series.
During the press conference for the series last Jan. 26, it was revealed that Park Ji-hoo, who plays the role of Nam On-jo, was the only high school student at the time of the filming of “All of Us Are Dead” and was fondly called “baby angel” on the set.
“I was in my second year of high school when I was the same age as On-jo. I'm 20 years old now . Yes, there was a time when I went to the set after taking midterms. I wore my school uniform and went to the set and changed into a school uniform for filming,” said Park Ji-hoo, according to Pickcon.
She said her co-stars are “all older than me, but they're so comfortable and take good care of me. I spent a year listening to tips and advice on my life during college entrance exam counseling.”
Actor Yoon Chan-young, who plays Lee Cheong-san in the series, told Korean media in April 2021 that he auditioned for the role when he was in senior high school.
4. The movements of zombies were a product of choreography that was practiced for months. During the press conference, director Lee Jae-kyoo said, "We put a lot of effort into depicting the zombies in the series. We've worked with a team, which included an actor and a choreographer, to create the moves of zombies. I can say for sure that it will have more detail and better movements than any other Korean zombie works. Usually, a human turning into a zombie is the scariest part of zombie flicks. So for this series, the viewers will be able to feel the extreme fear with the scenes that show people transforming into zombies,” according to the Korea Times.
5. The students in the series wore green uniforms for a reason. Director Lee Jae-kyoo said green was used to visually maximize the red color of blood. A school set was built in a studio with a length of about 90 meters and height of up to four storeys. The director said, according to Korean media, that space was important in filming “All of Us Are Dead.” He said, “We couldn't do it on location, and there was a problem with blood remaining during filming, so we had to build a set. If there is another main character, it would be the school."
