**(From left) Korean stars Song Kang, Lee Si-young, Lee Jin-wook and Lee Do-hyun and their characters in “Sweet Home” (bottom). (Netflix)**

Netflix will be releasing on Dec. 18 at 4 p.m. its new Korean series “Sweet Home,” a 10-episode thriller where monsters abound and residents of an old apartment complex will try to survive.

“Sweet Home” is based on the Korean webtoon of the same name which has garnered 500 million views and stars Song Kang, Lee Jin-wook, Lee Si-young, Lee Do-hyun, Kim Nam-hee, Ko Min-si, Park Kyu-young and Go Youn-jung.

Song Kang plays the role of Cha Hyun-soo who moves into the Green Home apartment complex after losing his family in an accident. He plans to commit suicide by the end of the month but when he wakes up, he is confronted with a country facing a disaster where people turn into monsters. He and the apartment residents need to find answers to survive.

During an online press conference on Dec. 16, the cast and director Lee Eung-bok, who helmed “Mr. Sunshine,” “Goblin” and “Descendants of the Sun,” talked about the upcoming series.

Lee Eung-bok said “in every episode, all of the elements really intrigued me. I’ve seen other contents that have a lot of monsters and creatures but I don’t think I’ve seen one where they become monsters based on their own desires.”

“When I read the script, the monsters, you know, I wanted to see how they would come to life in the live action series. When I saw the trailer, I was really impressed. I can’t wait to see the whole series,” said Song Kang whose drama credits include “Love Alarm” and “When the Devil Calls Your Name.”

Lee Jin-wook, who plays the role of Pyun Sang-wook, agreed, saying, “I don’t think that we’ve seen anything like this before so I’m really excited for the series.”

Lee Si-young’s role is Seo I-kyung, a firefighter and a former special forces soldier who lives in Green Home after her husband died. She describes her character as someone “with strong survival skills.”

The Green Home apartment set was created and director Lee Eung-bok said it was “quite grand. Ninety percent of the series takes place on set so we really needed something substantial. And to prepare for that, our team saw a lot of different apartment buildings.”

For the monsters in the series, Hollywood special effects studio Legacy Effects was brought in. The studio is known for its works on the “Avengers,” “Avatar” and “X-Men.” It created the distinctive look of creatures. Spectral Motion, which worked on the Netflix series “Stranger Things,” was in charge of the visual of the “muscle monster,” “spider monster” and others. Korean VFX team Westworld worked on the computer graphics.

In casting the stars for “Sweet Home,” director Lee said Song Kang was recommended to audition by a junior director who directed him in “Love Alarm,” saying, “Since then, I came across these wonderful actors.”

When asked if he felt pressured since “Sweet Home” was entirely different from his previous roles in dramas, Song Kang said, “I really wanted to do a genre series and fortunately I got this opportunity to work on ‘Sweet Home’ so I’m very excited. Of course, there was some pressure on this transformation but I tried to enjoy even that pressure and weight on my shoulder.”

To the global audience in 190 countries waiting for "Sweet Home," Song Kang said, “I am glad to meet the audience on Netflix again with ‘Sweet Home,’ following my previous work ‘Love Alarm.’ I put a lot of efforts and thoughts into showing a completely different side of me from ‘Love Alarm,’ so I hope you look forward to seeing ‘Sweet Home’ and love it.”

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Monsters abound in Netflix’s new Korean thriller series ‘Sweet Home’