Where Ggeokmeoksali in The East Palace came from: the writers on its folklore source

What happened

On 7 August 2026 OhmyNews published an interview with 제갈승, a director at Dexter Studios, the visual effects company behind the Netflix series The East Palace, about how the creature Ggeokmeoksali was created. 제갈승 oversaw the series’ visual effects, and in the interview he set out the standard he worked to when the character was being designed.

“Cuteness and innocence were the core of it. What you see is the result of revising and revising around that,” 제갈승 told the outlet. He added: “I have two daughters, and the cutest, most lovable stage was when they had just started to toddle. They can’t speak yet, but they express everything through their movements and their faces, and I thought that was the best fit for Ggeokmeoksali.”

In the same article the writers explained where the creature came from: “Ggeokmeoksali was drawn from an oral urban legend. It is a being that appears in relatively modern folk tales rather than in the Joseon era. The name comes from a word meaning ‘black as pitch’ and a word meaning ‘to live’.” The same article noted that Ggeokmeoksali appears from episode two onwards.

Why is it trending?

The interview about the creature’s origins arrived while The East Palace was still being counted in Netflix’s weekly rankings. Netflix’s top 10 page listed the series at number two among non-English TV shows for the week of 20 to 26 July 2026, with 8.1 million views and 55.2 million hours viewed, in its second week in the top 10. In the previous week, 13 to 19 July, the same series was also listed at number two, with 4.9 million views.

For the week of 3 to 9 August it was listed at number 10 among non-English TV shows, in its fourth week in the top 10. The OhmyNews interview appeared between those weeks, on 7 August, and used the production team’s own words to explain where the Ggeokmeoksali character came from and what guided its design.

What you need to know

• The writers told OhmyNews that Ggeokmeoksali was drawn from an oral urban legend, and that it is a being from relatively modern folk tales rather than from the Joseon era.
• On the name, the writers said it comes from a word meaning “black as pitch” and a word meaning “to live”.
• The same article noted that Ggeokmeoksali appears from episode two onwards.
• 제갈승 of Dexter Studios, who oversaw the series’ visual effects, said: “Cuteness and innocence were the core of it. What you see is the result of revising and revising around that.”
• 제갈승 said his two daughters, at the age when they had just started to toddle and expressed everything through movement and facial expression rather than speech, struck him as the best fit for Ggeokmeoksali.
• The East Palace is a Netflix series released on 17 July 2026, and it is listed on a Netflix title page, so it can be watched worldwide on the platform.
• On Netflix’s top 10 page the series was listed at number two among non-English TV shows for 20 to 26 July, with 8.1 million views and 55.2 million hours viewed, and at number 10 for 3 to 9 August.