Young-soo is no ordinary mother. She has the supernatural ability to edit other people's memories, a power known as “brain hacking.”

And her “family” is no ordinary family. Throughout Coupang Play's upcoming original series “Family Matters,” Young-soo joins forces with four other people to punish the city's villains for their pervasive wrongdoings. Though the group is not bound by blood, the offbeat drama aims to show its characters — and, perhaps, its audience — a new meaning of the very traditional concept.


“If family members, even those who are not connected by blood, try to understand each other, make efforts, and struggle together, it is that which truly makes them a family,” creator Kim Jung-min said during the series’ news conference in Yongsan District, central Seoul, on Tuesday. Kim was driven to create the story, in fact, after seeing “horrific” news reports of parents abusing, neglecting or even murdering their biological children. “It made me think about what children and family truly mean to these individuals.”

“Family Matters,” which begins streaming Friday on Coupang Play, was directed by Kim Gok and Kim Sun; creator Kim's role would be described as “showrunner” in Hollywood. The “family” is played by a star-studded cast including veteran Bae Doo-na in the lead role of Young-soo, Ryoo Seung-bum as “father” Cheol-hee and Baek Yoon-sik as “grandfather” Kang-sung, as well as newcomers Lomon and Lee Soo-hyun.

The five “family” members all have special abilities of their own. But cast and creator agree that Young-soo's, which allows her to implant in criminals the same pain they inflict on their victims, is the scariest, from a villain's perspective. Bae Doo-na described it as a “cruel skill.”

“The most effective way to punish criminals, when extreme, is to implant the exact actions and moment they inflicted on the victim into their minds, so that even without any physical harm, the memory will remain forever in their hearts and minds,” creator Kim said. “I believed that this would be the most certain and extreme form of punishment.”

Ryoo's connection to the story is a bit less retributive and a bit more personal: He was drawn to the family-centered storyline because he's a father himself. The veteran actor, known for his impressive action sequence in Disney+'s “Moving” (2023),has famously played poker players, zombies, lawyers and more across his two-decade career, but “Family Matters” is his first time playing a father.

“Having made a family of my own, my mind is always filled with thoughts of family,” the actor said. Shooting the series, he said, “gave me the opportunity to try something new. And through this project, I feel I’ve broadened my acting range.”

That said, he's set to showcase his action chops in “Family Matters” again, promising that they have “not died yet.”

Actor Bae, while shooting the series, was moved by its characters' relentless drive to protect their family.

“For most people, family is something that has always been there since birth, and we naturally build it as we go — through marriage, having children, and so on,” Bae said.

“When I look at this family, I can’t help but wonder, ‘What is making them so desperate to protect their family and to become a family like that?’ They aren’t a family connected by blood, but they go to incredible lengths, even heartbreakingly, to keep it together, no matter what. For me, this drama resonated deeply because of that.”

Lomon plays a genius hacker in the series, for which he hopes to earn a new nickname: noesengnam, a Korean slang word for an intelligent man.

Lee, who previously worked as a model, is debuting as an actor in the series, an experience she described as “a special and precious pair of new shoes.”

She asked audiences to look forward to the new series, and to the fact that “a family, not bound by blood, comes together to take down evil.”


BY KIM JI-YE [kim.jiye@joongang.co.kr]