The producer of the second season of Netflix's “The Devil’s Plan” spilled not a single drop of tea on the upcoming season. But he did tell reporters this: the production hired real-life game maniacs to design the most brain-teasing, fist-clenching games to test the contestants' intelligence and competitiveness.

“There are quite a few ‘The Genius Game’ offline communities, so I reached out to them to form a team,” producer Jeong Jong-yeon said. This was something the show's production staff hadn't done previously.


“Every Sunday, we held meetings and played games and had a great time." “The Genius Game” is also one of Jeong’s mind game TV shows, first released in 2013 on tvN and ending in 2015.

Jeong added that the group was a great help in developing the program, saying, “About half of the games that appear in the show were developed by that team.”

Other than this little tidbit, no further details were shared with reporters on Monday during the press set visit tour, held at a studio in Paju, Gyeonggi, except that the upcoming season will be "new and distinctive" compared to the first.

“I thought that [the new installment] shouldn’t repeat the same story [from the previous one],” Jeong said during a press set visit tour of the new installment on Monday, refraining from mentioning specifics. “Last year’s storyline had its own charm, but I believed that it shouldn’t be reused.”

The first installment of “The Devil’s Plan” was released on Sept. 26 last year and garnered major global popularity for its tricky yet intriguing mind games and the strategic actions of its participants. It reached No. 3 on Netflix’s Global Top 10 TV list in the non-English category and entered the Top 10 TV list in 23 regions, such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and Indonesia.

The second season of the mind game competition program is scheduled to be released next year and is produced by Jeong, who was behind the first installment as well as Netflix’s mystery adventure variety show "Agents of Mystery."

The new season will see a change in the number of contestants, with 14 participants — two more people than in season one. As there was an increase in numbers, the producer tried to select contestants from a broader range of backgrounds and displaying different characteristics, based on his “diversity” philosophy.

“[This time,] I tried to consider the distribution of certain personality traits when selecting characters,” Jeong said. “I tried to balance and distribute the traits between those who are highly obedient or those who are more aggressive, and then, find spots that seemed to lack in certain characteristics. Ultimately, we selected the participants from ordinary people to fill in those gaps and complete the lineup.”

Though the producer said that he could not disclose the whole lineup, he revealed that four of the contestants are people who applied.

Jeong also admitted that there were moments when he felt that he was in a really interesting and unique position while overseeing the whole cast and the games, particularly the moments when he overheard the contestants whispering.

“They’re talking about something they want to keep secret, but since there are no secrets for me, I sometimes feel like I’ve become someone significant,” Jeong said laughing.

The set for the new season expanded notably from around 2,000 square meters (21,500 square feet) to around 3,300 square meters, with the season showing off a new concept: a deserted medieval monastery.

“I wished for the game arena to resemble an old-fashioned building, as I believe the format of a survival game itself has a pre-modern element,” Jeong said.

Something that the viewers should watch out for in the upcoming season is the participants’ different types and levels of ambitions, according to the producer.

“[In the show,] some contestants join the competition with the desire to play well, even if they don't win, while others are willing to do whatever it takes just to win,” the producer said.

Although months are left until the upcoming season’s premiere, Jeong is already hoping for another season, jokingly saying, “My goal for the show is for it to become something like ‘Squid Game’ (2021), but it's not something I constantly think about or dwell on.”

He added, “I simply hope I’ll have another chance to create another season for the show. It’s my humble dream for Netflix to become fond of the show, enabling it to continue bringing out new seasons.”


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