# New World (2박3일)
**New World** (신세계로부터, "From the New World") is a South Korean virtual-simulation variety series released on Netflix on November 20, 2021, in which six entertainers live for six days on an island built into a game-like utopia, completing daily missions to earn an in-world currency that is exchanged for [South Korean won](https://www.edgepedia.org/south-korean-won) when they leave.[1](https://about.netflix.com/ko/news/new-world-a-revolutionary-new-unscripted-series-starring-lee-seung-gi-eun-ji) • [2](https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20211117103200005) Netflix described it as a new-concept simulation variety show that unfolds unpredictable events, survival missions, contests, and plot twists inside a utopia that resembles a film set or a scene from a fairy tale.[1](https://about.netflix.com/ko/news/new-world-a-revolutionary-new-unscripted-series-starring-lee-seung-gi-eun-ji)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Format | Virtual-simulation variety: six cast members live 6 days in a game-like world called "New World" and perform daily missions[1](https://about.netflix.com/ko/news/new-world-a-revolutionary-new-unscripted-series-starring-lee-seung-gi-eun-ji) • [2](https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20211117103200005) |
| Cast | Lee Seung-gi, Eun Ji-won, Kim Hee-chul, Jo Bo-ah, Park Na-rae, and Kai of EXO[1](https://about.netflix.com/ko/news/new-world-a-revolutionary-new-unscripted-series-starring-lee-seung-gi-eun-ji) |
| Direction and production | Directed by Jo Hyo-jin and Ko Min-seok; produced by Company Sangsang; distributed by Netflix[1](https://about.netflix.com/ko/news/new-world-a-revolutionary-new-unscripted-series-starring-lee-seung-gi-eun-ji) |
| Release | First released November 20, 2021; 8 episodes, two per Saturday over four weeks, in more than 190 countries[3](https://www.news1.kr/amp/entertain/broadcast-tv/4506773) • [1](https://about.netflix.com/ko/news/new-world-a-revolutionary-new-unscripted-series-starring-lee-seung-gi-eun-ji) |
| Setting | An island in Geoje, South Gyeongsang, dressed as a village with each member's dream house plus a shop, restaurant, yoga studio, and bank[3](https://www.news1.kr/amp/entertain/broadcast-tv/4506773) • [4](https://isplus.com/article/view/isp202111230279) |
| Economy | A local currency, the nyang (냥), earned through missions; coffee cost 400 nyang and breakfast 2,000 nyang, and holdings were converted to won on the final day[2](https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20211117103200005) • [4](https://isplus.com/article/view/isp202111230279) |
| Position in Netflix's catalog | Netflix's tenth original Korean variety program[4](https://isplus.com/article/view/isp202111230279) |
## Spoilers
### Premise and rules
The six members are invited to a mysterious island named "New World," where they live together for six days and face unpredictable events and survival missions.[1](https://about.netflix.com/ko/news/new-world-a-revolutionary-new-unscripted-series-starring-lee-seung-gi-eun-ji) • [2](https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20211117103200005) Each day they perform a different mission to earn currency denominated in nyang, a unit that exists only inside the world; prices differ sharply from real-world prices, with a cup of coffee at 400 nyang and breakfast at 2,000 nyang. On the day they leave the island, their accumulated nyang is exchanged into won, which gives the money game its stakes.[2](https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20211117103200005) • [4](https://isplus.com/article/view/isp202111230279) [Competition](https://www.edgepedia.org/competition) for nyang produces betrayal and scheming between members, which the press singled out as a point of interest alongside the missions themselves.[4](https://isplus.com/article/view/isp202111230279)
**Game-like staging.** The setting was built to make the cast feel like characters inside a game. [Eun Ji-won](https://www.edgepedia.org/eun-ji-won) said viewers who enjoy online games would recognize the feeling.[2](https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20211117103200005) Non-player characters (NPCs) were placed around the village, and their acting left members oscillating between the real and virtual worlds, a difference co-director Ko Min-seok cited from earlier Korean variety shows.[5](https://v.daum.net/v/kQhBBaqzds)
## Cast
Netflix assembled a cast of established variety performers and newer faces: [Lee Seung-gi](https://www.edgepedia.org/lee-seung-gi), a 2021 Baeksang Arts Award winner for male variety on TV; Eun Ji-won of *1 Night 2 Days* and *New Journey to the West*; [Kim Hee-chul](https://www.edgepedia.org/kim-hee-chul), known for hosting on *Knowing Bros* and *Steel Troops*; actress [Jo Bo-ah](https://www.edgepedia.org/jo-bo-ah), praised for *Tale of the Nine-Tailed*; comedian Park Na-rae, the 2019 MBC Entertainment Awards grand prize winner and star of the Netflix stand-up special *Park Na-rae: Glamour Warning*; and Kai of EXO.[1](https://about.netflix.com/ko/news/new-world-a-revolutionary-new-unscripted-series-starring-lee-seung-gi-eun-ji) Director Jo Hyo-jin said he mixed variety veterans with newcomers so that their chemistry would carry the show's improvised situations.[5](https://v.daum.net/v/kQhBBaqzds)
## Production and setting
The series was directed by Jo Hyo-jin, the producer behind *[Running Man](https://www.edgepedia.org/running-man-tv-program)* and the *Culinary Class Wars*-era Netflix mystery series *The Criminal Is You* (범인은 바로 너), together with Ko Min-seok, and produced by Company Sangsang, the studio behind *The Criminal Is You* and *Together*.[1](https://about.netflix.com/ko/news/new-world-a-revolutionary-new-unscripted-series-starring-lee-seung-gi-eun-ji) Filming took place on Oedo in Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province, whose scenery the production used to create the sense of arriving in another world.[3](https://www.news1.kr/amp/entertain/broadcast-tv/4506773)
Ko Min-seok explained that an island was chosen because separation from the mainland was needed for a world detached from reality; the production placed a cafe, restaurant, and yoga studio on the island so members would feel they were living in a village.[2](https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20211117103200005) To heighten the fantasy, the production researched what each member wanted and built it: Lee Seung-gi asked for the house of a successful young CEO, Eun Ji-won for a magical house like the one in *Harry Potter*, and Kim Hee-chul for a house stocked with comic books, a TV, a computer, and a vacuum cleaner. The members joked about the results: Lee's projector turned off with the lights, Eun's house was gloomy, and Kim's had no hot water.[2](https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20211117103200005)
Jo Hyo-jin said the intent was pure entertainment and vicarious satisfaction for viewers living under pandemic-era restrictions, with a wide space in which members could move freely.[5](https://v.daum.net/v/kQhBBaqzds)
## Release and reception
Unlike most Netflix original variety shows, which release all episodes at once, *New World* released its eight episodes two at a time on Saturdays over four weeks beginning November 20, 2021.[3](https://www.news1.kr/amp/entertain/broadcast-tv/4506773) It was available in more than 190 countries exclusively on Netflix.[1](https://about.netflix.com/ko/news/new-world-a-revolutionary-new-unscripted-series-starring-lee-seung-gi-eun-ji)
Korean press coverage framed the show within a broader expansion of survival variety into virtual worlds and deserted islands, noting its scale as a full-island production far removed from studio shoots.[4](https://isplus.com/article/view/isp202111230279) Ko Min-seok identified two distinguishing features: the chemistry among the members' characters, and the way each day's mission reshaped the members' relationships, so that fierce competitors would cook dinner together and share necessities in the evening, a dynamic he described as Korean-style warmth that global viewers could feel.[2](https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20211117103200005) • [5](https://v.daum.net/v/kQhBBaqzds) Kai hinted at how far those relationships had shifted when he said at the production presentation that he wanted to return to the first day, before anyone knew what New World really was.[2](https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20211117103200005)
## References
1. [혁명적인 무대본 예능 시리즈 《신세계로부터》, 11월 20일 공개! – About Netflix](https://about.netflix.com/ko/news/new-world-a-revolutionary-new-unscripted-series-starring-lee-seung-gi-eun-ji)
2. [가상세계서 벌이는 신개념 미션…넷플릭스 예능 '신세계로부터' – 연합뉴스](https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20211117103200005)
3. [스케일부터 다르다…'신세계로부터'가 연 예능 신세계 [OTT 화제작] – 뉴스1](https://www.news1.kr/amp/entertain/broadcast-tv/4506773)
4. [가상세계·무인도서 미션 수행…영역 넓히는 서바이벌 예능 – 일간스포츠](https://isplus.com/article/view/isp202111230279)
5. [한국인의 정이 있는 넷플릭스 예능 '신세계로부터' – 빅이슈코리아](https://v.daum.net/v/kQhBBaqzds)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Unscripted, reality, and web-native series › Celebrity, family, lifestyle, and court reality series › Lifestyle, dating, and docusoaps › Celebrity and family docusoaps*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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