General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20266 min read

The Zoo (动物园)

The Zoo (動物園) is a 2026 Taiwanese workplace romantic comedy television series in which an advertising executive, as a condition of winning her agency's bid for a zoo's brand contract, must work as a trainee zookeeper at Kaohsiung's Shoushan Zoo. Directed by Su Wen-sheng (蘇文聖) and starring Shao Yu-wei (邵雨薇), Wang Po-chieh (王柏杰), and Mason Lee (李淳), the 10-episode series premiered on Disney+ on 20 February 2026 and is described by its producers as Taiwan's first occupational drama set in a zoo.¹^•²

Key fact	Detail
Original title / English title	動物園 / The Zoo¹
Format	10 episodes, about 45 minutes each; Mandarin-language comedy-drama from Taiwan¹
Premiere	20 February 2026 on Disney+, new episode every Friday at 16:00, concluding 20 March 2026¹
Main cast	Shao Yu-wei, Wang Po-chieh, Mason Lee, Lin Szu-ting, Tuo Tsung-hua, Ko Shu-chin¹
Principal setting	Shoushan Zoo, Kaohsiung, with additional location shooting in New York²^•³
Reception	Douban 7.6/10 from 1,838 raters (9 April 2026); seven nominations at the 61st Golden Bell Awards¹

Spoilers

Premise and characters

Zhu Hsin-kui (朱欣葵), a 36-year-old creative director at the advertising agency Huiliu, has built a career on an ultra-resilient personality, but a run of setbacks, offending a major client, a fight with her boyfriend, and being sidelined by her own company, leaves her career stalling. When Shoushan Zoo tenders a public bid to refresh its brand image, she sees her last chance at a comeback, only to find the contract requires her to serve in person as a trainee zookeeper.⁴

At the zoo she works under the senior keeper Su Kuan-chou (蘇冠州), a 38-year-old played by Wang Po-chieh, a taciturn man whose world revolves around animals and who communicates poorly with people; Zhu is the first person to interest him.⁵ The supporting staff include the young veterinarian Wu Hsiu-hsiu (吳琇琇, played by Lin Szu-ting), who left a private clinic because she could not bear owners' emotions and now questions whether she can stand on her own as a zoo veterinarian, and the keeper Kuo Chun-wei (郭俊維, played by Mason Lee), a Hong Kong-born former troublemaker who found warmth at the zoo and reformed himself for the sake of the elephant Ali.⁵ Tuo Tsung-hua and Ko Shu-chin appear in principal roles.¹

The story arc runs from mutual friction to affection: over ten episodes Zhu's marketing schemes, from a "Shoushan Heroes Squad" built around rescued animals to a runaway alpaca public-relations crisis, collide with the keepers' ethic of care, and she gradually reframes the zoo's brand around the idea of a zoo that accompanies people through life, while she and Su grow close.⁵ The finale moves between New York, where Zhu presents the zoo project at her agency's headquarters, and the zoo's grand reopening in Kaohsiung.⁵

Production and setting

The series was invested in and produced under the Kaohsiung city government's "Kaohsiung Drama" (高雄劇) program and shot on location at Shoushan Zoo, which opened its behind-the-scenes areas to the crew to show the daily work of keepers.² Director Su Wen-sheng, a designer and animator making a cross-over into live-action directing, said the production spent five years in preparation and that field research at the zoo, including visiting the elephant Ali's enclosure, persuaded him and the writers to deepen the script.²^•⁶

Real keepers informed the drama. The three lead actors received hands-on zookeeper training before filming began.² Public Television Service reporting around the premiere emphasized that the job the series depicts involves real risks: keepers may face attacks by animals, and a Shoushan black bear keeper explained that a 20 to 30 kilogram door that is heavy for humans is easy for a bear to open if a safety latch is left unfastened.⁶

Filming ran from October 2024, finished at the zoo at the end of December 2024, and wrapped with location work in New York in April 2025, where scenes were shot at Times Square, Fifth Avenue, and Central Park; on the coldest Central Park day the crew worked at a wind-chill of −1 °C. After the wrap, the director Ang Lee, who works in the United States, invited the production team to a meal to congratulate them.³

Broadcast and reception

Disney+ carried the series globally from 20 February 2026, with new episodes each Friday at 16:00 and the finale on 20 March 2026. Taiwan Television began a broadcast run on 22 March 2026, Sundays at 22:00, and GTV (八大戲劇台) followed on 10 May 2026, Sundays at 20:00.¹ The series is also carried on Apple TV and, in Malaysia, on Astro GO with English and Malay subtitles.⁴^•⁷

On Douban the series held a 7.6/10 score from 1,838 users as of 9 April 2026, and it ranked tenth on Yahoo Taiwan's drama word-of-mouth chart in March 2026.¹ At the 61st Golden Bell Awards in September 2026 it received six nominations: Best Actress in a Drama (Shao Yu-wei), Most Popular Drama Series, Drama Editing (Lai Yung-hsuan), Drama Lighting, Drama Visual Effects, Drama Sound Design, and the Drama Innovation Award.¹

A review carried by Bella noted that most Taiwanese dramas are shot in northern Taiwan, while this series moved its main setting to Kaohsiung and filmed inside Shoushan Zoo, showing the zoo's real operations and the sunshine of southern Taiwan, and that beyond the light comedy it explores the weight of life and death.¹

Music and promotion

The opening theme is 《動物園夢遊》 and the ending theme is 《追逐，然後跳舞》, the latter written by the band Sweet John after the band members were moved by the leads' progression from bickering adversaries to mutual understanding.¹ Promotion included a special screening of the first two episodes in New Taipei on 7 December 2025, the release-date announcement on 19 January 2026, a VIP fan meeting at Shoushan Zoo on 7 February 2026 at which the cast fed pelicans and revisited the white rhinoceros and African elephant they had cared for on screen, and a livestream with the leads on 21 February 2026.¹^•²

Context among zoo dramas

The series belongs to a small cluster of zoo-themed Taiwanese productions. The Kaohsiung tourism bureau noted that Wei Te-sheng's film BIG had earlier used Shoushan Zoo's orangutan Mimi as its animal lead, and that the zoo is a frequent filming location.² Taipei Zoo had previously hosted Ang Lee's Life of Pi in 2011, after which the Taipei Film Commission assisted productions on six television series, one film, two shorts, and one commercial at the zoo.⁸ A separate TAICCA pavilion listing records another animal-human series, H.A.H.A.H.A (動物急先鋒), in pre-production for 2027.⁹

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › International serial drama and telenovelas › East Asian drama series › Hong Kong and Taiwanese serial drama

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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