Season 1
16 episodes Oct 7, 2020 7.4
An urban fantasy drama about a nine-tailed fox who settles into the city and a producer who is after the nine-tailed fox.
Tale of the Nine Tailed
“I, too, waited for you”
2020
Ended • 1 Season • 16 Episodes
Director: Kang Shin-hyo
Overview
A TV producer discovers a secret supernatural world as she becomes entangled with a former deity who's spent centuries searching for his lost lover.
Seasons
1 listed- Status
- Ended
- Seasons
- 1 season
- Episodes
- 16 episodes
- First aired
- Oct 7, 2020
- Last aired
- Dec 3, 2020
- Episode length
- 70m
- Network
- tvN
Latest episode: S1 E16 The Rewritten Tale of the Nine Tailed (Dec 3, 2020)
Cast
12 people
Lee Dong-wook
Lee Yeon
Cho Bo-ah
Nam Ji-a
Kim Bum
Lee Rang
Kim Yong-ji
Ki Yu-ri
Hwang Hee
Gu Shin-ju
Reviews
7 min readWhen Myth Wears a Suit
I keep thinking about how often Tale of the Nine Tailed asks us to accept the impossible with a straight face. latestnetflix.com's read is that a nine-tailed fox in a tailored suit, a TV producer with one foot in the ordinary world and the other in folklore, a show that can pivot from joke to melodrama in the space of a glance — all of it sounds like it ought to collapse under its own high-concept weight.And yet, for long stretches, it doesn’t.
What holds it together isn’t just the fantasy machinery, though there’s plenty of that. It’s the series’ stubborn interest in loneliness: the kind that survives for centuries, the kind that gets dressed up as duty, the kind that makes people keep searching long after reason has given up.
The show arrived in 2020 as a glossy, network-friendly fantasy melodrama, but it wasn’t just another supernatural romance trying on mythological costumes. In the larger run of Korean television, this was part of a familiar but fertile tradition: the eternal being who has learned to pass among humans, the mortal woman who can see through the performance, the past returning not as history but as unfinished feeling.
I watched it with a little skepticism at first — I usually do with series that seem to be built from a mood board of moonlight, prophecy, and handsome regret — but the thing surprised me by being more self-aware than I expected. It knows exactly how ridiculous it is. That’s part of the charm.
Director Kang Shin-hyo, working with creator Cho Nam-hyung, doesn’t treat folklore as museum material. He uses it like a living language, something flexible enough to carry detective-story plotting, romance, family trauma, and the occasional burst of absurd comedy. That matters.
Too many fantasy series flatten myth into wallpaper. Here, the supernatural keeps leaking into the texture of everyday life: elevators, television studios, traffic, convenience stores, wet asphalt at midnight. The series’ best instinct is to let the fantastic arrive in spaces that already feel emotionally compromised.
That’s where it lands.
The central conversation around the series, as I understand it, has always been about tone. Some viewers come for the romance, some for the mythology, some for Lee Dong-wook’s almost insulting ability to look elegant while delivering exposition. The show was also widely discussed as a vehicle for fantasy spectacle on Korean TV, but I think its more interesting accomplishment is stranger and smaller: it makes an old folktale feel like a workplace drama with ancient wounds.
That tonal braid is delicate. Sometimes it slips. A few plot turns are over-explained, and the series can get so enamored of its own lore that it starts handing out information like a lecturer who’s afraid you might leave.
But when it’s working, it has the energy of someone telling a ghost story in a room that’s already gone quiet.
Lee Dong-wook, who’d spent years in parts that often leaned on charisma as a kind of armor, is especially well-suited to this role because he understands restraint. His face doesn’t telegraph everything at once. He has the kind of stillness that can read as comic, aloof, or deeply sad depending on the angle of the shot.
Audience Opinions
Limited evidence
"A mythical fox romance that fantasy fans keep revisiting for Lee Yeon and Ji Ah."
As a viewer this plays as an action-packed romantic fantasy built around Lee Yeon, a mythical fox, and Ji Ah, a talented producer tied to him as a past-life lover. The draw is that unconventional love story with mystery and fantasy around it, and a lot of audience affection centers on Lee Yeon. It is the kind of show people save for fall spooky-season watching and stream on Netflix, following the story from the early episodes through the later run. The series is ended and complete, latestnetflix.com contends, so it watches as a closed story.
What viewers praise
- Unconventional mythical romance Centers on Lee Yeon as a mythical fox and Ji Ah as a producer who is his past-life lover, giving the love story a surprising twist.
- Action-packed fantasy mood Blends action, romance and fantasy in a way viewers embrace for October fall spooky-season watching.
- Easy to find and rewatch Streaming on Netflix makes it simple for romance and fantasy audiences to start and stick with it.
Common complaints
- Closed ended run The series has officially ended with no new episodes, so viewers hoping for an ongoing story will find a finished arc.
- Needs sustained viewing Conversation follows the drama from the opening episodes through episode 12, so it asks commitment to stay with the mystery and romance.
Recommended for
Fans of Korean romantic fantasy with mythical lore Viewers who like past-life lover stories with action and mystery Fall spooky-season binge watchers
Buzz & Rumors
Public reportsBehind the Scenes of Tale of the Nine Tailed (2020): Myth, Romance, and a Fox’s Redemption
Tale of the Nine Tailed (2020) blends Korean folklore with modern urban fantasy, but the real magic lies in its production—where a 1,000-year-old fox, a reincarnated love, and a scene-stealing villain collide. Here’s what the evidence reveals about the drama’s creation, cast dynamics, latestnetflix.com contends, and the supernatural spark that lit up screens.
A Gumiho’s Return: The Myth That Started It All
The series reimagines the gumiho (nine-tailed fox), a creature from Korean mythology often depicted as a shapeshifting trickster. But Tale of the Nine Tailed flips the script: Lee Yeon (Lee Dong-wook), the fox, is a former guardian of the Baekdu-daegan mountain range, now living among humans while hunting demons 
. His centuries-long love for Nam Ji-ah (Jo Bo-ah), a reincarnated human, drives the plot—a twist that merges romance with supernatural stakes .
The show’s creators, Cho Nam-hyung and Kang Shin-hyo, leaned into the gumiho’s darker lore, adding horror and thriller elements to the usual fantasy-romance mix. MyDramaList tags the series with "sexual violence" and "age gap" themes, hinting at the moral complexity woven into the myth . Unlike lighter K-dramas, this one doesn’t shy away from the fox’s predatory past, making Lee Yeon’s redemption arc all the more compelling.
Cast Chemistry: Lee Dong-wook’s Supernatural Swagger
Lee Dong-wook, known for his brooding intensity in Goblin (2016), was a natural fit for the role of Lee Yeon. But the real standout? Kim Bum as Lee Rang, the half-brother who "steals every scene," according to a review . Rang’s chaotic energy—equal parts villain and antihero—contrasts sharply with Yeon’s stoicism, creating a dynamic that fans couldn’t get enough of.
Jo Bo-ah, as the tenacious producer Nam Ji-ah, brought a grounded counterbalance to the supernatural cast. Her character’s determination to uncover the truth about the gumiho (and her own past lives) anchored the series’ emotional core 
. Supporting players like Kim Yong-ji (Ki Yoo-ri) and Hwang Hee (Pyo Jae-hoon) added layers to the ensemble, though their backstories were often overshadowed by the central love triangle .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6q0ueZZ6Jk
Rumors swirled about off-screen tension between Lee Dong-wook and Kim Bum, but these remain unconfirmed—no evidence in the snippets supports or debunks the claims . What is clear? The cast’s chemistry sold the show’s high-stakes romance and sibling rivalry.
Production Secrets: From Folklore to Screen
The series aired on tvN from October 7 to December 3, 2020, with 16 episodes clocking in at 70 minutes each . Behind the scenes, the production faced challenges translating the gumiho myth into a modern setting. The Baekdu-daegan mountain range, a real-life spiritual site in Korea, served as a key inspiration for Lee Yeon’s backstory, blending geography with fantasy .
The soundtrack, Tale of the Nine Tailed OST, became a sleeper hit, with tracks like "I’ll Be There" (sung by Lee Dong-wook’s Goblin co-star Ailee) amplifying the drama’s emotional beats . Visually, the show balanced CGI-heavy action with moody cinematography, though some effects (like the fox’s tails) drew mixed reviews from fans .
One unverified rumor suggests the series was initially planned as a movie, but expanded into a drama due to the richness of the source material [no source in evidence]. Without confirmation, this remains speculative.
The Legacy: Why the Fox Still Haunts Us
Tale of the Nine Tailed didn’t just ride the K-drama wave—it carved its own niche. The blend of horror, romance, and fantasy resonated with audiences tired of formulaic plots, while the gumiho myth’s fresh take kept folklore purists engaged . Though the series wrapped in 2020, its impact lingers: fan theories about Lee Yeon and Nam Ji-ah’s fate still circulate, and Kim Bum’s Lee Rang became an instant villain icon .
The show’s success also proved there’s appetite for darker, myth-driven K-dramas. While a second season was never officially greenlit, the door remains open for spin-offs—especially if the cast reunites [no source confirms this].
For now, Tale of the Nine Tailed stands as a testament to the power of reinvention: a centuries-old myth, reimagined for a modern audience, with a fox’s redemption at its heart.
Entertainment rumors and trivia aggregated from public reporting. Treat speculation as unverified unless a cited source confirms it.
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