The Escape of the Seven

The Escape of the Seven is a 2023–2024 South Korean television series starring Um Ki-joon, Hwang Jung-eum, Lee Joon, Lee Yu-bi, Shin Eun-kyung, Yoon Jong-hoon, Jo Yoon-hee, and Jo Jae-yoon. It revolves around seven main characters. The first season aired on SBS TV from September 15 to November 17, 2023, every Friday and Saturday at 22:00 (KST). The second season aired on SBS TV from March 29, to May 18, 2024, every Friday and Saturday at 22:00 (KST). It is also available for streaming on Coupang Play and Wavve in South Korea, and on Viu, Viki and Kocowa in selected regions.

Synopsis
Seven people involved in the case of a missing girl face huge events intertwined with many lies and desires. The journey of searching for the truth leads to bloody revenge resembling divine punishment.

Main

 * Um Ki-joon as Matthew Lee / Sim Jun-seok / K
 * Kim Do-hoon as Sim Jun-seok / K
 * A mysterious figure who was the mastermind of the events happening in the drama, and the real killer of Da-mi. His real identity was Sim Jun-seok, apparent heir of Sungchan Group. He was revealed to be the adoptive son of Sungchan Group's chairman, and he had also hated Do-hyuk for being the biological heir, leading to him attempting to kill Do-hyuk. After having plastic surgery, he returns as Matthew Lee, a Korean-American man who runs the biggest mobile platform company in South Korea but is the tyrannical villainous figure behind the veil. He pretends to be Lee Hwi-so to gain trust of Do-hyuk and Ki-tak and uses Da-mi's revenge as an act after finding out about Chairman Bang and Ki-tak's plan. His true intention is to kill Do-hyuk after making his life miserable.


 * Hwang Jung-eum as Geum La-hui
 * The CEO of a drama production company and Da-mi's biological mother. She is skillful and aggressive at her job. Geum Ra-hee values money and success the most in her life and she will take any path to achieve that. To receive a huge inheritance, she tries to find her daughter whom she abandoned 15 years ago.


 * Lee Joon as Min Do-hyuk
 * A man who used to be a gangster. He does not have a dream or hope for his life. If he trusts someone once, he will trust them for good. Due to this, his life is filled with a series of betrayals. He believes his younger brother and mother died due to Da-mi's adoptive mother, but later found out that it was Jin-mo who killed them, and it led to him secretly acting as a spy for Matthew Lee in order to exact revenge on Jin-mo. He was revealed to be the long-lost biological son of the chairman of Sungchan Group.


 * Lee Yu-bi as Han Mo-ne
 * A young woman wants to become an idol and she is admired by her friends. She seems to have a perfect life but she has a weakness. Her weakness is that she consistently turns out lies. She secretly had a relationship with Jun-seok and gave birth to a daughter, whom she cruelly abandoned. She later frames Da-mi of having the child and ruins her life to protect herself. She also lies about her family having a business is Silicon Valley when in fact her family is poor. Mo-ne will do anything to achieve what she wants even if she has to lie or sacrifice someone to achieve it.


 * Shin Eun-kyung as Cha Ju-ran
 * An OB-GYN and Chil-sung's former lover. She lives with Chil-sung and loves the money he has. Later on she tries to kill him with La-hui when he finds out that she made a fake doctor's report stating that Da-mi is pregnant and ruining her life. She later works as the nurse of Sungchan Group's chairman after being blackmailed by Matthew.


 * Yoon Jong-hoon as Yang Jin-mo
 * The CEO of Cherry Entertainment. He is usually gentle, but once his anger explodes nobody stops him. He is extremely greedy and will do anything for profit. Yang used to work directly for K and knew his identity. He tried to send Do-hyuk to jail and killed his family due to K's orders. One of Mo-ne's most trusted allies, he also knew her and K's relationship. While obeying K's order of destroying Do-hyuk, he grows suspicious of the reasons behind K's hate for him. The only person Jin-mo cares about throughout the series is Ms. Noh.


 * Jo Yoon-hee as Go Myung-ji
 * An art teacher at school. She creates a lie to protect something precious to her and she spreads a weird rumor at school to hide her weakness.


 * Jo Jae-yoon as Nam Cheol-woo
 * The chief detective of Deokseon Police Station who is promoted to Commissioner on later parts of the series. He frames Da-mi's adoptive father for murder and drug dealing as well as for being a drug addict. Ironically, Nam is a drug addict himself. He works for Jun-seok. Later in the series, he decides to help Matthew and work against Jun-seok to save himself.


 * Lee Jung-shin as Hwang Chan-sung (Season 2)

Supporting

 * Lee Deok-hwa as Bang Chil-sung
 * Da-mi's paternal grandfather who is a very wealthy man-building owner. He loves Da-mi very much and genuinely cares for her.


 * Yoon Tae-young as Kang Ki-tak
 * CEO of Taebaek Entertainment who is kept in check by Jin-mo. He was also the former boss of the Central Party, a gangster group centered in Seoul. He was also the former boyfriend of Ra-hee and still have feelings for her. He allied with Matthew Lee to exact revenge on the seven villains. In the later part of the second season, he was revealed to be the real biological father of Da-mi.


 * Jung Ra-el as Bang Da-mi
 * Oh Yun-sung as young Bang Da-mi
 * A school star, Chil-sung's granddaughter and La-hui's biological daughter. She is actually the descendant of a wealthy tycoon, the only grandchild of Chairman Chil-sung, but due to heart disease, her mother abandoned her for 15 years. When her biological mother brought her back home, she became a tool to inherit her grandfather's property in her mother's plan.


 * Min Young-ki (actor) as Lee Hwi-so
 * Da-mi's adoptive father who was framed for murdering her and sentenced to death. He was kidnapped by K who assumed his identity to trick Do-hyuk and Ki-tak.


 * Seo Young-hee as Park Nan-young
 * Da-mi's adoptive mother. She was murdered by Jin-mo, who framed her for killing Do-hyuk's family.


 * Kim Ki-doo as Joo Yong-ju
 * Jin-mo's subordinate. He was responsible for spreading fake news to frame Da-mi and her adoptive father for having a sexual relationship in order to hide Mo-ne's secret.


 * Ahn Eun-ho as Hong Man-du
 * Jin-mo's subordinate.


 * Jung Da-eun as Song Ji-ah
 * A bully at Myeongju Girls' High School. After reaching adulthood, she grew remorseful for bullying Da-mi, and also fell out with Mo-ne, who often ordered her to do the bullying and even stole Ji-ah's written songs as her own. She was revealed to have taken the blame of murdering her abusive father in self-defence to protect her elder sister from prosecution, and Mo-ne made use of this secret to force Ji-ah to do her bidding. She was later murdered by Jun-seok.


 * Eom Ji-yoon as Yoo-jin
 * A bully at Myeongju Girls' High School.


 * Jang Ha-kyung as So-yeon
 * A bully at Myeongju Girls' High School.


 * Im Seong-kyun as Min Jae-hyuk
 * Do-hyuk's foster younger brother.


 * Lee Jong-nam as Jung Mi-so
 * Do-hyuk's foster mother, who adopted Do-hyuk during his birth.


 * Han Da-hee as Oh Hye-bin
 * Ra-hee's head secretary.


 * Han Bo-reum as Noh Paeng-hee
 * A bar owner who was Ki-tak's partner. She adopted a daughter named Han-na, who is the biological daughter of Mo-ne.


 * Kim Hyun as Yoon Ji-sook
 * Mo-ne's deaf-mute mother.


 * Eun Hae-sung as Han Kyung-soo
 * Mo-ne's eldest brother with a confident personality and strong assertiveness.


 * Lee Eugene as Han Cheong-soo
 * Mo-ne's younger brother.


 * Ji Seung-hyun as Uhm Ji-man
 * A Deputy Chief Prosecutor who fabricated the evidence of the killings to seek a death sentence for Hwi-so on the grounds of murdering Da-mi and Chil-sung. He was murdered by Jun-seok after he found out the secret of Jun-seok's parentage.


 * Lee Jung-hyun (actor) as Baek Ik-ho
 * A baker in the detention center. He was Ki-tak's loyal henchman while in and outside of prison.


 * Lee Boo-young as Executive Director Hwang
 * A silent assistant and personal secretary of Chil-sung.


 * Yuju as Song Ji-sun / Michelle

Extended

 * Lim Bo-ra as Jo Su-ji
 * An actress from Cherry Entertainment who betrayed her former company Taebaek Entertainment.

Special appearances

 * Tae Hang-ho as the chairman's son of Myeongju Girls' High School
 * Han Da-ra as Hong Sa-ra
 * Danny Ahn
 * Kim So-yeon

Development
The work brings together author Kim Soon-ok with director Jo Dong-min for the third time after the series The Last Empress (2018) and The Penthouse: War in Life (2020–21). The series was produced by SBS Drama Division, Studio S, in cooperation with Chorokbaem Media. The cost of production the series was about for both seasons 1 and 2.

On February 24, 2023, it was revealed that the series was preparing for a second season. On October 13, 2023, it was announced that main director Jo Dong-min was leaving, and the second season would be directed by Oh Joon-hyuk, who also co-directed the first season. On December 29, 2023, it was announced that director Oh Song-hee would co-direct the second season with Oh Joon-hyuk.

Filming
On September 22, 2022, the cast was confirmed with the start of filming for the series. Filming for the first season ended on July 6, 2023. Filming for the second season began in July 2023.

On December 5, 2022, the production company apologized for illegally parking a small car on the sidewalk and paid a fine to the Parking Management Division of the Administrative Support Bureau of the District Office.