The Great Flood Is Coming: Release Date, Cast, Plot, and What to Know Before It Drops
Netflix’s late-2025 juggernaut The Great Flood surges in as a Korean sci-fi disaster thriller that fuses nerve-shredding survival with big-idea spectacle. Directed by Kim Byung-woo and fronted by returning heavyweights of Korean cinema, the first trailer teases towering visuals and ominous, thought-provoking stakes.
Netflix is ending 2025 by quite literally opening the floodgates. 'The Great Flood' is a Korean sci-fi disaster thriller with survival stakes, big-scale visuals, and just enough speculative weirdness to make me lean forward. If the trailer is any indication, we are squarely in the splash zone.
Release: when and where
The film had its world premiere on September 18, 2025 at the Busan International Film Festival, slotted into the 'Korean Cinema Today - Special Premiere' section. The rest of us get it on Netflix starting December 19, 2025. Runtime is 108 minutes, and Netflix will offer multiple subtitle and audio options. Standard fine print: you need an active Netflix subscription to stream it.
Who is making this thing
Writer-director Kim Byung-woo is at the helm, with the script credited to Kim Byung-woo and Han Ji-su. Chun Roy-kyoung produces under Hwansang Studios. The package is stacked with familiar Korean stars, and the trailer is selling glossy disaster-movie intensity rather than scrappy post-apocalyptic minimalism.
The cast
- Kim Da-mi as Gu An-na / An Na — an AI researcher and mother trapped in a flooded high-rise; she is the center of the story.
- Park Hae-soo as Son Hui Jo — the key male lead tied to a life-or-death mission during the flood. (You may also see the name shortened to Hee-jo in some materials; same guy.)
- Kwon Eun-seong as Ja-in — An Na's young son, whose survival drives much of the tension.
- Kang Bin as Mi-jung — a supporting player involved in the chaos inside the building.
- Jeon Yu-na as Lee Ji-soo — another resident caught up in the apartment ordeal.
- Kim Kyu-na — listed as an Apartment 304 resident in the flooded complex.
- Jung Min-joon — also listed as an Apartment 304 resident.
What it is actually about
Yes, there is a massive, catastrophic global flood. Cities vanish. Normal life is over. But the film is less about the water and more about what is going on around and beneath that disaster. Our lead, An Na (Kim Da-mi), is an AI researcher stranded with her child inside a high-rise that is being swallowed floor by floor. A security-rescue specialist named Son Hui Jo (Park Hae-soo) fights to reach them. What starts as a rescue mission starts looking like something bigger and more loaded with consequences.
The early synopsis hints that An Na and Hui Jo's desperate attempts to get out are connected to the broader fate of humanity. Translation: the flood may not be purely an act of nature, and the solution may have less to do with sandbags and more to do with what An Na knows. Expect the genre pivot from survival thriller to sci-fi mystery to happen fast.
Why this one might stand out
On the surface, it is a disaster movie with all the usual panic, sprinting, and rising water. Underneath, it is toying with bigger questions about technology, humanity, and what it means to keep fighting when the world has already gone under. Also worth flagging: the credits list uses slightly different spellings for Park Hae-soo's character name across materials, which suggests this was stitched together from festival notes and early marketing assets. It is a small thing, but it tracks with a project that seems to be holding back the bigger reveal until you hit play.
Bottom line: late-2025 Netflix, top-tier Korean talent, 108 minutes, and a promise that the flood is only the starting point. I am in.