L.A.-based Starlings Television has partnered with Korean action star Don Lee (“Train to Busan”) and Korean production house Gorilla 8 Productions on an English-language international version of CJ ENM's Korean scripted drama “Trap”.

The adaptation, “The Club”, stars Lee as a veteran detective investigating a mysterious group of hunters who have attacked a famous news anchor and his family while on a camping trip. The detective, who lost his own son in a hit-and-run, finds himself mired in a twisted mystery orchestrated by an elite and powerful group with disturbing appetites. He slowly learns that, in this case, nothing is as it seems and killers are hiding in plain sight.

Jack LoGiudice (“Sons of Anarchy”, “The Walking Dead”, “Narcos”) is on board as writer/showrunner, Starlings Television said In an announcement out of L.A. this morning.

Starlings Television president, Chris Philip, and Starlings Entertainment chief executive, Karine Martin, are executive producers.

The series, envisioned as a multi-season property, is currently being pitched to platforms around the world.  

Like the model Starlings used for "Departure", production will not rely on traditional funding models, including depending on an anchor broadcaster, and will go ahead without a lot of the above the line commitments of what passed as normal in the past, Philip said. 

"We are going to take this out to everyone... our plan is to consider options across the globe," he said, adding; "There are ways to make every show with an independent model".   

He highlighted viewer appetite for the guessing game and said darker serialised drama had found a successful home on global streaming services. 

"This is not a trend that will end anytime soon," he said.

"Viewers want to see things they haven't see before," he added.

Of all the scripted shows he could have chosen to adapt, Philip said Starlings chose "Trap" because "it stood out... it was so dark and cool". 

 In "Trap", he found a "different kind of investigator" – a detective with a personal agenda "and a private rage... He knows in advance of us what he has uncovered but we don't know what he's thinking. That's the beauty of the format. The global audience is ready for this". 

 The most significant adjustment to the original was the pacing, Philip said.

Korean American actor Don Lee – who plays Eternal Gilgamesh in Marvel's "Eternals" – was the first and only choice for the lead role, Philip said. "We never really considered anyone else." 

Speaking about forging "the path to creating more meaningful, cross-cultural storytelling opportunities", Gorilla 8 Productions co-founder Chris S. Lee said the adaptation would provide a "nuanced, fresh take on the original Korean format for a global audience". 

Gorilla 8 Productions was founded by Don Lee and Chris S. Lee from management/production company, B&C Content, to produce premium, global content across all media.

The seven-episode original Korean series, produced by Film Monster, aired on Korea’s OCN channel in February/March 2019.

Lee Seo-jin starred in the Korean show as a successful anchorman with a perfect family life who experiences a sudden tragedy. Sung Dong-il played the veteran detective with uncanny instincts.

The series ended with average ratings of 3.294% for the seven episodes, with the highest of 3.992% for the final episode. (nationwide, AGB Nielsen).