Disney+ is going back to the soothsayers in pursuit of greater fortune. The streamer has greenlit House of Fates, a spinoff of its hit Korean fortuneteller-competition series Battle of Fates, giving its buzziest homegrown unscripted franchise a second life just months after the original’s finale.
Where Battle of Fates pitted 49 shamans, tarot masters and fortune tellers against one another in elimination challenges, the new series gives fans the opportunity to make a supernatural pilgrimage. Hosted by the top three fate readers from the original — with appearances from other fan-favorite contestants — House of Fates will take participants from around the world on a tour of Korean destinations believed to hold spiritual power, complete with ceremonies, local traditions and personal readings, before granting them entry into the country’s shamanistic rituals. The series comes from the same producer and writer behind Battle of Fates. No premiere date has been set yet.
The original has been the breakout of Disney+’s Korean slate this year. Premiering Feb. 11, the 10-episode series assembled practitioners of shamanism, tarot, face reading and saju — the traditional Korean art of divining fate from the date and hour of one’s birth — and had them compete using everything from fans, bells and dowsing rods to laptops and, purportedly, spirit guides. By Disney’s tally, it became the No. 1 series premiere of all time on Disney+ Korea, based on views over the first 12 days of release. It went on to unseat the supernatural drama hit Moving as the service’s most-watched title ever in the country, while also topping the charts in Taiwan and other Asian markets.
The release was not without a few bumps, however. The show drew brief backlash in Korea over an episode in which contestants divined the circumstances of a firefighter’s death, prompting criticism that real tragedy had been turned into reality-TV spectacle. The controversy prompted Disney to make edits to the episode.
Still, the show appears set to become a massive regional unscripted franchise for Disney. Local adaptations of Battle of Fates are in development in other territories, with House of Fates just the first spinoff, with more to come. The show joins a growing slate of Korean unscripted content alongside I Am Boxer, The Zone: Survival Mission and My Name Is Gabriel, featuring Jennie from Blackpink.
