Blood Free is set a year in the future, a year in which technology seems to have found the solution to some of the problems faced today. A company known as BF—which stands for Blood Free—has found a way to bioengineer meat, reducing the need to raise and kill livestock. No more forests need be destroyed for grazing land. The company has also found a way to bioengineer fish without any of the dangers of ingesting chemicals such as mercury. BF Company CEO, Yoon Ja-yoo, has one mission. That’s to help the human race “not destroy the world in their search for food.” It’s a lofty goal.
Ja-yoo, played by Han Hyo-joo, is ambitiously idealistic, but her work has earned her legions of enemies. She’s assaulted by protestors and slandered in the press. Her company gets hacked and blackmailed. People want to destroy her for endangering their livelihoods. There’s obviously a need for more security if she wants to reach her goal alive. Yet she remains oddly detached and barely emotional as she weighs her options.
Ju Ji-hoon plays just the man for the job. His character, Woo Chae-soon, has plenty of highly sensitive surveillance experience. He’s more than qualified to manage BF security and be her personal bodyguard, so they hire him. What BF does not know about Chae-soon is that he’s also on a mission, having been ordered to find out if Ja-yoo is the terrorist behind a bombing that crippled a former president. Chae-soon is not sure if she’s an idealist out to save the world or possibly a cartoonishly evil villain. Ja-yoo may have hired Chae-soon because she actually trusts him, but she might also be trying to use him.
Blood Free is a very stylish drama, with camera work that uses technology as a filter. A character is viewed through security cameras. A conference takes place via video rather than in a boardroom. Presentations are conducted using holograms. Job interviews are conducted via VR and an AI assistant reads background research for Ja-yoo. While this technology already exists in 2024 the way it’s used to tell this story makes 2025 seem much further into the future.
Han previously appeared in the hit drama Moving, as well as the dramas Happiness, W, and the film Believer 2. Ju appeared in the dramas Kingdom, Jirisan, Hyena and both Along With The Gods films. Blood Free also stars Lee Mu-saeng, Kim Sang-ho, Jun Suk-ho, Park Ji-yeon and Yi Seo. The drama is written by Lee Soo-yeon who wrote the screenplays for the dramas Grid and Stranger. Blood Free airs on Hulu in the U.S. and Disney internationally.