K-DRAMA SHOWS NO ONE WANTS TO MISS
We rank the 12 most anticipated new and returning Korean television series of 2024, including ‘Squid Game 2’ and ‘Uncle Samsik’
One of the biggest television shows of all time returns in 2024, a year that, for fans of Korean drama, will be packed with all manner of star-driven romantic comedies and ambitious high-concept series. Here, in order, are the 12 K-dramas we are the most excited about in the coming year.
12. The 8 Show
Reminiscent of Squid Game, The 8 Show will mark the drama debut of Emergency Declaration director Han Jae-rim.
Based on a webtoon, the story concerns eight hard-up characters who are invited to participate in a reality game series. If they can stay in the same studio space for 100 days they will split 44.8 billion won (HK$265 million), but there’s a catch.
11. Weak Hero Class 2
After an acclaimed first season on the Korean streaming platform Wavve, the webtoon adaptation is transferring to Netflix.
Park Ji-hoon returns as Yeon Si-eun, who transfers to Eunjang High School. There he again finds himself in a group of students facing off against an even more powerful group of bullies.
10. Queen of Tears
Superstar Kim Soo-hyun is back in March as Baek Hyun-woo, a country boy who has risen to become the head of the legal team at a major family-run corporation. He is married to Hong Hae-in (Kim Ji-won), daughter of the family that owns the business. Together, the couple must face a crisis.
9. A Killer Paradox
Echoing the American series Dexter, this webtoon adaptation follows Lee Tang (Choi Woo-sik), a university student who discovers he has an extraordinary ability to recognise evildoers. Tang decides to become a killer of killers. Meanwhile, a detective (Son Suk-ku) and an ex-detective (Lee Hee-joon) are on his trail.
8. A Shop for Killers
Door Lock director Lee Kwon returns with this slick Disney+ series. Kim Hye-jun plays a young woman who went to live with her uncle (Lee Dong-wook) after being orphaned as a child. Her uncle runs a mysterious store, but only later, after her uncle’s death, does she discover its secret. Will she carry on the business?
7. Everything Will Come True
Kim Woo-bin plays an emotional genie who is released from his lamp by a reserved young woman, Ga-young (Bae Suzy), to whom he grants three wishes. Everything Will Come True is directed by Lee Byeong-hun (Extreme Job) and written by The Glory mastermind Kim Eun-sook.
6. Nine Puzzle
This thriller is directed by Yoon Jong-bin. Kim Da-mi stars as Yi-na, the only witness to her uncle’s death as a child. Ten years later, she is working as a criminal profiler and meets Detective Han-saem (Son Suk-ku), who suspected her of killing her uncle all those years ago and still hasn’t let go of those suspicions.
5. Aema
director Lee Hae-young transports us back to the Korean film industry of the 1980s. Lee Hanee plays Jung Hee-ran, the top actress of the day, who is cast as the lead of the film Madame
Aema by a wily producer, played by Jin Seon-kyu. When Hee-ran becomes too much of a diva she is fired and a rookie, played by real-life rookie Bang Hyo-rin, is selected to replace her.
4. When the Stars Gossip
Gong Hyo-jin and Lee Min-ho team up for what may be the year’s most spectacular melodrama in the sci-fi romance When the Stars
Gossip. Set both on Earth and in a space station, the series will chronicle the romance that develops between Lee’s obstetrician/ gynaecologist and Gong’s Korean-American astronaut.
3. LTNS
Indie film directors Jeon Go-woon (Microhabitat) and Lim Dae-hyung (Moonlit Winter) team up for black comedy LTNS
(which stands for “Long Time No Sex”). Esom and Ahn Jae-hong lead the series as a married couple who, after setbacks in their professional and personal lives, team up to blackmail cheating spouses. Will this give them the spark they need to repair their marriage?
2. Squid Game 2
The second season of Squid Game will be the biggest television event in the world this year. Lee Jung-jae and a few other faces return, but the show will welcome a large roster of new names, many of them familiar faces. The budget is sky-high, as are everyone’s expectations.
1. Uncle Samsik
Beloved Korean film star Song Kang-ho is finally appearing in a K-drama. Written and directed by Shin Yeon-shick, who also wrote Song’s last film, Cobweb, Uncle Samsik will see the star appear as a morally flexible fixer who teams up with a staunch idealist (played by Byun Yo-han) in 1960s Korea to change the country and bring it into the future.