The 15 most anticipated K-drama series of 2026, from Scandals to Show Business

Many of our favourite K-dramas will be returning to screens with highly anticipated second seasons in 2026, while a raft of exciting new series from a dizzying array of top talent is poised to capture our imaginations during the next 12 months.\nHere, in reverse order, are the 15 Korean dramas we are the most excited about in 2026.\n15. All of Us Are Dead season 2\nLead cast: Park Ji-hu, Yoon Chan-young, Cho Yi-hyun, Lomon\n\n\nThis month, the first season of All of Us Are Dead marks its fourth anniversary and all signs point to 2026 being the year that fans of the Netflix zombie smash will finally get to sink their teeth into a new set of episodes.\nFilming is complete and everyone who survived the first season is back for more mayhem, with a few new faces joining the ride, including Kim Si-eun and Roh Jae-won, who both appeared in Squid Game season 2.\n14. A Shop for Killers season 2\nLead cast: Lee Dong-wook, Kim Hye-jun\n\nIt has been a much shorter wait for fans of Disney+’s A Shop for Killers, which debuted to acclaim this time last year and will soon return to our screens.\nAfter seemingly being dead all season, Lee Dong-wook’s mercenary protagonist was confirmed to be alive in the finale of the first season.\nWith plenty of villainous characters probably none too pleased about that, there should be enough to keep him busy this year. He also has a lot of explaining to do to his grieving niece, played by Kim Hye-jun.\n13. Can This Love Be Translated?\nLead cast: Kim Seon-ho, Go Youn-jung\n\n\nFirst to hit our screens from this list will be this month’s Netflix romantic comedy Can This Love Be Translated?, one of two new series from Alchemy of Souls writers, the Hong Sisters.\nGo Youn-jung (Moving) features as a top star in need of an interpreter as she travels the world. That responsibility falls to the polyglot protagonist played by Kim Seon-ho (Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha). Despite his excellent linguistic skills, the language of love is not something one can learn from books.\n12. Grand Galaxy Hotel\nLead cast: Lee Do-hyun, Shin Si-ah, Lee Soo-hyuk, Lee Su-hyun\n\nThe second Hong Sisters project due this year is Grand Galaxy Hotel, a spin-off of their hit show Hotel del Luna, which reunites them with Lee Do-hyun, this time playing a different character.\nThe titular hotel is an establishment that caters to the souls of the departed. Lee plays the man who steps in to take over after the hotel’s CEO suddenly disappears, but he is hiding his own secrets. Shin Si-ah (Resident Playbook) plays the hotel’s only human employee.\n11. Gold Land\nLead cast: Park Bo-young, Kim Sung-cheol, Lee Hyun-wook\n\nVarious airport and airline workers become involved in a criminal conspiracy in this new thriller from Hwang Jo-yoon, one of the writers of the classic film Oldboy.\nPark Bo-young (Our Unwritten Seoul) plays an airport security check agent who, thanks to her co-pilot boyfriend, discovers some illegal gold and is slowly drawn into the centre of a dangerous game involving a casino known as Gold Land.\n10. The Remarried Empress\nLead cast: Shin Min-a, Lee Jong-suk, Ju Ji-hoon\n\nBased on a popular webtoon, The Remarried Empress is a star-driven romance taking place in a fantastical kingdom.\nShin Min-a (Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha) plays Empress Navier, who is shocked when her husband Sovieshu (Ju Ji-hoon, The Trauma Code: Heroes on Call) divorces her for another woman, only for Heinrey (Lee Jong-suk, Big Mouth), a handsome prince from another land, to appear before her.\n9. Perfect Job\nLead cast: Lee Jae-wook, Go Min-si, Kim Min-ha, Lee Hee-joon\n\nLee Jae-wook (Alchemy of Souls) plays a jobless youth who comes across an offer that seems too good to be true. He accepts the position at the mysterious Spyder Human Resource Centre to pay off his debt, but it is not long before an investigator starts looking into the agency’s dealings.\nPerfect Job is co-written by Concrete Utopia screenwriter Lee Shin-ji and directed by Kim Da-min, who wrote A Killer Paradox and directed the indie favourite FAQ.\n8. Road\nLead cast: Son Suk-ku, Eita Nagayama\nFollowing Good News and Romantics Anonymous, Netflix continues its run of high-profile Japanese-Korean co-productions with Road. In this latest series from D.P. director Han Jun-hee, A Killer Paradox and Nine Puzzles actor Son Suk-ku will once again be playing a detective.\nWhen mangled bodies turn up in Tokyo and Seoul with bloody letters pointing to each other’s countries, Son’s Korean detective and his Japanese counterpart (Eita Nagayama, also in Good News) must team up to solve the crimes.\n7. In the Net\nLead cast: Kim Seon-ho, Park Gyu-young\nIn this thriller co-directed by master filmmaker Kim Jee-woon (A Bittersweet Life) and Park Bo-ram (The Fiery Priest 2), Park Gyu-young (Sweet Home) plays a woman grieving the loss of her sister who meets a mysterious hacker played by Kim Seon-ho (Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha).\nIn the Net is based on the 2017 mystery novel Second Sister by Hong Kong author Chan Ho-kei.\n6. Perfect Crown\nLead cast: IU (aka Lee Ji-eun), Byeon Woo-seok\n\nFollowing the acclaimed Netflix series When Life Gives You Tangerines, IU returns to star opposite Byeon Woo-seok (Lovely Runner) in Perfect Crown, directed by Park Joon-hwa (Alchemy of Souls).\nSet in a fictional present that imagines Korea as a monarchy, the show features the singer-actress as heiress Seong Hee-joo, who becomes entangled with the shy Prince Yian (Byeon), the second son of the king.\n5. Bloodhounds season 2\nLead cast: Woo Do-hwan, Lee Sang-yi, Rain\n\nAnother hotly anticipated follow-up this year is season two of the hit pugilist bromance Bloodhounds. Woo Do-hwan and Lee Sang-yi are back as the boxer buddies who use their fists to help those in need. Joining them as this season’s villain is K-pop icon Rain.\nWhile season one dealt with vicious loan sharks, this new set of episodes will take place in the world of illegal underground cage fights and gambling.\n4. Variety\nLead cast: Son Ye-jin, Jo Yu-ri\n\nSet in the brutal K-pop industry, Variety follows an agent hell-bent on renewing an idol group’s contract and one of the band’s obsessive young fans, who desperately wants to meet her favourite member.\nThe latest show from Mask Girl mastermind Kim Yong-hoon is one of two major Netflix series with Son Ye-jin this year. It also features Jo Yu-ri, known for her roles in Squid Game seasons 2 and 3.\n3. The Second Signal\nLead cast: Kim Hye-soo, Lee Je-hoon, Cho Jin-woong\n\nThe most exciting K-drama return of the year is undoubtedly Kim Eun-hee’s time slip procedural thriller Signal, which single-handedly kick-started the cable era of K-dramas a decade ago.\nThe main cast is all back, which means that the show’s release date is up in the air – thanks to the sudden retirement of actor Cho Jin-woong after his history of juvenile delinquency was unexpectedly revealed to the public last December.\nHopefully, this will not further delay what has already been an excruciatingly long wait for the return of one of the very best K-dramas of all time.\n2. Scandals\nLead cast: Son Ye-jin, Ji Chang-wook, Nana\n\nThe French novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses is gearing up for its third Korean adaptation, following the classic 2003 film Untold Scandal with Jeon Do-yeon and the Chinese-Korean co-production Dangerous Liaisons with Zhang Ziyi.\nThis Netflix update will once again take place in Korea’s Joseon era (1392-1897), and focus on a frustrated aristocrat (Son Ye-jin) who engages in a bet with her admirer (Ji Chang-wook), challenging him to seduce a beautiful woman (Nana) who has taken a vow of chastity.\nAt the helm will be Jung Ji-woo, no stranger to acclaimed erotic dramas and thrillers with titles such as Happy End and Eungyo under his belt.\n1. Show Business\nLead cast: Song Hye-kyo, Gong Yoo\n\nOne of the priciest K-dramas ever made, the Netflix series Show Business will mark the return of K-drama legend Noh Hee-kyung, the writer of Our Blues and numerous modern small-screen classics.\nFeaturing a host of major stars headlined by Song Hye-kyo and Gong Yoo, the show will chronicle the birth and evolution of South Korea’s modern music industry, capturing the lives of a revolving cast of pop hopefuls and moguls from the 1960s through to the ’80s in scintillating period detail.\nFor the 15 best K-dramas of 2025, read our ranking here.\n