From the time-traveling marital revenge story Marry My Husband, to the historical series Flower That Blooms at Night. Here are the 10 new Kdramas to watch in January 2024:
1. Marry My Husband
- Lead cast: Park Min-young, Na In-woo
- Episodes: 16
- Director and Screenwriter: Park Won-guk, Shin Yoo-dam
- Where to watch: Marry My Husband will premiere on tvN on January 1 at 8:50 pm KST, with new episodes airing on Mondays and Tuesdays. It will also be available on Prime Video.
This fantasy melodrama series was based on a popular Webtoon. It revolves around Kang Ji-won (Park Min-young of What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim?), an office worker who marries a colleague, only to meet an untimely end when she is killed by her husband, Min-hwan (Lee Yi-Kyung) after she discovers him in an affair with her best friend.
However, Ji-won opens her eyes to find herself ten years in the past, before she had married Min-hwan. Hoping to change her fate, she decides to bring the adulterous couple together instead. As Ji-won takes her future into her own hands, she starts to notice one of her co-workers, the earnest Yoo Ji-hyeok (Na In-woo).
2. Doctor Slump
- Lead cast: Park Shin-hye, Park Hyung-sik
- Episodes: 16
- Director and Screenwriter: Oh Hyun-jong, Baek Sun-woo
- Where to watch: Doctor Slump will premiere on January 27, airing on Saturday and Sunday nights on JTBC, and will also be streamed on Netflix.
The Heirs (2013) actors Park Shin-hye and Park Hyung-sik (who will have a fan conference in Manila this February) are reuniting this year for a new kdrama series Doctor Slump as former medical student rivals whose paths cross once more after they become professionals.
3. Captivating The King
- Lead cast: Jo Jong-suk, Shin Se-kyung
- Episodes: 16
- Director and Screenwriter: Cho Nam-guk, Kim Seon-deok
- Where to watch: Sejak: Charmed Deceit will premiere January 21 on tvN
Hospital Playlist fan favorite Jo Jung-suk plays the Joseon prince Lee In. He is loyal to his brother, the king, but after he is taken hostage by China’s Qing dynasty, his brother believes he has betrayed him.
Though Lee In suffers emotionally from this strained relationship, he finds solace in the game of baduk. Through it, he meets and becomes fascinated with rising player Kang Hee-soo (Shin Se-kyung), who falls passionately in love with him. But a twist of fate sees him return to the palace, where he is installed as the new king, only for Hee-soo to become a spy to get revenge on him.
4. Love Song for Illusion
- Lead cast: Park Ji-hoon, Hong Ye-ji
- Episodes: 16
- Director and Screenwriter: Lee Jung-seop, Yoon Kyung-ah
- How to watch: Love Song for Illusion will premiere on KBS2 on January 1, airing on Mondays and Tuesdays.
Adapted from the webtoon of the same name, this drama features former Wanna One K-pop boy band member Park Ji-hoon in a dual role. He plays Crown Prince Sajo Hyun in the era of Joseon dynastic rule of Korea, who conceals his royal identity as a fashion designer, as well as Ak-hee, a man who finds it easy to make people fall in love with him but is cursed to feel pain whenever he touches someone.
Yeon Wol (Hong Ye-ji), is a young woman on a quest for revenge after witnessing the massacre of her family by the royal government as a child. Years later, she infiltrates the palace as part of a plan to assassinate the king. However, Yeon Wol winds up falling into a trap, waking up the next day with amnesia.
As the pair begin to fall passionately in love, Yeon Wol’s painful past returns to haunt them.
5. Flower That Blooms at Night
- Lead cast: Honey Lee, Lee Jong-won, Kim Song-joong and Lee Ki-woo
- Episodes: 12
- Director and Screenwriter: Jang Tae-yoo, Lee Sam
- Where to watch: Flower That Blooms at Night will premiere on MBC January 12 at 9:50pm KST, with new episodes airing on Fridays and Saturdays
Also adapted from a webtoon, the upcoming historical drama Flower That Blooms at Night sees Honey Lee in the role of Jo Yeo-hwa, a widow of a noble family during the Joseon Dynasty. While she spends her days at home playing the dutiful daughter-in-law to her late husband’s family, Yeo-hwa secretly sneaks out at night to take care of those who need help.
6. LTNS
- Lead cast: Esom, Ahn Jae-hong
- Episodes: 6
- Director and Screenwriter: Lim Dae-hyung, Jeon Go-woon
- Where to watch: LTNS premieres on TVING on January 19
Indie film darlings Jeon Go-woon (Microhabitat) and Lim Dae-hyung (Moonlit Winter) team up to write and direct this inventive black comedy, which premiered at the Busan International Film Festival.
LTNS follows Woo-jin (Esom) and Samuel (Ahn Jae-hong), a childless couple who have been married for five years. Woo-jin is highly driven but works as a receptionist at a three-star hotel with a modest salary. Meanwhile, Samuel graduated from a prestigious university and used to work for a major company, but eventually had a mental breakdown and quit to become a taxi driver.
Financially burdened and stressed out from work, their marriage has lost all excitement and become “sexless”. When their financial situation takes a turn for the worse, Woo-jin and Samuel decide to blackmail couples having extramarital affairs to earn some extra cash. At the same time, they begin to reflect on their relationship.
7. Flex x Cop
- Lead cast: Ahn Bo-hyun, Park Ji-hyun
- Episodes: 16
- Director and Screenwriter: Kim Jae-hong, Kim Ba-da
- Where to watch: Flex x Cop will premiere on January 26 on SBS, and air on Fridays and Saturdays
Ahn Bo-hyun once again enforces the law with a twist in the cop-themed action-comedy drama Flex x Cop. He plays Jin Yin-soo, a police detective in the violent crimes division despite his immature personality and his family’s wealth. At work, he attempts to wipe out criminals by using his money and personal connections. Working with him is Lee Gang-hyun (Park Ji-hyun, Reborn Rich), a veteran detective committed to catching criminals.
8. A Shop for Killers
- Lead cast: Lee Dong-wook, Kim Hye-jun
- Director and Screenwriter: Lee Kwon, No Kyu-Yeob, Lee Kwon, Ji Ho-Jin
- Where to watch: A Shop for Killers will premiere on January 17 on Disney+
When Jung Ji-An (Kim Hye-Jun) was little, her mother was murdered by her father and her father took his own life on the day of her grandmother’s funeral. Jung Ji-An was suddenly left all alone. Her uncle, Jung Jin-Man (Lee Dong-Wook), took her in and they lived together. While raising Jung Ji-An, Jung Jin-Man ran a mysterious shopping mall. She eventually enrolled in a university and left her uncle’s home. She began to live by herself.
One day, Jung Ji-An hears that her uncle has suddenly passed away. She goes back to her uncle’s home, where she lived with him. She becomes to know about the real identity of the shopping mall that Jung Jin-Man ran.
9. The Bequeathed
- Lead cast: Kim Hyun-joo, Park Hee-soon
- Director and Screenwriter: Min Hong-nam, Yeon Sang-ho
- Where to watch: The Bequeathed will premiere on January 19 on Netflix.
Hellbound actress Kim Hyun-joo plays Yoon Seo-ha, who inherits a rural cemetery following her uncle’s death. When dark events begin taking place there, detective Choi Sung-soon (Park Hee-soon, My Name) starts to investigate.
10. Queen of Divorce
- Lead cast: Lee Ji-ah, Kang Ki-young
- Episodes: 16
- Director and Screenwriter: Park Jin-seok, Jeong Hee-seon
- Where to watch: Queen of Divorce premieres on January 31 on JTBC, airing on Wednesdays and Thursdays
The Penthouse star Lee Ji-ah is Kim Sa-ra, the “Queen of Divorce”, who married into the biggest law firm in Korea, only to be betrayed by her husband and lose everything. She now works as a divorce lawyer doggedly hounding bad spouses.
Meanwhile, Kang plays her business partner, lawyer Dong Ki-joon. A former prosecutor with one of the highest prosecution rates in his region, he mysteriously steps down from his post. Together, the duo seek to get the best settlement for their clients seeking to divorce their partners.
