2026 is shaping up to be one of the strongest years for Korean dramas in recent memory. Netflix, Disney+, MBC and other platforms have lined up projects that pair major stars with acclaimed writers in genres ranging from historical fantasy to legal thrillers to romance. Here is what is worth knowing about.
{img}"Can This Love Be Translated?" kicked off the year on Netflix in January, pairing Kim Seon-ho as a multilingual interpreter with Go Yoon-jung as a global superstar in an unpredictable 12-episode romance.
"Honour," which premiered in February on Genie TV and ENA, marked Lee Na-young's return to television after a seven-year absence. She plays a star lawyer and social media celebrity who is the public face of a firm defending female crime victims, with layers of personal trauma beneath the polished exterior.
"Perfect Crown," scheduled for April on MBC and Disney+, reunites IU with Byeon Woo-seok, who broke out with the 2024 hit "Lovely Runner." Set in an alternate Korea under a constitutional monarchy, the drama follows a royal prince and a chaebol heiress whose romance crosses social class lines.
Netflix's "Show Business" brings together Song Hye-kyo and screenwriter Noh Hee-kyung for the first time since 2013. The story follows people chasing stardom in Korea's entertainment industry from the 1960s to the 1980s, with Gong Yoo playing Song's childhood friend and on-screen partner in what marks their first collaboration.
"Scandal," also on Netflix, reimagines the 2003 film "Untold Scandal" in a Joseon Dynasty setting. Son Ye-jin plays a fiercely independent noblewoman opposite Ji Chang-wook as the kingdom's most notorious romantic manipulator. Nana completes the triangle.
{img}Disney+'s "The Remarried Empress," one of the most ambitious productions of the year, stars Shin Min-a as an empress whose husband falls for another woman and demands a divorce. She agrees, on the condition she can remarry a prince from a rival kingdom. Ju Ji-hoon and Lee Jong-suk co-star.
"Climax" on Genie TV and ENA stars Ju Ji-hoon as a prosecutor climbing dangerously close to a powerful cartel, and Ha Ji-won as his wife, a former top actress caught in increasingly difficult circumstances.
{img}Disney+'s "Portraits of Delusion," set during the Japanese occupation of Korea, stars Suzy as a woman who has lived in isolation for over half a century. Kim Seon-ho plays a painter commissioned to create her portrait, who discovers she is a vampire and the love story that defined her long life.
tvN's "Spellbound" adapts the 2011 occult romance film, with Park Eun-bin as a hotel heiress who can see spirits and Yang Se-jong as an elite prosecutor. The two investigate bizarre incidents while their professional relationship turns into something more.