Legal dramas are becoming one of the strongest-performing genres on Korean broadcast television in 2026, with series like Phantom Lawyer leading the trend and increasing expectations for the upcoming sequel Good Partner Season 2, according to reporting by The Korea Times.
{img}One of the biggest recent highlights is SBS’s Friday–Saturday drama Phantom Lawyer, which reached a nationwide rating of 10 percent and 10.6 percent in the Seoul metropolitan area by its sixth episode, based on data from Nielsen Korea. The show has also broken its own ratings record for three consecutive weeks, confirming its status as a rising hit among viewers.
The drama’s success is partly credited to its storytelling style. While it follows a familiar courtroom-case structure, it also incorporates emotionally driven narratives connected to “han-puri,” a uniquely Korean concept related to releasing long-held grief or resentment. This combination of legal conflict and emotional storytelling appears to resonate strongly with audiences and has helped the series stand out in a competitive television landscape.
{img}Legal dramas overall have shown strong performance across multiple networks this year. Another example is The Judge Returns, which started with a 4.3 percent premiere rating but steadily gained popularity through word-of-mouth, eventually finishing with 12.8 percent nationwide viewership by its finale. These results suggest that courtroom-focused storytelling is currently a major ratings driver for Korean terrestrial broadcasters.
Attention is now shifting toward the second half of 2026, when Good Partner Season 2 is expected to air. The original 2024 season followed divorce lawyer Cha Eun-kyung and rookie attorney Han Yu-ri, and it achieved strong popularity with a peak rating of 18.7 percent in the Seoul metropolitan area, the highest among SBS dramas that year. Actress Jang Na-ra is set to return for the sequel, this time partnering with Kim Hye-yoon, replacing Nam Ji-hyun from the first season.
{img}With multiple courtroom dramas already delivering strong ratings and another high-profile sequel on the way, industry observers are watching closely to see whether this legal-drama wave continues shaping Korean TV trends through the rest of 2026.