Netflix unveiled their vast selection of K-dramas for 2024, with much anticipated returns like Squid Game Season 2 in addition to newcomers like Mr. Plankton.
Every year, fans of K-dramas eagerly await Netflix’s roster announcement. With no intention of slowing down anytime soon, the streaming service has grown into a major force in Korean culture. A good example is 2024, when Netflix will debut some eagerly anticipated series like Chicken Nugget.
The third and last season of Song Kang’s Sweet Home and the return of Squid Game are also on the list this year. Fans will have plenty of new K-dramas to watch this year.
With so many K-dramas releasing in different quarters of the year, here’s a list of every K-drama and their release time frame.
Chicken Nugget
Release Date: March 15, 2024
This Netflix K-dramas title speaks for itself. The same-named Naver Webtoon served as the inspiration for Chicken Nugget. This is the reason it was first shown in 2022 with a cameo by Kim Yoo-jung.
Choi Min-ah, a business president’s daughter, is the main character in the K-drama. One day when she goes to meet her father at work, she notices a contraption that she has never seen before. Entering the machine, she switches it on, thinking it would assist her with her exhaustion. She gets transformed into a chicken nugget by the machine in a strange and surreal scene.
Min-ah’s father, Choi Seon-man (Ryu Seung-ryong), and intern Go Baek-joong (Ahn Jae-hong) find a cluster of delicious-looking chicken nuggets and realize what has happened. They begin to panic and try to find a way to bring Min-ah back as a human. What’s the worst that could happen? On their quest, they also uncover a few secrets.
Queen of Tears
Release Date: March 9, 2024
In 2024, TvN and Netflix will present Queen of Tears to their audience. Kim Soo-hyun and Kim Ji-won play a married couple who overcome all obstacles and go through a crisis in the K-drama. Kim Baek Hyun-woo and Kim Hong Hae-in are wed. Hyun-woo is a lawyer who works as a legal director at Queen’s Group. She holds a degree from a renowned institution.
Hae-in, meantime, is a chaebol heir and the director of Queens Department Store. She knows full well that a lot of people find her aloof.
The plot, according to Netflix on X/Twitter, is as follows: “War of the century or marriage? The prince of supermarkets and son of the village head of Yongdu-ri, Baek Hyeon-u, has been married to Hong Hae-in, the third-generation heiress to Queens Group and the queen of department stores, for three years. This couple finds a remarkable new beginning that completely rewrites their love narrative as they work through a marital crisis.
Parasyte: The Grey
Release Date: Q2
Parasyte: Netflix made their initial announcement about The Grey in 2022. Based on Hitoshi Iwaaki’s original comic book series Parasyte, Yeon Sang-ho from Train to Busan will be directing the film. The strange parasite that takes over human hosts and drives them to kill each other is the main plot point of the K-drama.
For humanity to survive, it must strive. Although a parasite infected Jung Soo-in (Jeon So-nee), it was unable to take over. Now, she coexists harmoniously with the parasite. In an effort to locate his younger sister, Seol Gang-woo (Koo Gyo-wan) tracks down the parasites. In the meantime, Choi Joon-hyung (Lee Jung-hyun), the task force’s head, lost her spouse to a parasite and has vowed to eradicate
The 8 Show
Release Date: Q2
Per Netflix on X/Twitter, The 8 Show storyline focuses on “eight individuals trapped in a mysterious eight-story building [who] participate in a tempting but dangerous game show where they earn money as time passes.”
A group of people are asked to participate in the reality series Money Game and are in need of money. The eight competitors must make it through the whole 100-day challenge while living in a studio with nothing but concrete walls. They can divide the 44.8 billion won reward if they do. There’s a catch, though.
The cost is subtracted from the award money to purchase food, needs, and other items. The things are 1,000 times more expensive, which exacerbates the situation. Can the competitors eke out an existence while retaining the most amount of prize money? The 8 Show is based on the webcomic Money Game by Bae Jin-soo.
Resident Playbook
Release Date: Q2
Netflix’s 2024 K-drama, Resident Playbook, is a working title as it’s also known as Wise Resident Life. Fans of Hospital Playlist are eager for the K-drama to release, as it is a spin-off of the medical series created by Shin Won-ho.
This time, however, the center of attention is Yulje Medical Center rather than a different medical department. The show is going to be a Slice-of-Life K-drama and will take place in the hospital’s Jongno branch. The friendships and hospital lives of young residents in obstetrics and gynecology will be examined. The inhabitants of Resident Playbook joyfully enter an unfavorable field, which is related to Korea’s present low birth rate.
Actor Go Young-jung, who starred in Sweet Home and Alchemy of Souls, will play the title role of a first-year resident in obstetrics and gynecology.
Sweet Home Season 3
Release Date: Q2
The apocalypse continues as Netflix isn’t waiting long to release the final installment of Sweet Home. Sweet Home Season 3 will end the K-drama’s run and take off where the second season ended. The monster apocalypse will get even more intense as Hyun-soo has given in to his monster side and presumably dead characters are reborn.
Per Netflix on X/Twitter, “In a world where monsterization has ended and a new humanity has begun, people desperately struggling to survive face difficult choices as the world teeters on the boundary between monsters and humans.”
Where will humanity head next as new forms of monsters begin to emerge, with Yi-kyeong’s daughter being a special breed born from monstrosity? The third season will see the return of Song Kang as he begins his mandatory military service, as well as Lee Do-hyun who’s currently serving.
Hierarchy
Release Date: Q2
Part of Netflix’s 2024 K-drama slate is Hierarchy. The K-drama focuses on an elite and prestigious school in South Korea. Only those chosen from birth from rich families are allowed to attend, as it was founded by the conglomerate Jooshin Group.
The group consists of the youngest daughter of a trade firm and the first daughter of the family that leads the Jaeyool Group, which took over from the Jooshin Group. Up to the entrance of a new pupil, the school is established in its ways of elite authority. Jang Ha (Lee Chae-min) seems innocent and has a nice smile. However, the basis of Jooshin High School starts to collapse with his transfer.
Gyeongseong Creature Season 2
Release Date: Q3
Han So-hee and Park Seo-joon return for Gyeongseong Creature Season 2. The Netflix K-drama is set to continue its storyline in 2024 but set in modern times. Chae-ok and Tae-sang found themselves uncovering the monstrous truth of what was happening within the hospital and how it changed their lives.
The K-drama ends on a cliffhanger when Tae-sang is revealed to be alive in contemporary Korea but going by a different name in a post-credit sequence, and Chae-ok is reincarnated with the najin. Anger between them was hinted to in the Season 2 teaser, since it appeared like a new enemy was involved.
“Uncover the never-ending ties — the good and the bad — that fate weaves in Gyeongseong via Ho-jae, a man deceptively similar in looks and demeanor to Tae-sang, and Chae-ok, a survivor of the Gyeongseong spring,” is how the narrative is described by Netflix on X/Twitter. The drama takes place in 2024 in Seoul.
The Whirlwind
Release Date: Q3
A political K-drama involving corruption is set to hit Netflix in the third quarter of 2024. Park Dong-ho (Sol Kyung-gu) is the Prime Minister of South Korea and wants to punish the corrupt president. As the story goes, the president barters deals with the elite, wealthy companies, and chaebol heirs. It’s changed the fabric of politics and Dong-ho wants to put an end to it.
He clashes with Jung Soo-jin (Kim Hee-Ae), the deputy prime minister for economic affairs. A fierce political battle ensues between them.
The Frog
Release Date: Q3
The 2024 mystery thriller from Netflix will surely entice as it’s from The World of the Married director. Per Netflix on X/Twitter, “One man’s life begins to crumble when a mysterious woman shows up at his motel one summer, leaving him to cling dearly to his former ways of life in this mystery thriller series.”
Sweet Home actor Go Min-so will star as Yoo Seong-ha, the mysterious woman who suddenly appears. Kim Yoon-seok will make his Netflix debut as Jeon Young-ha, a man running a pension alone in the forest in 2001. Yoo Kye-sang will also star as Sang-joon, the owner of the motel.
Hellbound Season 2
Release Date: Q4
Hellbound Season 2 has been on fans’ lists for some time after its initial release in 2021. It arrived after the grand success of Squid Game and told a unique story based on a webtoon. Hellbound Season 1 ended on a cliffhanger that left the door open for a new season.
In this K-drama, emissaries rise to Earth to fulfill a prophecy of someone’s death. It soon creates a new world order of cults and beliefs. But the belief system is shattered when a newborn child is given the prophecy, and the K-drama ends with many dead being reborn. Hellbound Season 2 brings back main characters, with Kim Sung-cheol in the leading role of Jin-soo.
Per Netflix on X/Twitter, “In a chaotic world exacerbated by the continuous hellbound decrees, lawyer Min Hyejin of Sodo, The New Truth Society, and the Arrowheads get entangled anew amidst the sudden resurrections of The New Truth’s Chairman Jung Jinsu and Park Jungja.”
The Trunk
Release Date: Q4
Announced in July 2023, The Trunk will star Squid Game actor Gong Yoo alongside Seo Hyun-jin. In-ji (Seo) works as a contract marriage provider for a company called NM. She’s a bride for hire and is going into her fifth marriage with Jung-won (Gong Yoo). Jung-won is a music producer who still misses his ex-wife. He joins NM because it was arranged by her.
In-ji and Jung-won get to know each other as time passes, until one day, a trunk appears from a lake. The trunk leads to a whirlwind of drama and secrets behind NM.
Mr. Plankton
Release Date: Q4
Woo Do-hwan returns to Netflix K-dramas from his success in Bloodhounds with a new series for 2024. Mr. Plankton has been on fans’ radar since its announcement. The K-drama focuses on Hae-jo (Woo), a man who’s unloved and feels he has no business being born. He’s looked down upon due to his real birth father.
After learning a new truth, he sets out to find him and meets Jo Jae-mi (Lee Yoo-mi). She’s unhappy, but has always dreamed of having a family. She’s set to marry the successor of a food company. While her mother-in-law doesn’t like her, she puts up with her because Jae-mi is pregnant. On the day of her wedding, Jae-mi meets Hae-jo and decides to leave with him.
Squid Game Season 2
Release Date: Q4
The long-awaited return of Squid Game is finally coming to Netflix. Squid Game Season 2 is set to release in late 2024. It takes place right after the events of the first season as Gi-hun goes after the creators of the Games with hopes of dismantling the entire system.
Netflix released a first-look and official photos of the K-drama. Returning are the Front Man, the Salesman, new characters, and the return of Wi Ha-joon. Squid Game Season 2 will end the year with a bang as the original season broke into Hollywood.
