In season one, the denizens of a derelict apartment block found themselves battling monsters, but these new episodes up the ante considerably as the action and mayhem spill out into the world.
Castaway Diva: Park Eun-bin returns for another K-drama treat
The surviving cast members all return, along with many new faces, including Jung Jin-young and Oh Jung-se. (Netflix, December 1)
2. My Man Is Cupid
Lead cast: Jang Dong-yoon, Nana
After licensing several shows, Amazon ends the year with its first original series, the fantasy romance My Man Is Cupid.
Jang Dong-yoon ( Daily Dose of Sunshine) plays a cupid trying to get his wings back, who appears before Nana’s ( Mask Girl) veterinary surgeon Oh Baek-ryun. After all her suitors become involved in accidents, Baek-ryun prays 1,000 times atop a mountain for the man of her dreams to appear before her. (Amazon Prime, December 1)
3. Welcome to Samdal-ri
Lead cast: Kim Hye-sun, Ji Chang-wook
Fresh from See You in My 19th Life, Kim Hye-sun plays Jo Sam-dal, a fashion photographer who retreats to her Jeju Island hometown after her professional life falls apart.
In Jeju, she reconnects with her childhood friend Jo Yong-pil ( Ji Chang-wook, The Worst of Evil), who became a weather forecaster because his mother died following an inaccurate weather report. (JTBC, December 2)
4. Soundtrack #2
Lead cast: Geum Sae-rok, Noh Sang-hyun
After all the action and crime mayhem of Moving, The Worst of Evil and Vigilante, Disney+ is sticking on a slow dance for Christmas with the second instalment of its limited romantic anthology series Soundtrack #2.
Taking over from Park Hyung-sik’s photographer and Han So-hee’s songwriter in Soundtrack #1, Geum Sae-rok (Youth of May) and Noh Sang-hyun ( Pachinko) play a vocalist and pianist who used to be a couple and who meet again. (Disney+, December 6)
5. Maestra: Strings of Truth
Lead cast: Lee Young-ae
Last seen in Inspector Koo, Jewel in the Palace screen legend Lee Young-ae gets to channel her inner Lydia Tár as a legend of the concert hall in Maestra: Strings of Truth.
Lee plays a famous conductor with a dark secret who becomes embroiled in a mystery involving her orchestra.
The show marks a quick return for director Kim Jeong-kwon, who has already made the Netflix romcom Love to Hate You this year. (tvN, December 9)
6. Death’s Game
Lead cast: Seo In-guk, Park So-dam
After committing suicide, a young man (Seo In-guk, Doom at Your Service) meets Death (Park So-dam, Parasite) at the gates of hell, who punishes him by making him experience life a further 12 times in different bodies in this new webtoon adaptation.
This reincarnation drama is loaded with cameos, including but not limited to Lee Do-hyun, Kim Jae-wook, Go Yoon-jung, Choi Si-woo, Kim Ji-hoon and Oh Jung-se. (TVING, December 15)
7. Like Flowers in Sand
Lead cast: Jang Dong-yoon, Lee Joo-myung
Appearing in his third drama in two months, Jang Dong-yoon headlines Like Flowers in Sand as Kim Baek-doo, a former prodigy in traditional Korean wrestling who is now considering giving up on the sport.
In their countryside hometown, he meets his childhood friend Oh Yoo-kyung (Lee Joo-myung, Twenty-Five Twenty-One) when she begins to manage his flagging wrestling team. (ENA, December 20)
8. Gyeongseong Creature
Lead cast: Park Seo-joon, Han So-hee
Netflix will close out the year by launching the first part of its period action-horror series Gyeongseong Creature, featuring Park Seo-joon ( Itaewon Class) and Han So-hee ( My Name).
Set in 1945 at the tail end of Korea’s Japanese colonial era, the series focuses on Park’s wealthy informant and Han’s wily missing persons seeker who finds themselves going up against a mysterious creature in a hospital with a dark secret.
Production for part two is already under way. (Netflix, December 22)
9. Between Him and Her
Lead cast: Lee Dong-hae, Lee Seol
Lee Dong-hae of K-pop boy band Super Junior and Lee Seol ( D.P.) play Jung Hyun-sung and Han Sung-ok, a couple whose love has faded after seven years of dating.
Their struggling relationship faces the ultimate hurdle when they bump into each other outside a lift in a motel, each accompanied by different people. (Channel A, December 26)
10. My Happy End
Lead cast: Jang Na-ra, Son Ho-jun
Jang Na-ra ( Sell Your Haunted House) leads My Happy End as Seo Jae-won, a woman with a perfect life, which includes her devoted husband Heo Soon-young (Son Ho-jun, The First Responders), their child and her successful furniture business.
After she hires a new designer for her company and reconnects with a jealous former classmate, she learns the secrets being hidden by those around her and her perfect life begins to fall apart. (Channel A, December 30)
