New K-dramas to catch from now until November starring Jun Ji-hyun, Kim Go-eun, Song Hye-kyo, Kim Soo-hyun

Just when the number of Covid-19 cases here are rising scarily high every day and we're told to reduce social interactions, we get a big lot of new K-dramas coming up from tonight (Sep 17).

Time to say goodbye to lonely nights.

Squid Game

Starring Lee Jung-jae, Park Hae-soo, Oh Young-soo, Wi Ha-jun

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqxAJKy0ii4[/embed]

Laid off and divorced with high-interest loans and a gambling debt, Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) is at his wit's end when a strange man (a secret cameo by a most dashing actor) presents him a business card featuring a circle, triangle and square. The man invites Gi-hun to a survival game where the prize money is a jaw-dropping 45.6 billion won (S$53 million).

Gi-hun accepts the offer and lands himself in a mysterious place with a total of 456 participants.

The rule is simple: everyone has to participate in a classic childhood game. The stakes? Their lives.

Debuts today (Sept 17) on Netflix.

Yumi's Cells

Starring Kim Go-eun and Ahn Bo-hyun

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEdMwkIAazw[/embed]

Yumi (Kim Go-eun) is an ordinary office worker in her 30s whose love cells are in a comatose state after her relationship fails. The series, adapted from a popular webtoon, traces her growth and changes as her brain cells awaken the love cells. Ku Woong (Ahn Bo-hyun) and her co-workers Ruby and Seo Sae-I help in their own ways to revive her love cells.

Debuts tonight (Sept 17) on iQiyi

The Veil

Starring: Namgoong Min, Park Ha-sun, Kim Ji-eun

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqQc6lRdcms[/embed]

National Intelligence Service top agent Han Ji-hyuk (Namgoong Min) was in pursuit of an organised crime syndicate when he goes missing for a year. He returns to take revenge on the person who betrayed his trust and caused his downfall.

Debuts Sept 18 on Viu

One The Woman

Starring Lee Sang-yoon, Lee Hanee, Lee Won-keun

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zc5f5jrKLi8[/embed]

A corrupt female prosecutor gets into a car accident, which causes her to lose her memories. When she wakes up, she finds her life swapped with that of Kang Mi-na (Lee Hanee), the daughter-in-law of conglomerate BK Group.

Her life gets intertwined with a chaebol Han Seung-wook (Lee Sang-yoon) who has not moved on from his first love, and has returned to Korea to investigate the truth behind his father's questionable death.

Debuts Sept 18 on Viu

Dali and the Cocky Prince

Starring Park Gyu-young, Kim Min-jae, Kwon Yool, Yeon Woo (Momoland), Hwang Hee

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jpttBznu5w[/embed]

Jin Moo-hak (Kim Min-jae) is the second son of a family that runs a pork bone soup eatery which is now a global restaurant franchise. Despite his lack of education, he has an excellent ability to make money.

Kim Dal-ri (Park Gyu-young) is a visiting researcher of an art gallery, and the only child of a prestigious family. She can speak seven languages and has a good personality, but she is not very good at doing household chores like cooking.

How will their romance turn out?

Debuts Sept 23 on Viu

Hometown

Starring Han Ye-ri, Uhm Tae-goo, Yoo Jae-myung

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7_8HNf_kqg[/embed]

Set over 20 years ago in 1999, the drama centres around Choi Hyung-in (Yoo Jae-myung), a veteran violent crime detective in a rural town investigating a string of strange murders, and Jo Jung-hyun (Han Ye-ri), a woman on the hunt for her missing niece. They are both inexplicably connected to a terrorist attack from 10 years ago, and team up together to uncover the truth.

Debuts Sept 23 on iQiyi and Viu

Jirisan

Starring Jun Ji-hyun, Ju Ji-hoon, Sung Dong-il, Oh Jung-se

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cKsZOshphY[/embed]

The highly anticipated K-suspense series, created by director Lee Eung-bok (Goblin, Descendants Of The Sun) and writer Kim Eun-hee (Kingdom, Signal) was shot in Korea's highest mountain Jirisan. It marks Ji-hyun's return to the small screen since Legend of the Blue Sea five years ago.

The drama showcases the rarely-seen life of forest rangers, with Ji-hyun playing a fearless national park ranger and Ji-hoon a rookie ranger.

Debuts Oct 23 on iQiyi

Now We Are Breaking Up

Starring Song Hye-kyo, Jang Ki-yong

The drama series is centred on love and break-ups in the fashion industry. Ha Yeong-eun (Song Hye-kyo) is the team leader of the design department in a fashion company called The One, while Yoon Jae-gook (Jang Ki-yong) is a hot freelance photographer.

This is Hye-kyo's first project after her divorce with actor Song Joong-ki, and Ki-yong's last project before he enlisted for military service.

Debuts Nov 12 on Viu

One Ordinary Day

Starring Kim Soo-hyun, Cha Seung-won, Lee Seol

Based on the British drama Criminal Justice, One Ordinary Day revolves around two men whose lives change completely after a woman is found murdered.

After one drunken night of fun, an ordinary college student Kim Hyun-soo (Kim Soo-hyun) finds himself the prime suspect in the gruesome murder of a woman he had spent the night with. With all circumstantial evidence pointing at him and the case receiving increasing scrutiny in the media and on social media, the prosecution is eager to declare him guilty.

The only person who comes forward to take his case is Shin Joong-han (Cha Seung-won), a small-time lawyer who barely passed the bar exam. He decides to help Hyun-soo on his intuition that he is innocent. With the odds stacked against them, the pair must put up an intense fight to bring justice and reveal the real perpetrator in a case that will not only change their lives, but also shake up the criminal justice system of the country.

Debuts Nov 27 on Viu

kwokkarpeng@asiaone.com