Sneak peek at all the Netflix original Korean dramas and films coming up in 2021 and after
While you are slowly moving down that long list of K-dramas to watch — we're talking about those 11 new serials releasing in February and March — the folks at Netflix Korea are already cranking up their churning machine with even more of their own slate of original Korean dramas and films.
At a virtual presentation held in South Korea yesterday (Feb 25), three new movies and 10 new dramas were announced. Here's a quick look at what you'll be getting.
Films
Night in Paradise
Night in Paradise, staring Um Tae-goo, Jeon Yeo-been, and Cha Seoung-won, is a film about a man targeted by a criminal gang and a woman cornered to a dead end in life.
It was the only Korean film to be screened out of competition at the 77th Venice International Film Festival and earned critical acclaim early on. It's scheduled to be released on Netflix on April 9.
Carter
This action blockbuster depicts the suspenseful adventure of Agent Carter, who wakes up at a motel with his memory entirely wiped out and undergoes a dangerous operation to save a kidnapped girl with no memory of the past.
The release date of this drama has not been confirmed.
Moral Sense (working title)
Based on a webtoon with the same name, this eccentric romance film shows a man with an unusual sexual preference and a woman who happens to know his secret as they get to know each other and develop feelings.
It aims to show you what it means to know a person and to also make you reflect on the relationships that you have. The release date has not been confirmed.
Dramas
Squid Game
Based on a game that children used to play on the streets in the 70s and 80s, Squid Game is a thriller about people who participate in a mysterious survival game to try to win the humongous prize money of 45.6 billion won (S$54 million).
Veteran actor Lee Jung-jae plays Ki-hun, who has been laid off from work and struggles to put food on the table for his family. At the most miserable point in his life, he receives an invitation to an intense survival game with a huge cash prize. Desperate and left with no choice but to participate, he is pit against his close childhood friend Sang-woo (Park Hae-soo from Prison Playbook), who is now in trouble after embezzling company's funds.
The two actors made an appearance at the presentation yesterday and Hae-soo told the media: "The game started off as a children's game which represents the pureness of children but (for this series) it has been distorted into a game for adults who fight over money because of greed. The uniqueness of this is what sets it apart."
Post-production on the drama is almost complete and it is slated to be released in the second half of 2021.
Glitch
Suspenseful comic thriller Glitch is helmed by the same writer and producer of the drama series Extracurricular, and tells the story of Hong Ji-hyo, who tries to track down her missing boyfriend with the help of members of an UFO club.
Their special quest to pursue those who have disappeared in a mysterious beam of light seems preposterous to society at large. The release date for the drama has not been confirmed.
My Name
Ji-u (Han So-hee) is a member of a drug cartel who goes undercover as a police officer in order to find the truth about her father's death. While exacting her revenge, harsh truths are uncovered in the process.
The drama also stars Park Hee-soon, Kim Sang-ho, Lee Hak-ju, and Jang Yull. The release date for the drama has not been confirmed.
The Silent Sea
This mystery thriller is set in space and in the future, where Earth is deforested and suffering from a shortage of food and water. Members of a special team (played by Bae Doona, Gong Yoo, and Lee Joon) are dispatched to the moon to collect samples from an abandoned research centre on the moon, and a deep dark secret is revealed.
The Silent Sea is based on director Choi Hang-yong's short film that was given a major spotlight at the 13th Mise-en-scène Short Film Festival in 2014. It is currently still in production and no release date has been set.
Hellbound
Directed by Yeon Sang-ho (Train to Busan, Peninsula), this adaptation of a graphic novel is about supernatural angels appearing on Earth to condemn people, including a young child, to hell.
Jeong Jin-su (Yoo Ah-in) is the charismatic and mysterious head of the New Truth Church, and as the angels of death arrive, the church leads a religious crusade proclaiming that these visits are the will of the divine.
Bae Yeong-jae (Park Jeong-min), a producer at a broadcasting company, investigates the church while lawyer Min Hye-jin (Kim Hyun-joo) goes up against it and its extremist Arrowhead devotees.
The release date for the drama has not been confirmed.
Move to Heaven
This drama is inspired by an essay written by a former trauma cleaner — people who dispose of the belongings of dead people.
Gu-ru (played by Tang Jun-sang from Crash Landing On You), who has Asperger syndrome, and his uncle Sang-gu (Lee Je-hoon) run a trauma cleaning business named Move to Heaven, and in the course of their work, they uncover heartwarming stories of the deceased and their last wishes.
The drama is slated to be released within the first half of this year.
D.P.
The drama title is short for 'deserter pursuit', a team in the South Korean armed forces that chases after military deserters. The series, starring Jung Hae-in, Koo Kyo-hwan, and Kim Sung-kyun, will show the challenges and difficulties faced by young people these days as seen through the eyes of the D.P. team.
The drama does not have a release date yet.
All of Us are Dead
Chaos unfold in a high school where a zombie virus is spreading, with people outside trying to save them as extreme situations riddled with surprises unfold.
This is based on the original chart-topping webtoon Now at Our School, and stars Yoon Chan-yeong, Park Ji-hu, and Cho Yi-hyun. The drama does not have a release date yet.
Kingdom: Ashin of the North
Created as a spin-off of the hit zombie drama series Kingdom season 2, this special episode tells the story of Ashin (Gianna Jun), the heiress to a northern Jurchen town who holds the secret to the resurrection plant.
It also stars Park Byung-eun, who made a lasting impression as Min Chi-rok, the head of the Royal Commandery. It's currently in post-production and will be released this year.
Love Alarm 2
Set in a world where a notification on an app called Love Alarm — which signals the user when someone with a crush on them is within their radius of 10 metres — becomes the only indicator of love, this drama is about a girl who cannot trigger the app and two guys with unabashed love for her trying to figure out how she feels.
Season 2 picks up from the end of the previous season, exploring the unresolved feelings of Jojo (Kim So-hyun), Sun-oh (Song Kang), and Hye-yeong (Jung Ga-ram) and capturing various aspects of a society where the number of hearts on Love Alarm becomes so valuable that it affects a person's social status.
Love Alarm Season 2 will be released on Netflix on March 12.
kwokkarpeng@asiaone.com