Welcome back, K-drama Insiders! 💫

In my last newsletter, I know I said I was going to watch Four Hands, Two Sonatas and then The Scandal, but I switched up the order.

The Scandal is only eight episodes, and there has been so much buzz in the news and online that I decided to watch that first. Sorry, Song Kang. You’ll have to wait!

And The Scandal? Well, there is a lot to unpack here. So much, in fact, that I’m writing a longer review, but it’s not quite ready yet. I’ll send out a note when it is. In the meantime, here is the very short version.

Should you skip it? If you don’t like explicit sex or nudity in your K-dramas, you might want to. If, however, you’ve been wondering whether a K-drama would ever really go there, Episode 7 is the one that has everyone lighting up the internet.

I have been conflicted about The Scandal almost from the beginning.

There is a lot here that I liked. The performances are excellent and the production is beautiful, but by the end of its eight episodes, I still had no real emotional attachment to any of the characters.

That said, I do think the acting was very well done, especially Ji Chang-wook’s. It’s the first character I’ve seen him play that I really didn’t like very much, and that’s actually a compliment. He plays the role incredibly well. In most of the dramas I’ve seen him in, he’s either the action hero who comes out on top or the sweet, romantic lead you can’t help but root for.

Not here.

Here, he plays a damaged womanizer who can’t seem to escape the grip of the first woman he ever loved, even as she continues to manipulate him.

Because my thoughts on this drama are so complicated, I’m splitting the longer review into three parts: the acting, the screenplay and the direction. Keep an eye out for it!

Next on my list?

I’ve already jumped back into Four Hands, Two Sonatas. I swear!

👉 Have suggestions for what I should watch next? Hit reply and let me know.

I recently started listening to JINex. I really love his sound, and I wanted to share his latest collaboration with JINBO the SuperFreak, Every Single Day.

👉 Watch the official “Every Single Day” music video on YouTube

Then hit reply and let me know what you think!

Gong Yoo has announced his 2026 Asia fan meeting tour, THE LONG TAKE, with a Seoul stop scheduled for November 28 at 5 p.m. KST at Yonsei University’s Sinchon Campus Main Auditorium.

Tickets will be sold through Ticketlink, with fan club presales beginning October 27 at 8 p.m. KST and general sales opening October 29 at 8 p.m. KST.

👉 See Gong Yoo’s official tour announcement and ticket information on YouTube

Nearly 10 years after Goblin first aired, the hit drama starring Gong Yoo and Kim Go-eun is officially being developed as a large-scale stage musical.

Production company Library Company has secured the musical rights from writer Kim Eun-sook and Studio Dragon, with plans to develop productions in Korea and internationally. Casting, performance dates and venues have not yet been announced.

👉 Read more!

Four Hands, Two Sonatas held No. 1 in the latest K-drama buzz rankings with 23.12% Buzz Share, followed by New Recruit 4: Sabotage at 19.22%, Made in Korea 2 at 14.94% and The Scandal at 12.65%. Together, the unchanged top four accounted for nearly 70% of this week’s measured drama buzz. Dive Into You entered at No. 7 following its September 26 premiere, while 100 Days of Deception debuted at No. 8 ahead of its October 10 premiere.

Lee Jun-young and Song Kang continued to lead the performer rankings at Nos. 1 and 2 for Four Hands, Two Sonatas, while The Scandal placed three cast members in the Top 10: Son Ye-jin at No. 4, NANA at No. 5 and Ji Chang-wook at No. 6.

On streaming, The Scandal climbed to No. 3 on Netflix’s Global Top 10 Non-English Shows with 2.8 million views. On Prime Video, A Love Other Than Yours held No. 7 among all Prime Original Series worldwide and No. 2 among non-English Originals. Viki’s September roundup also included The Ordinary Jackpot among its five most popular Korean shows of the month.

👉 See the full Top 10 rankings, performer buzz, streaming snapshot and this week’s takeaways

🎬 Park Hyung-sik Joins Family Force
Park Hyung-sik is heading back to the big screen in the new action comedy Family Force, alongside Cha Seung-won, Ra Mi-ran, Baek Yoon-sik and Jang Ryul. The film follows three generations of a Marine family caught up in a terrorist incident, and filming is already underway.

Spring Company has announced that Gong Jae-kyung will appear in the upcoming Korean-Japanese romance Merry Berry Love as Hye-jin. The drama, starring Ji Chang-wook and Mio Imada, premieres October 7 on Disney+.

Mission: Mompossible (September 28 on KBS1 and OnDemandKorea)
Also known as “Mom is Crazy” and starring Jung Min Ah, Dong Ha, Kim Hee Jung, and Kang Kyung Hun, this is a weekday KBS1 family drama about two very different mothers and the intertwined lives of their children.

Boy, With Caution (September 30 on KST, iQIYI, GagaOOLala)
Starring Ryu Se-il and Ha Jung-hoon, the BL romance follows a 32-year-old substitute teacher named Jang Gi-u, whose life is upended by a past school rumor, and a rebellious 21-year-old student, Lee Hyun-jae, who secretly connects with him on an anonymous chat app.

Your Personal Taxi (October 1 on Netflix Globally and FOD in Japan)
A healing music drama starring Cha Tae-hyun, Lee Yeon-hee, Im Se-mi, and Joo Jong-hyuk, centered on a reservation-only taxi whose passengers arrive carrying personal stories and song requests. As the driver listens, each ride becomes a small journey toward comfort and healing. This is a Korean-Japanese co-production.

👉 Are you watching any? Hit reply and let me know!

And next week is going to be busy. Seven new dramas are currently scheduled to premiere between October 5 and 10 so this section is compressed. For the full details on each check out the Upcoming Dramas list on our website.

Between Steps premieres October 5 on Netflix. A romance about a former swimmer who lost his right leg and a graduate student both trying to find a new direction in life.

kiDnap GAME premieres October 6 on Channel A, Fuji TV and Viu. Seven people are kidnapped across seven Asian cities, leaving their loved ones to complete a deadly series of missions.

Merry Berry Love premieres October 7 on Nippon TV, Disney+ and Hulu. Romance about a struggling Korean spatial designer who moves to a scenic Japanese island and falls for a local strawberry farmer.

Liar premieres October 8 on MBC. A psychological thriller about a seemingly perfect first date that turns into a mystery of conflicting memories and accusations.

Take Charge of My Heart premieres October 9 on Netflix. A third-generation chaebol heir whose artificial heart is running low on battery discovers that an aspiring drama writer may be the one person who can keep him alive.

Doctor X: Age of the White Mafia premieres October 9 on SBS and Netflix. A fearless surgeon known as the “mad dog” of the operating room who takes on corruption, malpractice and abuse of power inside a powerful university hospital.

100 Days of Deception premieres October 10 on tvN and Netflix. A

historical spy romance set during the Japanese colonial era, following a brilliant pickpocket and an interpreter pulled into a dangerous web of espionage, deception and forbidden love.

👉 Want to see what’s coming next?
Browse our full list of upcoming 2026 K-drama premieres.

Gaecheonjeol (개천절) is Korea’s National Foundation Day, observed each year on October 3.

The name literally means “the day the heavens opened,” and the holiday commemorates the legendary founding of Gojoseon by Dangun, traditionally dated to 2333 BCE.

It’s a national holiday in South Korea and one of the country’s major commemorative days.

개천절 잘 보내세요!
Happy National Foundation Day!

👉 Do you have a favorite K-drama word?

A new exhibition, Korea: 2000 Years of Creativity, has opened at the British Museum in London, bringing together works spanning centuries of Korean art and cultural history.

Actors Lee Byung-hun and Yerin Ha lend their voices to the exhibition’s audio tour, guiding visitors through some of the works and stories behind Korea’s cultural heritage. The exhibition runs through January 31, 2027.

👉 More Information

With a packed week of new premieres coming up, this weekend is a good excuse to revisit a few older favorites before the watch list gets even longer.

Starring: Ji Chang-wook, Nam Ji-hyun
Perfect for: Romance, legal drama and a little murder mystery

A prosecutor and a trainee lawyer become tangled in a murder case while trying very hard not to fall for each other. It has romance, suspense, comedy and one of Ji Chang-wook’s most charming lead roles.

Starring: Gong Yoo, Yoon Eun-hye
Perfect for: Classic K-drama romance, nostalgia and messy feelings

A young woman disguises herself as a man to get a job at a coffee shop, only for her boss to find himself increasingly confused by his feelings for her. Nearly 20 years later, it remains one of the defining romantic K-dramas of its era.

Starring: Jang Keun-suk, Park Shin-hye, Jung Yong-hwa, Lee Hong-gi
Perfect for: Classic K-drama rom-coms, idol-band chaos and nostalgic early Hallyu vibes

A young woman disguises herself as her twin brother and joins the popular idol group A.N.JELL, where keeping her identity secret gets increasingly complicated as friendships and feelings develop. It’s funny, melodramatic and very much a product of its era in the best possible way.

👉 Which drama will you binge next?

This actor plays a kind-hearted convenience store manager whose life gets complicated when a former high school troublemaker he once met years earlier suddenly shows up looking for a part-time job.

A. Lee Dong-wook in Goblin
B. Ji Chang-wook in Backstreet Rookie
C. Park Hyung-sik in Strong Woman Do Bong-soon
D. Gong Yoo in Coffee Prince

💙 Happy Birthday from all of us at Korean Drama Insider!

👉 What did you think of this week’s K-drama updates? Or, what are you watching right now? Hit reply and tell me.

Until next time… 💙
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