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Pierce Conran

The latest round of casting news hints at a diverse slate of K-dramas on the horizon, including a real-life story of South Korea’s first female detective, a high school exam cheating thriller, a recasting for the follow-up to a hit legal thriller and a star-driven romantic drama.
Read on to find out more.
1. Detective Park Mi-ok
Writer Chung Seo-kyung and director Kim Hee-won, the duo responsible for Little Women and Tempest, are set to return with the investigative thriller Detective Park Mi-ok.
My Liberation Notes actress Kim Ji-won has been approached about taking on the titular role. The actress previously worked with director Kim on Queen of Tears.

While details on the project are slim for the moment, Detective Park Mi-ok is based on the real-life story of Park Mi-ok, Korea’s very first female detective.
Park served on a Seoul Swat team in the 1990s and later became the first woman to reach the rank of inspector in 2019, while stationed on Jeju Island. She retired in 2022.
Kim Ji-won is getting ready to appear in her next series, the medical drama Doctor X: Age of the White Mafia.
Before her current television success, Chung was known for her writing collaborations with director Park Chan-wook, which spanned most of his films from Lady Vengeance to Decision to Leave.
2. Romance Expert
Kim So-hyun and Choo Young-woo are currently in talks to lead the coming ENA drama Romance Expert.

The series, from The Midnight Romance in Hagwon director Ahn Pan-seok, will depict the romance between a man who gives up on his swimming career after losing a leg and a woman who gives up being a medical resident. The man pivots to robotics while the woman becomes a graduate student.
Known to viewers from shows such as Love Alarm and River Where the Moon Rises, Kim most recently appeared alongside Park Bo-gum in Good Boy.
Choo has experienced a surge in popularity this year, having appeared in no less than four shows already. He played dual roles in The Tale of Lady Ok and also featured in The Trauma Code: Heroes on Call, Mercy for None and Head Over Heels.
3. Stand-in CSAT
The crime thriller Stand-in CSAT has fixed its cast. Appearing in the exam cheating-themed series will be Bae Hyun-sung (Shin’s Project), Cha Kang-yoon (Head Over Heels), Park Yoon-ho (Trigger), Uhm Ji-won (Little Women), Park Hyuk-kwon (Uncle Samsik) and Baek Ji-won (The Fiery Priest).

The series follows a top student who is blackmailed into taking the all-important CSAT (College Scholastic Ability Test) exam for someone else.
Cha will portray Kang Geon-tae, the blackmailed student, while Bae will appear as Nam Jae-yeop, a seemingly model student with a secret.
Park Yoon-ho will play Geon-tae’s only friend Joo Hee-dong, while Uhm and Baek will appear as Shim Kyung-oh and Baek Sun-hee, mothers who sacrifice themselves for their sons. Park Hyuk-kwon is set to feature as a mayoral candidate and strict father, Nam Dong-sik.
The show will be helmed by Park So-yeon, who is known for Pyramid Game, another high school-themed thriller.
4. Good Partner season two
The hit legal drama Good Partner announced a second season not long after concluding its highly rated first season, but a spanner soon gummed up the works when co-star Nam Ji-hyun announced that she would be unable to return to the series owing to scheduling conflicts.

The search for her replacement may have come to a head with reports suggesting that Kim Hye-yoon (Lovely Runner) has been approached to appear in the series opposite returning lead Jang Na-ra.
Good Partner is penned by a former divorce lawyer and focuses on the tribulations of a pair of very different lawyers in the field of divorce law.
The series is expected to be co-produced by Studio&New and Artist Company, the agency and production company set up by Lee Jung-jae and Jung Woo-sung, which represents Kim.
It is not yet clear whether Kim would play the same character as Nam or take on a new role.
Good Partner season two is expected to air in the second half of 2026.


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Kim Ji-won will headline investigative thriller Detective Park Mi-ok, while Kim So-hyun is in talks to star in a drama with Choo Young-woo


Kim Ji-won will headline investigative thriller Detective Park Mi-ok, while Kim So-hyun is in talks to star in a drama with Choo Young-woo.


K-drama casting news about Kim Ji-won, Kim So-hyun, Cha Kang-yoon and more

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Kim Ji-won will headline investigative thriller Detective Park Mi-ok, while Kim So-hyun is in talks to star in a drama with Choo Young-woo

1. Detective Park Mi-ok

Kim Ji-won will headline investigative thriller Detective Park Mi-ok, while Kim So-hyun is in talks to star in a drama with Choo Young-woo