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Yoo Ah-in stars in Hellbound, the new Netflix series by Train to Busan director Yeon Sang-ho. It is just one of the November shows that K-drama fans have to look forward to. Photo: Courtesy of the Toronto International Film Festival

9 new K-dramas to watch in November 2021: Netflix series Hellbound, Song Hye-kyo, Kim Soo-hyun’s latest shows, and more

  • Song Hye-kyo, star of Descendants of the Sun, returns for her first series in two years as the lead of the romantic drama Now, We Are Breaking Up
  • Part investigation drama, part social thriller and part dystopian horror, Hellbound is poised to challenge Squid Game and become Netflix’s next global hit
K-drama news

Both Apple TV+ and Coupang Play will launch their first Korean original series in November, which is shaping up to be a particularly busy and exciting month for K-drama fans.

Netflix is also launching one of its biggest series of the year, while South Korean channels will feature the returns of several major stars.

1. Melancholia

Lee Do-hyun (Sweet Home) returns in the May to December romance Melancholia next month, as maths prodigy Seung-you who becomes close with his maths teacher, played by Lim Soo-jung (Search: WWW), at a prestigious private high school rife with corruption.

The show will also involve the mysterious Seung-yoo, who entered MIT as a 10-year-old but suddenly fell off the grid two years later and now struggles with his school grades following his return. (tvN, November 3)

2. Dr. Brain

Apple TV+ are getting ready to enter the busy streaming Korean streaming market on November 4, when they will unveil the six-part SF-thriller webtoon adaptation Dr. Brain.

Featuring Parasite star Lee Sun-kyun as a neuroscientist who dives headlong into cutting edge consciousness and memory technology following an accident involving his family.

The show is the debut drama series of Korean filmmaker Kim Jee-woon, known for A Bittersweet Life, I Saw the Devil and many other modern Korean classics. (Apple TV+, November 4)

3. Happiness

Han Hyo-joo (Cold Eyes) plays special police squad member Sae-bom, who moves into a new apartment block in this thriller series. Set in the near future, the show chronicles a deadly outbreak that results in the building being shut down, with those inside gradually starting to distrust one another as a zombie-like infection spreads among the residents.

ZE:A’s Park Hyung-sik, in his first post-military service role, plays Yi-hyun, a detective who used to have feelings for Sae-bom and now tries to protect her during the crisis. (tvN/TVing, November 5)

4. Red Sleeve

Based on a 2017 novel by Kang Mi-kang, Red Sleeve chronicles a love story between King Jeongjo and a royal concubine in the 18th century.

It begins when Crown Prince Lee San (Lee Joon-ho) falls in love with court lady Deok-im (Lee Se-young). He asks her to become his concubine when he becomes king, but she initially refuses, fearing that she would lose her freedom if she agreed.

Lee Joon-ho is a member of the band 2PM, while Lee Se-young appeared in Kairos last year. (MBC, November 5)

5. Secret Royal Inspector Joy

After wowing viewers as the villain of Vincenzo, 2PM singer Taecyeon returns as the lead of the period romantic comedy Secret Royal Inspector Joy. He plays Yi-eon, a young man who dreams of running a small dumpling restaurant but winds up on a government officer career track when he aces the state examination.

Through his work, he meets Jo-yi, played by SKY Castle’s Kim Hye-yoon, a young woman creating waves with her desire to divorce her no-good husband. (tvN, November 8)

6. Now, We Are Breaking Up

Superstar Song Hye-kyo (Descendants of the Sun) returns for her first series in two years as the lead of the romantic drama Now, We Are Breaking Up. She plays Young-eun, a career-oriented designer at a fashion company.
Young-eun is disciplined and focused, but her stable life is rocked when she meets the carefree freelance photographer Jae-koo, played by Jang Ki-yong (My Roommate Is a Gumiho) in his final role before beginning his military service this summer. (SBS, November 12)
A still from School 2021.

7. School 2021

The long-running School anthology series will return for its 2021 iteration next month. This season, which is based on the 2011 novel Oh, My Men by Lee Hyun, will follow the lives and loves of a group students who attend a vocational high school rather than go to college.

Among the students is Ki-joon, a talented Taekwondo athlete who will be played by Kim Yo-han of the band WEi. (KBS2, November 17)

8. Hellbound

Train to Busan director Yeon Sang-ho returns with the occult-themed paranoid thriller Hellbound, his first TV drama series.
Premiered to strong reviews at the Toronto International Film Festival (including our own), the series follows the rise of a mysterious cult led by Yoo Ah-in (#Alive), which prophesies the appearance of demons that emerge on the planet to drag sinners down to hell at preordained times.

Hooked on Squid Game? The 15 best K-dramas to stream on Netflix

Part investigation drama, social thriller and dystopian horror, the show is poised to challenge Squid Game and become Netflix’s next global hit. (Netflix, November 19)

9. One Ordinary Day

Coupang Play, the streaming service run by Korea’s top online retailer Coupang, is jumping into original programming with highly anticipated eight-part series One Ordinary Day.

Kim Soo-hyun (It’s Okay to Not Be Okay) plays Hyun-soo, an ordinary student wrongfully accused of murder. Cha Seung-won (Sinkhole) plays Joong-han, a third-rate lawyer who faces off against an uncaring system when he takes on Soo-hyun’s case.

The series made headlines earlier this year when it was revealed that Kim would be earning a record 500 million won (US$427,000) per episode. (Coupang Play, November 30)

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