10 of the best new K-dramas to watch in October 2023: Bae Suzy in Netflix romance Doona!, Rowoon in The Matchmakers, Park Eun-bin in Castaway Diva, and more
- K-pop group Astro’s Cha Eun-woo stars with Park Gyu-young in romance A Good Day to be a Dog. On Netflix, Squid Game’s Lee Yoo-mi is Strong Girl Nam-soon
- Park Eun-bin of Extraordinary Attorney Woo gets marooned in Castaway Diva, while Namkoong Min and Ahn Eun-jin return for period drama My Dearest Part 2
Following Chuseok – South Korea’s mid-autumn festival – Korean drama schedules in October will be packed with a variety of new shows, including fantasy dramas, thrillers and several period romances.
We preview 10 of the best series debuting during the month.
1. The Perfect Deal
Lead cast: Yoo Seung-ho, Kim Dong-hwi, Yoo Su-bin, Lee Joo-young
Yoo Seung-ho (Moonshine) and Kim Dong-hwi (Missing: The Other Side) play two desperate youths, one a formerly promising football player, the other a medical student dealing with a personal crisis.
Moving: fantastic 5-star superhero K-drama reaches epic finale on Disney+
The Perfect Deal is the drama debut of indie director Lee Jung-gon (Not Out). (wavve, October 6)
2. Strong Girl Nam-soon
Lead cast: Lee Yoo-mi, Kim Jung-eun, Kim Hae-sook
She plays a woman with superhuman strength who went missing as a child but is reunited as an adult in Gangnam, Seoul, with her rich mother (Kim Jung-eun) and grandmother (Kim Hae-sook), who are also superpowered.
Together they seek to take down a drug gang in their glitzy neighbourhood. (JTBC, October 7)
3. A Good Day to Be a Dog
Lead cast: Park Gyu-young, Cha Eun-woo, Lee Hyun-woo
If she kisses anyone she is doomed to turn into a dog at midnight for six hours.
The transformation repeats itself every night until the sharer of the kiss kisses them again in their dog form.
Her romantic nightmare begins when she accidentally kisses her colleague, played by Cha Eun-woo of the K-pop group Astro. (MBC, October 11)
4. My Dearest Part 2
Lead cast: Namkoong Min, Ahn Eun-jin
After concluding its first set of episodes in early September, the sweeping period romance My Dearest will return for Part 2 in mid-October.
5. Evillive
Lead cast: Shin Ha-kyun, Kim Young-kwang
At Do-young’s side, Dong-soo embarks on a new life of crime. (ENA, October 14)
6. Doona!
Lead cast: Bae Suzy, Yang Se-jong
In his first role since completing military service in South Korea, Yang Se-jong (Dr. Romantic) plays a student at that university who comes to live in the same house. The pair become attracted to one another. (Netflix, October 20)
7. Castaway Diva
Lead cast: Park Eun-bin, Chae Jong-hyeop, Kim Hyo-jin
She plays Seo Mok-ha, a lively young girl who dreams of being a singer but finds herself stranded on a deserted island on her way to an audition.
After spending 15 years there she is finally rescued and, while readjusting to an unfamiliar world, she once again pursues her dream. (tvN, October 21)
8. High Cookie
Lead cast: Nam Ji-hyun, Choi Hyun-wook, Kim Moo-yeol
All three characters’ lives are turned upside down by magical cookies that grant wishes with just one bite. (KBS2, October 23)
9. Moon in the Day
Lead cast: Kim Young-dae, Pyo Ye-jin
She winds up saving him during an accident on set and starts working as his bodyguard. But when Joon-o wakes up, his body has been taken over by the spirit of a Joseon kingdom nobleman seeking revenge against the wife who killed him, who looks just like Young-hwa. (ENA, October 25)
10. The Matchmakers
Lead cast: Rowoon, Cho Yi-hyun
However, she dies during their wedding and thus he is doomed to no longer hold a government post or remarry.
