K-DRAMA NEWS - May 2026
By Sharon Stern
There’s a streaming service called Amasian, which is part of On Demand Korea, that now has a couple of the shows subtitled from last year that have not been available on other platforms. The shows are subtitled in English and are available for free, but with ads. On Demand Korea has many other shows available, but they are often not subtitled. I’m adding these at the top of the list.
This is another something-for-everyone month. There are a lot of genres covered: crime, law, rom-com, slice-of-life, military, aging professionals (??), silly super heroes. It’s all about who does the best storytelling, isn’t it? We’ll have to just dive in and see!
Shin’s Project – 신사장 프로젝트
Amasiantv– Starring: Han Suk-kyu, Bae Hyun-sung, Lee Re
Genre: Dark comedy, drama, slice-of-life
Premiered Sep 15, 2025 | A former negotiator, Mr. Shin (Han Suk-kyu) now runs a fried chicken restaurant and uses his negotiating skills to cool down interpersonal situations that are about to explode. A new judge, Jo Philip (Bae Hung-sung), is assigned, under mysterious circumstance, to work at the chicken shop instead of a courtroom. A delivery driver, Lee Shin-on (Lee Re), is actually an undercover informant for Mr. Shin. When the three get together, they begin to seek out truth and justice, leaving everyone to wonder – who is Mr. Shin, really?.
Honour – 아너: 그녀들의 법정
Amasiantv – Starring: Lee Na-young, Jung Eun-chae, Lee Chung-ah
Genre: Legal, mystery, thriller
Premiered Feb 2, 2026 | This drama is based on the Swedish drama Heder from 2019.
Three lawyer friends have buried a secret for 20 years. They met at university and they now work together as lawyers at L&J Law Firm. Yoon Ra-young (Lee Na-young) is the firm’s top lawyer and spokesperson for the law firm. Kang Shin-jae (Jung Eun-chae) is the even-tempered CEO of the law firm. Hwang Hyun-jin (Lee Chung-ah) has a spirited personality and is always out in the field, doing leg work for cases.
The secret, that they could not speak about for 20 years, comes up again as a huge scandal and shakes up their lives. They stick together and fight back with tenacity.
This is a really strong cast and I was waiting for it to be available somewhere.
Reverse – 리버스
Kocowa – Starring: Seo Ji-hye, Go Soo, Kim Jae-kyung
Genre: Thriller, mystery, melodrama
Ham Myo-jin (Seo Ji-hye) lost her parents in an explosion surrounded in mystery when she was a child. She lives haunted by visions. She lives her life being cared for by her fiancé, Ryu Jun-ho (Go Soo), a chaebol heir. She has lived for 15 years wanting revenge for her parents’ deaths. The perfect opportunity arrives, but Myo Jin is involved in a car accident and loses her memories. As she desperately chases down her memories, clues about the accident are revealed and they point to her as the cause of the explosion. She finds herself not able to trust anyone, including herself.
The Scarecrow – 허수아비
Viki, Amasiantv, Kocowa – Starring: Park Hae-soo, Lee Hee-joon, Kwak Sun-young
Genre: Crime, mystery, thriller
Detective Kang Tae-ju (Park Hae-soo) has been demoted and sent to his hometown, Gangseong, where there’s a serial murder case. The accused murderer has been linked to the murders and other unsolved murder cold-cases through DNA evidence, but wants Kang Tae-ju to be in the investigation and prove his innocence. Kang Tae-ju sees solving this case as a way to restore his reputation, but he clashes with a prosecutor and an old rival from school days, Cha Si-young (Lee Hee-joon), who is leading the investigation. As with any investigation, the truth isn’t always easy to come by nor is it black and white.
Sold Out on You – 오늘도 매진했습니다
Netflix – Starring: Ahn Hyo-seop, Chae Won-bin, Kim Bum, Go Doo-shim, Jo Woo-ri
Genre: Rom-com
This drama is referred to as a healing comedy about two people who throw everything they’ve got into their work, but at the end of the day, feel pretty empty.
Matthew Lee [an alias he has taken on to hide his past] (Ahn Hyo-seop) is a researcher of a natural cosmetics ingredient company and runs a farm where he develops miracle ingredients, including a very precious mushroom. He terminates a contract with a cosmetic company and that sends Dam Ye-jin searching for this now unavailable key ingredient to one of her sell-out products. Dam Ye-jin (Chae won-bin) is a popular home shopping channel host who always hosts sell-out products. Her focus on work, work and nothing but work has given her severe insomnia. Her show’s timeslot gets bumped to a rival and she goes to work for the cosmetic company that have just lost their contract with Matthew Lee. The two of them keep crossing paths, day and night, which allows them to slowly move from a relationship of mutual disgust, to tolerance, to understanding and caring.
My Royal Nemesis – 멋진 신세계
Netflix – Starring: Lim Ji-yeon, Heo Nam-jun, Jang Seung-jo, Lee Se-hee
Genre: Rom-com
Kang Dan-shim, a ruthless, cunning Joseon-era concubine and villainess, who rose to the place of being the first-ranked concubine, but she is sentenced to death and forced to drink poison…but she wakes up again, at the palace where she died. However, she is in the body of a struggling actress, Shin Seo-ri (Lim Ji-yeon), in 2026, filming a Joseon-era drama at the palace. She ends up meeting and clashing with Cha Se-gye (Heo Nam-jun), a cold and also ruthless chaebol heir.
The Legend of Kitchen Soldier – 취사병 전설이 되다
Viki, HBO Max – Starring: Park Ji-hoon, Yoon Kyung-ho, Lee Hong-nae
Genre: Comedy, military
Premieres May 11 | The series is based on the Naver webtoon Kitchen Soldier by J. Robin. It tells the story of a man, Kang Seong-jae (Park Ji-hoon), who enlists in the military to escape his harsh reality, only to gain a reputation as a problem soldier. One day a mysterious virtual quest screen called the Army Cook Quest appears in front of him. He decides to follow the challenges it puts to him and he becomes the base’s ace cook as a result. As he continues to accept and follow the quests the screen gives him, however, he starts to uncover a dark network of corruption in the military.
An army sergeant at the base, Yun Dong-hyeon (Park Jae-yeong), is also a cook, but a really bad one. He is counting down his days until discharge. His auto-pilot life is thrown for a loop when whiz-kid chef Kang Seong-jae appears. He is annoyed, but can hardly ignore Kang and decides to help him on his quests.
Azure Spring – 아주르 스프링
Kocowa – Starring: Yeri, Kang Sang-jun
Genre: Coming-of-age, slice-of-life
Premieres May 11 | Two individuals are paralyzed by their past and afraid of the future. Seo An-na (Yeri) is a young woman looking for work, but full of social anxieties. She was once a swimmer, but was plagued with injury and failure. Yun Deok-hyun (Kang Sang-jun) is a middle-aged man trapped by his past, diving to endure his time in silence. They find themselves under the same roof and An-na begins learning diving from Deok-hyun. They grow closer, until the past comes back to haunt them and fracture their seeming peace. If it isn’t obvious from the title and description, the drama is set on Jeju.
Descriptions of the drama are calling Yun Deok-hyun a hae-nyeo, but I believe that title is reserved for women.
The WONDERfools – 원더풀스
Netflix – Starring: Park Eun-bin, Cha Eun-woo, Choi Dae-hoon, Im Seong-jae, Kim Hae-sook, Son Hyung-joo, Bae Na-ra
Genre: Superhero, comedy, action
Premieres May 15 | This drama is set in 1999, when there were quite a lot of people that really believed that the world was going to end when the clocks ticked over to the year 2000. I personally had to sit with colleagues waiting for the time to pass to see if all of the computers in the world ceased functioning. Spoiler alert – they didn’t. We had a party instead. However, dramaland has dreamed up a more fun adventure for us. A group of neighborhood misfits (of the silliest kind) suddenly gain superpowers and set out to fight evil. As befitting of misfits, when they gain their superpowers, the powers aren’t quite perfect and they have a lot of trouble controlling them, but they use them to try to fight against a villain (he looks pretty dark) that threatens the peace of their town.
The drama features a very strong cast and is directed by the director of Extraordinary Attorney Woo.
Fifties Professionals – 오십프로
HBO Max – Starring: Shin Ha-kyun, Oh Jung-se, Heo Sung-tae
Genre: Action, comedy
Premieres May 22 | Jung Ho Myeong (Shin Ha-kyun) was an NIS agent who was very good at blending into any situation where he was assigned. He was once a top black ops agent, but is now facing challenges of middle age.
Bong Je Sun (Oh Jung-se) was an elite operative from North Korea in the Ministry of People’s Armed Forces. He was once a feared human weapon but now suffers from nightmares where he dresses as a woman and suffers from depression.
Kang Beom Ryong (Heo Sung-tae) was once Number 2 in the most feared gang in South Korea, now runs a convenience store, worried about his future.
The three men were professionals in their fields, but have been living in isolation for a decade on Yeongseon Island. Now seemingly ordinary, but assumed to be past their prime, a series of events and destiny bring them together to uncover what caused them to be displaced from their former lives, as they face the challenges of aging.
