8 New K-Dramas (+ 1 Film) Stealing The Spotlight In July 2024!

New month, new K-dramas! July has just started and with it, 8 brand-new K-dramas are hitting our small screens. From romance to crime, law dramas to melodramas, you’re bound to find your new obsession among these 8 new releases:

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• Release date: July 3rd, 2024
• Network: Disney+ and Hulu
• Episodes: 10
• Main cast: Kim Ha-neul and Rain
• Where have I seen these people before? Just this year, Kim Ha-neul was in KBS2’s Nothing Uncovered. She was also excellent in jTBC’s 18 Again. This is Rain’s first main role in two years (since tvN’s Ghost Doctor).
• Writer: Choi Yoon-jung (from SBS’s Lie to Me)
• Director: Park Hong-kyun (from tVN’s A Korean Odyssey)

Wan-soo (Kim Ha-neul) was a successful golf player who got married to the successor of the Hwain Group. She’s now the head of the NOW Foundation and is renowned for her charity work. Her life turns upside down when she suffers an assassination attempt. Alongside her skilled bodyguard Do-yoon (Rain), she needs to figure out who is trying to kill her, but this chase might bring to the surface dark secrets within her family.

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• Release date: July 5th, 2024
• Network: MBC (internationally, you’ll be able to watch it on Viki)
• Episodes: 2
• Main cast: Jeon Hye-bin, Lee Joong-ok, and Jung Sang-hoon
• Where have I seen these people before? Jeon Hye-bin was in KBS2’s Liver or Die, Lee Joong-ok was the lovely father from tvN’s Castaway Diva, and Jung Sang-hoon was in ENA/Genie TV’s Longing for You.
• Writer: No Ye-ri (from tVN’s Poong, The Joseon Psychiatrist)
• Director: Kim Young-jae (from tVN’s Wedding Impossible, Doom at Your Service and Search: WWW)

Baekgu is Onghwa Village’s “Casanova” dog since all the female dogs love him and he has fathered several puppies. Village chief Ja-wang (Jung Sang-hoon) then starts a campaign to have the dog undergo neutering surgery. Amid this heated debate, Ja-wang finds out that his wife, with whom he already has three sons, is pregnant with twins! The village decides that Ja-wan should also get a vasectomy himself.

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• Release date: July 6th, 2024
• Network: tvN (internationally, you’ll be able to watch it on Viki)
• Episodes: 12
• Main cast: Shin Ha-kyun, Lee Jung-ha, Jin Goo, Jo A-ram and Jung Moon-sung
• Where have I seen these people before? Shin Ha-kyun was the lead in the acclaimed Beyond Evil (jTBC, 2021), while Lee Jung-ha was part of the cast of Moving (Disney+, 2023). Jin Goo was one of the leads in Shadow Detective (Disney+, 2022), Jo A-ram was in jTBC’s Doctor Cha and Jung Moon-sung was in tvN’s Hospital Playlist and jTBC’s Divorce Attorney Shin recently.
• Writer: Choi Min-ho (from tVN’s Poong, The Joseon Psychiatrist)
• Director: Kwon Young-Il (from tVN’s Wedding Impossible, Doom at Your Service and Search: WWW)

Shin Cha-Il (Shin Ha-kyun) is an intelligent, determined, and cynical auditor who starts working at JU Construction, an infamously corrupt company. His audit team has two members who are complete opposites: the rookie Goo Han-soo (Lee Jung-ha), a kind young man whose dream is to get transferred to the Florida branch, and Yoon Seo-jin (Jo A-ram), a cold lone wolf who wants to be successful at all costs. Their work starts meddling with Hwang Dae-woong (Jin Goo), the vice-president of the company. He’s the chairman’s third son and he’s willing to do anything to inherit his father’s position.

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• Release date: July 12th, 2024
• Network: SBS (internationally, you’ll be able to watch it on Viki)
• Episodes: 16
• Main cast: Jang Na-ra, Nam Ji-hyun, Kim Joon-han, and Pyo Ji-hoon (P.O)
• Where have I seen these people before? Jang Na-ra has dozens of titles to her name, including tvN’s Oh My Baby, SBS’s VIP, and KBS2’s Go Back Couple. The incredible Nam Ji-hyun was in tvN’s fantastic Little Women and SBS’s Suspicious Partner. Kim Joon-han was in Coupang Play’s Anna and tvN’s Hospital Playlist, while everybody knows P.O from Block B but also tvN’s Hotel del Luna.
• Writer: Choi Yoo-na (she’s a real divorce lawyer and this is her first screenwriter credit)
• Director: Kim Ga-ram (from jTBC’s Nevertheless,)

Cha Eun-kyeong (Jang Na-ra) is an experienced and astute divorce lawyer at Law Firm Daejung. She works alongside lawyers Jung Woo-Jin (Kim Joon-han) and Jeon Eun-Ho (Pyo Ji-hoon), as well as the rookie attorney Han Yoo-ri (Nam Ji-hyun). Yoo-ri is a justice-driven professional whose untrained eyes seem a bit too naive to Cha’s years of know-how. As they learn how to work together and let their strengths complement each other, Cha is faced with a crisis in her own marriage.

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• Release date: Premiered in April at Cannes. The film version was released on Jun 14th and the show will be released on July 15th.
• Network: U+ Mobile TV
• Episodes: 7 (of 30 minutes each as presented at Cannes)
• Cast: Cho Yeo-jeong, Park Ha-sun, DEX, Go Gyu-pil, Seo Ji-hoon, Lee Joo-bin, Kim Sung-tae, Ham Eun-jung and Oh Yu-jin.
• Where have I seen these people before? Who doesn’t know Cho Yeo-jeong? Of course, you remember her as the matriarch of the rich family in Parasite. Recently, she was in tvN’s High Class too. But we also have Park Ha-sun from tvN’s Birthcare Center, Go Gyu-pil from tvN’s Crash Landing on You, Seo Ji-hoon from tvN’s My Lovely Liar, Lee Joo-bin from tvN’s Queen of Tears and so on. They are all leads of their own episode, though.
• Writer: Kyung Min-sun (from KBS2’s Gumiho Recipe)
• Director: Choi Byung-gil (from tvN’s High Class)

Even though Cannes didn’t feature a huge amount of Korean films this year, Studio X+U’s Tarot was officially invited to the Festival International des Séries de Cannes (the TV show equivalent of the Cannes Film Festival) and it premiered to praise from the local audience.

This is the official synopsis from the festival website:

A cursed message that comes to you for no apparent cause or reason. Stories about urban legends that could happen to anyone, anywhere, in the backdrop of Seoul, 2024. As families, neighbors, and strangers go on with their daily lives, mysterious incidents that are hard to tell if they are dreams or reality start to occur. Every episode begins with the main character discovering a tarot card. They either choose to believe or ignore the tarot cards that supposedly predict the future, but no one knows how the story will end. Soon after, they experience extreme horrors, that are exactly the opposite of what the tarot cards foretold. Tarot cards may foresee the larger flow of your fate, but they also have reversed and double meanings depending on how they are interpreted, which resembles our lives. Tarot is an omnibus short-form drama where each episode delivers unexpected twists and turns.

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• Release date: July 19th, 2024
• Network: Netflix
• Episodes: 8
• Main cast: Song Kang, Lee Jin-wook, Lee Do-hyun, Lee Si-young, and Go Min-si
• Where have I seen these people before? Who doesn’t know Song Kang by now? His most recent credits include SBS’s My Demon and jTBC’s Forecasting Love and Weather. Lee Jin-wook was in tvN’s Bulgasal and OCN’s Voice 2 and 3. Lee Do-hyun was amazing in Netflix’s The Glory and jTBC’s The Good Bad Mother. You might recognise Lee Si-young from KBS2’s Liver or Die while Go Min-si was part of the supporting cast of Netflix’s Love Alarm.
• Writers: Hong So-ri and Park So-jung (who also adapted the first two seasons)
• Directors: Lee Eung-bok (from tvN’s Mr. Sunshine and Goblin) and Park So-hyun (who also co-directed the second season of Sweet Home)

Sweet Home is an adaptation of Kim Kan-bi and Hwang Young-chan’s webtoon of the same name. Following the massive success of the first two seasons, Netflix is now releasing the third and final season of the Song Kang-led sci-fi series.

Of course, you should watch the first two seasons before diving into this one so here’s the main premise of the show: After losing his entire family in a car accident, Cha Hyun-su (Song Kang) moves into a small apartment. He lives a quiet and isolated life until a strange phenomenon starts happening not only in his apartment building, but all around the globe: people are turning into monsters. And so endless battle to survive in this new world begins.

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• Release date: July 22nd, 2024
• Network: tvN (internationally, you’ll be able to watch it on Viki and Viu)
• Episodes: 8
• Main cast: Kim So-hyun, Chae Jong-hyeop, Yun Ji-on and Kim Da-som
• Where have I seen these people before? Most of us witnessed Kim So-hyun growing up — from SBS’s Rooftop Prince to While You Were Sleeping to her most recent main roles in KBS2’s River Where The Moon Rises and tvN’s My Lovely Liar. Chae Jong-hyeop’s filmography is quite impressive but recently, he’s received attention for his lead roles in tvN’s Castaway Diva and TBS’s Eye Love You. Yun Ji-on was also in tvN’s My Lovely Liar but my personal favourite of his is definitely MBC’s Tomorrow. Kim Da-som’s last credit is MBC’s Kokdu: Season of Deity.
• Writer: Park Geu-ro (this is her first screenwriter credit)
• Director: Song Hyun-wook (from ENA’s The Midnight Studio)

When Lee Hong-ju (Kim So-hyun) was in high school, she fell in love with one of her classmates, Kang Hu-young (Chae Jong-hyeop). Things didn’t work out and their breakup was so upsetting that she stopped believing in love. Ten years later, Hong-ju now works in the animation industry and she stumbles upon Hu-young once again. He, who had spent the past years abroad and has just returned to Korea, experiences a flood of emotions when he sees Hong-ju again.

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• Release date: July 31st, 2024
• Network: U+Mobile TV
• Episodes: 8
• Main cast: Jo Jin-woong, Yoo Jae-myung, Yeom Jung-ah, Kim Mu-yeol and Lee Kwang-soo
• Where have I seen these people before? Jo Jin-woong has dozens of films to his credit but some well-known K-dramas he’s done include tvN’s Signal and Entourage. The incredible Yoo Jae-myung has a long filmography but his most recent shows are Disney+ Uncle Samsik, Netflix’s The Sound of Magic, and tvN’s Vincenzo. I’m sure you remember Yeom Jung-ah from jTBC’s SKY Castle. This is Kim Mu-yeol’s second show this month: he’s also in Sweet Home. Finally, Lee Kwang-soo was unforgettable in tvN’s The Killer’s Shopping List and tvN’s Live.
• Writer: Lee Su-jin (this is his first screenwriter credit for TV; he’s written films, such as 2023’s The Devil’s Deal)
• Director: Choi Kook-hee (Choi is mostly a film director and his latest movie was 2021’s Life is Beautiful!)

Kim Kook-ho (Yoo Jae-myung) is an infamous murderer who has just been released from prison and now has a bounty on his head: the person who kills him gets 20 billion won. Despite his crimes, Detective Baek Joong-sik (Jo Jin-woong) sees himself bound to protect him. A cat-and-mouse pursuit starts.

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• Release date: July 26th
• Network: Netflix
• Duration: 1 hr. and 53 min.
• Main cast: Tang Wei, Bae Suzy, Choi Woo-shik, Park Bo-gum, and Jung Yu-mi
• Where have I seen these people before? Tang Wei was also in the renowned Decision to Leave (dir. Park Chan-wook, 2022). Everyone knows Suzy and some her TV credits include tvN’s Start Up and SBS’s While You Were Sleeping. Besides Parasite (2019), you’ve definitely seen Choi Woo-shik in SBS’s Our Beloved Summer. Where do we even start with Park Bo-Gum? tvN’s Record of Youth or Encounter? Or the classic Love in the Moonlight (KBS2)? And you might’ve recently seen Jung Yu-mi in Netflix’s The School Nurse Files.
• Writer and Director: Kim Tae-yong (from 2014’s MAD SAD BAD)

Wonderland is a simulated universe that offers people the opportunity to speak with their loved ones even after they are gone. Hyun-soo (Choi Woo-shik) is responsible for regulating these conversations and experiences, guaranteeing that the users will find the solace they are hoping for.

Some of these users are Jeong-in (Bae Suzy) and Tae-ju (Park Bo-gum), a loving couple who are separated when Tae-ju falls into a coma. The film tells their story, and the story of other people who try to find peace through Wonderland, as they struggle to balance the heartbreaking reality and the wistful chance that technology provides them with.

The 7 new K-dramas coming out in July are a very eclectic selection, don’t you think? I must confess that I’m really looking forward to Serendipity’s Embrace and The Auditors. And the law drama fan inside of me won’t be able to say no to the Good Partner (especially with this cast!).

And how lucky are we that we’re getting Suzy and Park Bo-gum on our screens this month? I’m counting down the days until Wonderland! Which k-dramas are you watching next? Let me know in the comments!