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9 months ago
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Netflix‘s recent spate of international content showcases has continued today with an update on Korea.
Among the key reveals for its 2024 Korea sate is director Park Chan-wook (Oldboy, Decision to Leave) releasing his first project with Netflix at the end of this year, titled Uprising.
Elsewhere, Netflix will launch new seasons of Gyeongseong Creature, Hellbound and Sweet Home as well as unscripted shows like Physical: 100 and Single’s Inferno. The second season of mega-hit Squid Game will also premiere, as announced last week.
Korea has become one of the Netflix’s biggest priorities, and the streamer last year pledged to plough $2.5B into content from the country over four years. The streamer has again this week been touting its plan to ensure one in five Netflix Korea titles between 2022 and 2025 come from a first-time writer or director, following pushback from lawmakers who have been concerned of its dominant position in the market.
To that end, the likes of upcoming originals The Bequeathed, Bandland Hunters, My Name is Loh Kiwan and The Frog will have first time directors.
Game show Physical: 100 Season 2, titled Underground, will premiere on the streamer in the first quarter of the year with 100 new contestants battling for the top prize, today’s slate reveal confirmed.
The first season became the first Korean unscripted series ranked first on Netflix’s global top 10 list for non-English series and also charted in the Top 10 lists across 82 countries, accumulating more than 192 million viewing hours in six weeks.
A Killer Paradox premieres on February 9, starring Choi Woo-shik (Train to Busan, Parasite), Son Suk-ku (D.P., Roundup) and Lee Hee-jun (The Man Standing Next). It is based on a popular webtoon written and illustrated by Kkomabi, telling the story of a college student who accidentally commits his first murder and discovers that he has a supernatural gift.
Starring Song Joong-ki, My Name is Loh Kiwan premieres March 1. It follows the journey of North
Korean defector Kiwan as he seeks refugee status in Belgium and meets Marie, a Belgian national and
a former Korean shooting competitor.
Other Q1 titles include family drama Queen of Tears and comedy mystery drama Chicken Nugget.
Major titles releasing throughout the second quarter include Resident Playbook (working title), Parasyte: The Grey, from Train to Busan and Hellbound director Yeon Sang-ho and the third season of Sweet Home. The latter is a tentpole title and key IP for Netflix, as the first season was the first Korean series to enter the streamer’s top 10 list in the U.S., signalling a rapidly growing interest in Korean content slate among Americans.
Resident Playbook is a spin-off series of Hospital Playlist, narrating the stories of medical residents from the Jongno Yulje Medical Center. The spin-off will be anchored by Go Youn-jung, alongside Shin Si-a and Kang You-seok.
The second half of the year will see the release of Gyeongseong Creature‘s second season, bolstered by highly popular leads Park Seo-jun and Han So-hee. While the first season was set in 1945, the second season is set in present-day Seoul. The series is directed by Chung Dong-yoon, who won the Best TV Drama prize for SBS’ Hot Stove League at Korea’s Baeksang Arts Awards in 2020.
After appearing in Netflix originals Squid Game and Money Heist: Korea, Park Hae-soo will return to the streamer again in The Great Flood, a sci-fi disaster film following a desperate fight to save a child from a flooding apartment after a great flood has swept the planet. Park will act opposite Kim Da-mi (The Witch: Part 1, Itaewon Class), who plays Anna, an artificial intelligence researcher struggling to survive a tidal surge.
Other major titles returning for follow-up seasons in the last quarter of 2024 include reality dating series Single’s Inferno (season four), variety show Zombieverse (season two) and thriller Hellbound (season two).
Don Kang, VP of Korean Content at Netflix, said: “This year, our K-Content lineup delivers a diverse array of titles that capture the true essence of Korean storytellers. Whether it’s series, films, or innovative unscripted shows, we’ll share unforgettable experiences with fans worldwide and unmissable titles that you can enjoy only on Netflix.”
