Must Watch Korean Dramas of 2022

Binge-watch some of the best 2022 kdramas, from first-love nostalgia and courtroom charm to zombie outbreaks and a chaebol revenge fantasy. Whether you missed them the first time or want a solid rewatch, these ten are a good place to start.

All of Us Are Dead (지금 우리 학교는)

Release Date: January 28, 2022 Genre: Horror, Zombie apocalypse, Coming-of-age

Who's in the cast:
Park Ji-hu as Nam On-jo
Yoon Chan-young as Lee Cheong-san
Cho Yi-hyun as Choi Nam-ra
Lomon as Lee Su-hyeok
Yoo In-soo as Yoon Gwi-nam

What it's about: A high school becomes ground zero for a zombie virus outbreak, and a group of students has to survive inside the building while the world outside struggles to respond. Based on a webtoon, it mixes fast, frightening set pieces with the messy loyalties of teenagers under pressure.

Network: Netflix · Episodes: 12 (season 1)

Watch it on Netflix

Twenty-Five Twenty-One (스물다섯 스물하나)

Release Date: February 12, 2022 - April 3, 2022 Genre: Romance, Coming-of-age

Who's in the cast:
Kim Tae-ri as Na Hee-do
Nam Joo-hyuk as Baek Yi-jin
Bona as Ko Yu-rim
Choi Hyun-wook as Moon Ji-woong

What it's about: In 1998, in the middle of the IMF financial crisis, Na Hee-do is a talented high school fencer whose school disbands its fencing club. She transfers to a new school to keep training and chases a place on the national team. Along the way she crosses paths with Baek Yi-jin, a hardworking young man whose family has lost everything, and the two grow up alongside each other.

Network: tvN · Episodes: 16

Watch it on Netflix

Thirty-Nine (서른, 아홉)

Release Date: February 16, 2022 - March 31, 2022 Genre: Romance, Drama

Who's in the cast:
Son Ye-jin as Cha Mi-jo
Jeon Mi-do as Jeong Chan-young
Kim Ji-hyun as Jang Joo-hee
Yeon Woo-jin as Kim Seon-woo

What it's about: Three friends who met as teenagers are now closing in on forty. Cha Mi-jo runs a dermatology clinic in Gangnam, Jeong Chan-young is an acting coach and Jang Joo-hee works at a department store cosmetics counter. The drama follows their friendship, their work and the way love and change arrive in the same stretch of life.

Network: JTBC · Episodes: 12

Watch it on Netflix

Business Proposal (사내맞선)

Release Date: February 28, 2022 - April 5, 2022 Genre: Romantic comedy

Who's in the cast:
Ahn Hyo-seop as Kang Tae-moo
Kim Se-jeong as Shin Ha-ri
Kim Min-kyu as Cha Sung-hoon
Seol In-ah as Jin Young-seo

What it's about: Shin Ha-ri, a researcher at a food company, goes on a blind date in her friend's place and plans to scare the suitor away. The plan collapses when he turns out to be Kang Tae-moo, the CEO of her own company, and he is ready to propose. It is a fake-identity rom-com built on a very awkward first meeting.

Network: SBS · Episodes: 12

Watch it on Netflix

Our Blues (우리들의 블루스)

Release Date: April 9, 2022 - June 12, 2022 Genre: Melodrama

Who's in the cast:
Lee Byung-hun as Lee Dong-seok
Shin Min-a as Min Seon-ah
Cha Seung-won as Choi Han-soo
Lee Jung-eun as Jeong Eun-hee
Han Ji-min as Lee Young-ok

What it's about: Set on Jeju Island, this omnibus drama hands its episodes to different characters whose lives overlap: people at the start or the end of life, a truck merchant, a fish store owner, a first-year haenyeo diver. It is a warm, sometimes painful ensemble piece that finds both the hardship and the comfort of island life.

Network: tvN · Episodes: 20

Watch it on Netflix

Alchemy of Souls (환혼)

Release Date: June 18, 2022 - January 8, 2023 Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Period, Action

Who's in the cast:
Lee Jae-wook as Jang Uk
Jung So-min as Mu-deok
Go Youn-jung as Naksu
Hwang Min-hyun as Seo Yul

What it's about: In the fictional country of Daeho, a forbidden spell called the Alchemy of Souls lets souls switch bodies. An elite warrior named Naksu finds her soul trapped in the frail body of Mu-deok, and she becomes entangled with the nobleman Jang Uk as both his servant and his teacher. The drama aired in two parts, the second titled Light and Shadow.

Network: tvN · Episodes: 30

Watch it on Netflix

Extraordinary Attorney Woo (이상한 변호사 우영우)

Release Date: June 29, 2022 - August 18, 2022 Genre: Legal drama

Who's in the cast:
Park Eun-bin as Woo Young-woo
Kang Tae-oh as Lee Joon-ho
Kang Ki-young as Jung Myung-seok
Baek Ji-won as Han Seon-young

What it's about: Woo Young-woo is a brilliant rookie lawyer at the Hanbada law firm and the first attorney with autism spectrum disorder in Korea. Each case pushes her to prove herself to clients and colleagues, and the series pairs courtroom puzzles with a heartfelt look at how she moves through the world.

Network: ENA · Episodes: 16

Watch it on Netflix

Little Women (작은 아씨들)

Release Date: September 3, 2022 - October 9, 2022 Genre: Mystery, Family drama

Who's in the cast:
Kim Go-eun as Oh In-joo
Nam Ji-hyun as Oh In-kyung
Park Ji-hu as Oh In-hye
Wi Ha-jun as Choi Do-il

What it's about: Loosely inspired by Louisa May Alcott's novel, this series follows three sisters who grew up poor and close: the eldest, In-joo, the news reporter In-kyung and the youngest, In-hye, an art high school student. It is a family drama with a mystery running underneath, and a good pick if you like stories about sisters who hold each other up.

Network: tvN · Episodes: 12

Watch it on Netflix

Narco-Saints (수리남)

Release Date: September 9, 2022 Genre: Crime, Thriller

Who's in the cast:
Ha Jung-woo as Kang In-gu
Hwang Jung-min as Jeon Yo-hwan
Park Hae-soo as Choi Chang-ho
Jo Woo-jin as Byeon Ki-tae
Yoo Yeon-seok as David Julio Park

What it's about: Kang In-gu is an ordinary civilian who ends up working with Korea's national intelligence service to bring down Jeon Yo-hwan, a drug cartel boss operating out of Suriname. The six-episode series is a tense crime thriller inspired by a true story, and it is also known as The Accidental Narco.

Network: Netflix · Episodes: 6

Watch it on Netflix

Reborn Rich (재벌집 막내아들)

Release Date: November 18, 2022 - December 25, 2022 Genre: Fantasy, Period, Revenge

Who's in the cast:
Song Joong-ki as Jin Do-jun / Yoon Hyun-woo
Lee Sung-min as Jin Yang-chul
Shin Hyun-been as Seo Min-young
Kim Nam-hee as Jin Seong-jun

What it's about: Yoon Hyun-woo is a loyal employee of the chaebol family that runs Soonyang Group, until the family betrays him and he is killed. He wakes up reborn as the family's youngest son, Jin Do-jun, with his memories intact and a second chance to rise inside the very empire that discarded him.

Network: JTBC · Episodes: 16

Watch it on Viki