New Korean Dramas To Watch In March 2020

13 New Korean Dramas To Watch In March 2020

March will delight fans who’re looking for more shows to choose from as 13 new Korean dramas will premiere this month. Hospital Playlist and Kingdom Season 2, two of the most highly-anticipated series, will be released within the first two weeks. Yoo Seung-ho and Chae Soo-bin—who starred together in the 2017-2018 series I’m Not A Robot—are headlining tvN dramas opposite Lee Se-young and Jung Hae-in, respectively.

After a 6-month break, MBC will resume airing a series (365: Repeat the Year) every Monday and Tuesday. OCN is also trying something new, introducing a thriller (Rugal) on the same time slot. Meanwhile, KBS2 is set to revive its Friday-Saturday prime-time drama programming two years after the conclusion of Go Back Couple

March 2: Nobody Knows (Mondays & Tuesdays on SBS)

• Genre: Crime Thriller
• Main Cast: Kim Seo-hyung & Ryu Deok-hwan
• Predecessor: Dr. Romantic 2

From playing a college admissions coordinator in SKY Castle, actress Kim Seo-hyung is making her return to the small screen with a role so different from her previous drama. She’s starring in Nobody Knows as a detective who had chosen her career path after losing her friend 19 years ago to a serial killer who, at present, remains at large. Ryu Deok-hwan (Special Labor inspector) plays a high school teacher who gets involved in one of her investigations, which are mostly related to at-risk children.

March 11: Memorist (Wednesdays & Thursdays on tvN)

• Genre: Mystery Thriller
• Main Cast: Yoo Seung-ho & Lee Se-young
• Predecessor: Money Game

The third new Korean drama that premieres in March is Memorist, which is based on a hit webtoon of the same name. It centers on a detective (Yoo Seung-ho, My Strange Hero) with supernatural powers and a genius profiler (Lee Se-young, Doctor John) who team up with each other to hunt down a mysterious serial killer. While detectives with superpowers are common in Korean dramas, Yoo Seung-ho’s role is unusual in that he makes his ability known to the entire world—he can scan any person’s memories when he touches them.

March 12: Hospital Playlist (Thursdays on tvN)

• Genre: Slice of life, Medical Drama
• Main Cast: Jo Jung-suk, Kim Dae-myung, Jung Kyung-ho, Yoo Yeon-seok, & Jeon Mi-do
• Predecessor: n/a

Hospital Playlist is hands down one of the most highly-anticipated dramas in March, thanks to its famous director and star-studded cast. It is the latest drama of PD Shin Won-ho, who gave us the three Reply series and Prison Playbook. And the cast? Jo Jung-suk (Nokdu Flower), Kim Dae-myung (The Sound of Your Heart), Jung Kyung-ho (When the Devil Calls Your Name), Yoo Yeon-seok (Mr. Sunshine), and Jeon Mi-do (Mother) are playing five doctors who became friends 20 years ago when they were still studying medicine. The series follows their long-standing friendship and how their lives are affected by the people they encounter at the hospital where they are working.

March 13: Kingdom Season 2 (Netflix)

• Genre: Action Thriller, Historical Drama
• Main Cast: Ju Ji-hoon, Bae Doo-na, & Ryu Seung-ryong
• Predecessor: My Holo Love

Netflix’s Kingdom Season 2 is also one of the most popular dramas in March and that’s because its audience is every country served by the streaming giant. The first season received critical acclaim from critics and viewers alike, so fans have been eagerly waiting for the sequel. Season 2 centers on a Joseon crown prince, played by Ju Ji-hoon (Hyena), as he figures out a way to fight a zombie outbreak while navigating a political maneuver designed to oust him from the throne. This is the only historical drama on this list.

March 15: Somehow Family (Sundays on TV Chosun)

• Genre: Comedy
• Main Cast: Sung Dong-il & Jin Hee-kyung
• Predecessor: Leverage

Fresh off the success of its historical drama Selection: The War Between Women, TV Chosun is introducing the “variety drama” Somehow Family, which is about a married couple, played by Sung Dong-il (The Cursed) and Jin Hee-kyung (When the Weather is Fine), who runs a boarding house near an airport, with most of their guests working for the same airline at the airport. Sung’s character was once a pilot while Jin’s was a former local branch director at the National Intelligence Service. CLC’s Eunbin and PENTAGON’s Yeo One also star in the series.

March 16: Rugal (Mondays & Tuesdays on OCN)

• Genre: Sci-fi Thriller
• Main Cast: Cho Jin-hyuk & Park Sung-woong
• Predecessor: Evergreen (2018)

Rugal‘s premise is probably the most interesting one among the new Korean dramas in March. Taking center stage in the story is Cho Jin-hyuk‘s (Justice) character, an elite detective who’s investigating a criminal organization called Argos. His life takes a sinister turn when the group kills his family, frames him for the murder, and gouges his eyes out. The National Intelligence Service then asks him to become a member of Rugal, a team of agents with special abilities. He’s fitted with two biotechnology-powered artificial eyes and tasked with ending Argos for good.

March 18: Find Me in Your Memory (Wednesdays & Thursdays on MBC)

• Genre: Romance
• Main Cast: Kim Dong-wook & Moon Ga-young
• Predecessor: The Game: Towards Zero

Penned by the screenwriter of Queen In-Hyun’s Man, Nine: 9 Times Time Travel, and Duel, Find Me in Your Memory is about the love story of two emotionally wounded people whose memories work in opposite ways. Kim Dong-wook (Special Labor Inspector) plays a news anchor with hyperthymesia, a condition that allows him to remember nearly every moment in his life. Moon Ga-young (Welcome to Waikiki 2), on the other hand, takes on the role of a rising actress who has forgotten some of her most important memories as a coping mechanism.

March 23: 365: Repeat the Year (Mondays & Tuesdays on MBC)

• Genre: Sci-fi Thriller
• Main Cast: Lee Joon-hyuk & Nam Ji-hyun
• Predecessor: Welcome 2 Life (2019)

365: Repeat the Year is an adaptation of a 2004 Japanese novel called Repeat. It revolves around 10 people who are given the chance to ‘reset’ their lives by traveling one year back in time, only to find themselves entangled in life-threating situations as a result of time travel. Lee Joon-hyuk (The Lies Within) and Nam Ji-hyun (100 Days My Prince) take on the lead roles in the drama, playing a homicide detective and a webtoon artist, respectively. They become involved in strange occurrences after they chose to turn back time and set out on a mission to expose the truth.

March 23: A Piece of Your Mind (Mondays & Tuesdays on tvN)

• Genre: Romance
• Main Cast: Jung Hae-in & Chae Soo-bin
• Predecessor: The Cursed

A Piece of Your Mind tells the story of a warm-hearted AI programmer (Jung Hae-in, One Spring Night) who has resigned himself to his lonely fate after being caught up in one-sided love, and a classical music recording engineer (Chae Soo-bin, Where Stars Land) who remains optimistic despite facing financial difficulties. Chae’s character is fond of watching Jung’s from afar without him knowing. I’m not sure where the drama is headed from this point on but I know unrequited love is a central theme in its story. The series is helmed by the PD of Netflix’s My Holo Love.

March 25: Welcome (Wednesdays & Thursdays on KBS2)

• Genre: Fantasy Rom-com
• Main Cast: Kim Myung-soo & Shin Ye-eun
• Predecessor: Forest

Kim Myung-soo (Angel’s Last Mission: Love) is done playing an angel, and he’s back in Welcome portraying an adorable cat that can transform into a human. Shin Ye-eun (He is Psychometric) takes on the role of a “puppy-like” woman who finds solace in her cat. Based on a webtoon of the same title, the new series will focus on the strange relationship between the cat and his owner and tell a story about how precious our life is. BTOB’s Yook Sung-jae was originally cast to play the male lead role.

March 27: Yoobyeolna! Chef Moon (Fridays & Saturdays on Channel A)

• Genre: Romantic Comedy
• Main Cast: Eric Mun & Go Won-hee
• Predecessor: Touch

Eric Mun (Another Miss Oh) is also making a comeback after four years with the romantic comedy Yoobyeolna! Chef Moon, where he plays a famous chef who moves to a village in search of a quiet life after losing his parents in a fire accident. But peace is not what he gets when a famous fashion designer—played by Go Won-hee (Flower Crew: Joseon Marriage Agency)—ends up in the same village after a car accident. She has lost her memories and become an eccentric troublemaker who ruins the tranquil village life that he has imagined.

March 27: The World of the Married (Fridays & Saturdays on JTBC)

• Genre: Melodrama
• Main Cast: Kim Hee-ae & Park Hae-joon
• Predecessor: Itaewon Class

The World of the Married revolves around a married couple whose relationship falls apart due to lies and betrayal. Kim Hee-ae (Second To Last Love) takes on the role of a family physician who leads a seemingly perfect life until she discovers a secret about his husband—played by Park Hae-joon (Arthdal Chronicles)—who is an aspiring movie director. It’s not crystal clear whether the betrayal has something to do with extramarital affairs but I’m sure this show is aimed at a mature audience. The series comes from the writer of Revolutionary Love and the director of the award-winning drama Misty.

March: Wings, Fly Up (Fridays & Saturdays on KBS2)

• Genre: Comedy
• Main Cast: Jun & Stephanie Lee
• Predecessor: Go Back Couple (2017)

(Premiere date unconfirmed). KBS2 is re-introducing its Friday-Saturday dramas after two years. The network stopped its prime-time drama programming on this time slot in 2017 after the conclusion of Go Back Couple, but it’s reviving it (maybe because of the recent success of the Friday-Saturday series of SBS and JTBC?) with the premiere of Wings, Fly Up. This new Korean drama follows the life of a national Taekwondo athlete (U-KISS’s Jun, Class of Lies) whose career takes a turn for the worst. Stephanie Lee (The Last Empress) plays a member of the US National Taekwondo team.