The East Palace NAM JOO HYUK as Gu-cheon in The East Palace Cr. Garage Lab/Netflix © 2026
Garage Lab/Netflix
July arrives with a stacked new Kdrama lineup, with a tightly wound kidnapping thriller, a ghost-seeing hotel heiress, a haunted Joseon palace, and the long-awaited return of a Netflix revenge saga all premiering within weeks of each other. Here is everything to consider adding to your watchlist this month:
The Husband: July 4, KBS2 / Disney+
Where to watch: KBS2 (South Korea), Disney+ (international)
Min Namgoong returns in maximum-pressure thriller mode as Kang Tae-ju, a brilliant and fiercely composed neurosurgeon who runs a major hospital alongside his medical responsibilities. The story kicks into gear when Tae-ju requests a divorce from his wife, Ko Se-yun — and the very next day, she vanishes, kidnapped by a ruthless criminal organisation. Tae-ju becomes the prime suspect in her disappearance and is forced to go on the run from the law while tracking down his estranged wife, uncovering long-buried secrets about their marriage along the way. The series co-stars Lee Seol and Kim Dae-myung.
Family Relationship Certificate/Family Register: July 6, MBC
Where to watch: MBC (South Korea)
An emotional family melodrama centred on Na Ji-ni, played by Park Se-young, an aspiring artist pursuing a career in Korean painting and animation despite carrying deep wounds from a complicated childhood. Ji-ni’s strained relationship with her mother, Na Se-ri, a once-renowned orchestra cellist played by Han Go-eun, has left years of unresolved pain between them, and Ji-ni has grown up believing she was responsible for destroying her family. Their lives gradually shift after meeting No Yeong-ju, an optimistic singing instructor played by Im Ji-eun, whose positive outlook encourages both women to confront their past. The drama explores complex female relationships and hidden family pain across what is reportedly a long-running, 120-episode weekday format.
Dream to You/Dear to You: July 13, ENA
Where to watch: ENA (South Korea)
Written by Jung Eun-bi, this heartwarming series stars Hwang In-yeop as Woo Soo-bin, a talented filmmaker who achieved success at international film festivals before returning to South Korea, where he crosses paths with Joo Yi-jae, played by Lee Hye-ri — a local entertainment reporter who abandoned her childhood dreams because of the harsh realities of adult life. As the two former acquaintances reconnect, Soo-bin inspires Yi-jae to pursue her long-forgotten aspirations once again.
Spooky in Love: July 18, tvN/Netflix
Where to watch: tvN (South Korea) and Netflix (global)
Park Eun-bin’s first project since The WONDERfools is an occult romantic comedy that pairs her with Yang Se-jong and Ong Seong-wu. She plays Cheon Yeo-ri, a wealthy hotel heiress who cannot enter a room without sensing which spirits left their impression in it — a gift she never asked for and a burden because of which she has spent her adult life keeping people at a distance. Yang Se-jong plays Ma Gang-wook, a prosecutor whose conviction tends to make bad situations worse before he makes them better. When the murder cases he is chasing start leading directly to victims only Yeo-ri can see, the two are pulled into a partnership that is less a choice than an inevitability. New episodes release Saturdays and Sundays and will be simulcast on Netflix, per What’s on Netflix.
The East Palace: July 17, Netflix
Where to watch: Netflix (international), tvN (South Korea)
Possibly the biggest Korean release of the summer, this dark fantasy historical thriller stars Nam Joo-hyuk as Gu-cheon, a man who can traverse the world of ghosts, alongside Roh Yoon-seo as Saeng-gang, a court lady carrying a dangerous secret. The two answer a royal summons to investigate a cursed palace whose secrets even the King cannot speak of openly. The series also stars Cho Seung-woo and Park Su-yeon, directed by Choi Jung-gyu.
The Apartment Job: July, tvN/Disney+
Where to watch: tvN (South Korea), Disney+ (international)
A comedy-drama in which a former gangster, played by Ji Sung, runs for president of his apartment residents’ association in order to steal a massive hidden slush fund of 10 billion won from the building’s reserves, and ends up, despite his intentions, something closer to a hero.
Love in Sync: July, ENA/Disney+
Where to watch: ENA (South Korea), Disney+ (international)
A fantasy romantic comedy built around the Korean concept of “empathy cells” — the biological mechanism that makes people feel what others feel. Kim Myung-soo of INFINITE stars as Cha Eun-hwan, a renowned psychological counsellor celebrated for his ability to understand people’s emotions, opposite Kang Min-ah, in a story about a woman who refuses empathy and a man overwhelmed by it suddenly experiencing each other’s feelings through a surreal “emotional transference” phenomenon.
A Shop for Killers Season 2: July, Disney+
Where to watch: Disney+ (international)
Lee Dong-wook returns as Jin-man in the long-awaited second season of the assassin family drama, alongside Kim Hye-jun. The season finally answers the question Season 1 spent its run building toward, with an expanded international scope justifying the wait.
Kdramas Continuing From June
Agent Kim Reactivated, the action thriller starring So Ji-sub as a former black-ops agent searching for his kidnapped daughter, airs its finale on Netflix on July 25. Liar, marking a reunion between Seo Hyun-jin and Yoo Yeon-seok as a criminal profiler and a corporate attorney on opposing sides of a murder case tied to a powerful conglomerate, also continues through the month.
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