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Netflix adds 11 titles to sprawling 2023 Korean content slate


Published : 17 Jan 2023 09:14 PM

Netflix unveiled its biggest-ever annual slate of Korean films and series on Tuesday, while stating that over 60 percent of its global subscribers watched Korean content in 2022. The company showcased 34 titles in its 2023 slate announcement, including 11 previously unknown projects. 

The 2023 slate includes a raft of returning K-content hits, such as new seasons of Sweet Home, D.P., and The Glory. Part two of revenge drama The Glory will be released in March, after part one became Netflix’s most-watched non-English TV show during the first week of January with 82.48 million viewing hours. 

“Over the last year, Korean series and films have regularly featured in our Global Top 10 list in more than 90 countries, and three of Netflix’s most-watched shows ever are from Korea,” said Don Kang, Netflix’s vp of content in Korea. “This year, we’re pushing the envelope even further with the stories we tell and how we tell them.”

The lineup of all-new shows announced Tuesday is stacked with romance stories for K-content fans — Behind Your Touch (working title), Crash Course in Romance, King The Land, Destined With You,and See You In My 19th Life — as well as a non-romantic drama, The Good Bad Mother. The forthcoming slate has added a collection of reality series, spanning an endurance show (Siren: Survive The Island), a coming-of-age concept (Nineteen to Twenty), a zombie survival challenge (Zombieverse) and a mind-game series The Devil’s Plan. Netflix also unveiled a new Korea-set true-crime documentary, In the Name of God: A Holy Betrayal, which will explore the self-proclaimed “messiahs” in modern Korean history.

Netflix pointed out that survival has become a recurring theme across some of its most anticipated series (and not just Squid Game), “whether it’s battling monsters during the dark days of 1945 in Gyeongseong Creature (a period monster thriller starring Park Seo-jun and Han So-hee), struggling to breathe in the dystopian future of sci-fi series Black Knight (starring Kim Woo-bin), or fighting to protect Joseon during Japanese colonial rule in action drama Song of the Bandits (starring Kim Nam-gil and Seo hyun).

Previously announced film highlights for 2023 include Kill Boksoon, starring Jeon Do-yeon as a single mother who’s also a professional killer; and Yellow Door: Looking for Director Bong’s Unreleased Short Film (working title), which traces the quest for Oscar-winning director Bong Joon-ho’s debut film. Kill Bosoon was just selected to premiere next month at the Berlin International Film Festival.

“We are very excited over the variety of the titles that we’re sharing with our members,” added Kang. “There’s truly a series, a film or an unscripted show for everyone, and we look forward to our Korean shows connecting to fans both overseas and at home.”