Kakao Entertainment

Kakao Entertainment (co-CEOs Kwon Ki-su and Jang Yoon-jung, hereinafter “Kakao Entertainment”) is drawing worldwide attention with a dazzling lineup of well-made titles for 2026.

Having unveiled global mega-hits year after year, including last year’s When Life Gives You Tangerines, Bad Blood, Nine Puzzle, Eunjoong and Sangyeon, The Match, and The Black Nuns, expectations are mounting for Kakao Entertainment’s 2026 lineup as well.

This year, Kakao Entertainment will further strengthen multi-studio synergy with its affiliated production companies and management labels, expand the success cases of dramas based on webtoons and web novels, and firmly solidify its standing as a leading global K-content studio.

# Organic collaboration between headquarters and production companies, and between production companies and actors.. New titles created by Kakao Entertainment synergy are highly anticipated

This year will see a large slate of new titles jointly made by Kakao Entertainment, its subsidiaries, and actors. JTBC’s new Friday series ‘Shining’ (director Kim Yoon-jin/writer Lee Suk-yeon), premiering on March 6, is co-produced by Kakao Entertainment and SLL, and Park Jin-young (BH Entertainment) and Kim Min-ju (Management Soop) will play each other’s first loves to evoke a fresh flutter.

It is a drama that portrays youths who once shared a world of their own becoming the very light that reflects one another’s trust and guides the direction of their lives. Park Jin-young and Kim Min-ju will showcase diverse charms, from their fresh nineteen-year-old days to a thirty-year-old subway train driver and a manager of an old-house stay.

Also in April, MBC’s new Friday-Saturday drama ‘21st-Century Lady of the Grand Prince’ (writer Yoo Ji-won/directors Park Joon-hwa, Bae Hee-young) will premiere. Kakao Entertainment is producing with MBC, and IU (EDAM Entertainment) and Byeon Woo-seok take the title roles. Following last year’s When Life Gives You Tangerines, expectations are high once again for Kakao Entertainment’s production-actor synergy this year.

‘21st-Century Lady of the Grand Prince’ is a status-busting, destiny-forging romance set in a 21st-century constitutional monarchy Korea, about Seong Hee-ju, a woman who has everything as a chaebol but is irritated because her legal status is commoner, and Grand Prince Ian, the king’s son who is sad because he can possess nothing. The romance chemistry to be drawn by IU and Byeon Woo-seok, two of today’s hottest stars, is attracting intense interest from fans worldwide.

In addition, MBC’s new Friday-Saturday drama ‘Liar’ (director Cho Young-min/writer Baek Jae-young) is a well-made psychological thriller slated to air within the year, produced by Kakao Entertainment and the film company Zip, with Yoo Yeon-seok (King Kong by Starship) and Seo Hyun-jin (Management Soop) in the title roles. The Netflix series ‘Monthly Boyfriend’ (director Kim Jeong-sik/writer Namgoong Do-young), produced by Kakao Entertainment, Baram Pictures, and WHYNOT Media, is also set to be released on March 6.

# Producing well-made dramas based on story IP, proving unrivaled IP crossover competitiveness

By directly planning and producing story IP into dramas such as ‘Office Blind Date’, ‘Not Others’, ‘The Call You Just Placed’, and ‘Bad Blood’, thereby establishing a ‘box-office formula for original dramas’, Kakao Entertainment will also present works based on popular webtoons in 2026. While preserving each original’s unique charm and adding distinctive fun only audiovisual works can deliver, it has led global hits, and this year it will again prove its unmatched IP crossover competitiveness. The Netflix series ‘Rats’ (director Kim Hong-sun/writer Lee Jae-gon), uniting Ryu Jun-yeol and Seol Kyung-gyu, is based on the Kakao Webtoon of the same name and is produced by Kakao Entertainment with H House and Studio PIM. A chase thriller, it follows reclusive novelist Mun Jae, who teams up with No Ja, a loan shark who had been pursuing him, to reclaim his life from the mysterious ‘rats’ who stripped him of everything in an instant; it is slated for a third-quarter release. MBC’s new Friday-Saturday drama ‘Housewife Killer’ (director Yoon Jong-ho/writer Kim Eun-hee/produced by Bon Factory, Baram Pictures, and Studio PIM) is also based on a Kakao Webtoon with 180 million cumulative views and is set to air in the second half of the year. ‘Housewife Killer’ is a drama that follows a working mom with the world’s most ferocious job as she fights to protect her work-life balance. Actor Gong Hyo-jin will play Yu Bona, a fifth-year homemaker with a husband and a four-year-old daughter who also serves as a killer who eliminates heinous criminals. Actor Jung Joon-won will portray a newspaper social affairs reporter who exudes ‘a gentle husband, a devoted father, and a good person’.

# Top-tier actors gather! A slate of highly anticipated series and films with ‘trustworthy’ casting

Series and films featuring ‘trustworthy’ actors are also drawing attention. The Netflix series ‘The Boy in the Last Row’ (director Kim Kyu-tae/writer Jang Myeong-woo) assembles a stellar cast including Choi Min-sik, Choi Hyun-wook, Heo Joon-ho, Kim Yun-jin, and Jin Kyung, and is produced by Kakao Entertainment and GTist. A suspense drama about Heo Moon-oh, a failed writer and Korean literature professor, who discovers the genius of Lee Kang, the boy in the very last row of his lecture room, and becomes obsessed with his writing, it is slated for a second-quarter release. The Netflix film ‘Cross’ (director-screenwriter Lee Myung-hoon/produced by SANAI Pictures Co., Plus M Entertainment, and Obra Creative), loved for Hwang Jung-min and Yum Jung-ah’s exhilarating action and delightful couple chemistry, is returning with a sequel, and the Netflix series ‘Wonderfuls’ (director Yoo In-sik/writer Heo Dajung/planned by Kang Eun-kyung/produced by Nangman Crew and Kakao Entertainment/co-produced by Fantagio) is also set for release.

Kakao Entertainment stated, “In 2026, leveraging Kakao Entertainment’s unique IP value-chain competitiveness, including outstanding creativity and a global network, we plan to present a variety of well-made works“, and added, ”We will further solidify our influence as a global studio that delivers laughter and emotion around the world, and expand the horizon of K-content“.