From transfixing K-dramas to reality television shows, there's plenty in the pipeline on the Korean front at Netflix, including the return of the streamer's runaway hit Squid Game and other addictive series.
Netflix shared the latest updates from its Korean slate at its Tudum Korea global fan event this month, including a preview of the second part of the first season of Money Heist: Korea - Joint Economic Area.
Starring Screen Actors Guild and Emmy Award nominee Park Hae-soo from Squid Game, the second part of the gripping Korean spinoff of the Spanish crime series Money Heist will be out this winter, according to the Netflix website.
Here's everything we know about all the Korean shows on Netflix returning for a second season.
Hellbound
The second season of the dystopian drama from Yeon Sang-ho, the famed Korean director of Train to Busan, was announced at the recent Tudum event.
The second season of the show, which entails people being randomly sentenced to death and taken to hell due to their "sinful" ways, was confirmed in a short teaser video. The clip showed the last scene from the finale of the first season, which sees the ashes of a dead character be resurrected back to life into a fully formed body.
An official release date for Hellbound season 2 has yet to be announced.
Squid Game
Squid Game—Netflix's most popular television series of all time, usurping even major shows like Stranger Things and Bridgerton—will be returning for a "whole new round" of games in a second season, the show's director Hwang Dong-hyuk confirmed in June 2022.
Hwang, who earlier this month won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series, previously hinted at even a third season in January.
At the recent Tudum event, Hwang said: "Please look forward to season 2, which will be filled with all new stories. But in the meantime, I've prepared a small gift for all the fans waiting for Squid Game season 2," revealing an exclusive unreleased scene from the series.
The never-before-seen clip began with a person holding a bag of water containing some goldfish walking down a hall before entering a dark room. The bag is released into a clear glass bowl and the man bends down to look at it, revealing the identity of the Front Man character, played by Lee Byung-hun (recently seen in Our Blues on Netflix).
Few details have been revealed about the storyline for Season 2. But Hwang has confirmed the return of two key characters: Gi-hun (contestant No. 456, played by Screen Actors Guild, Emmy and Critics Choice Award winner Lee Jung-jae) and the Front Man.
Hwang also hinted that "the man in the suit holding ddakji" (the Salesman, played by Gong Yoo) "may be back" in the second season.
An official release date for Squid Game season 2 has yet to be confirmed. However, the earliest it may be out could be the end of 2023 or 2024, Hwang told Vanity Fair in May.
All of Us Are Dead
The heart-pounding series about a group of high school students attempting to survive a zombie apocalypse will be back for a second season, Netflix also confirmed in June.
The engrossing drama is the streamer's fourth-most popular non-English television show of all time, according to Netflix.
The show's director J.Q. Lee (also known as Lee Jae-kyoo), said: "If season one was about the survival of mankind, then season two would be about the survival of the zombies," South Korea's NewsPim reported in February.
The director said season 2 could see a battle unfold with the immune and immortal zombies fighting against the rest of the zombies.
An exact release date for All of Us Are Dead season 2 has yet to be confirmed.
Sweet Home
Netflix announced the return of Sweet Home, an apocalyptic monster series, in a statement in June, confirming the back-to-back productions of seasons 2 and 3, which will have an expanded storyline and cast.
The new seasons will see the return of several season 1 cast members including Song Kang (from Netflix hit Nevertheless) as well as Lee Jin-uk, Lee Si-young, Ko Min-si and Park Kyu-young. New cast members include Yoo Oh-seong, Oh Jung-se, Kim Moo-yeol and Jung Jin-young.
Series director Lee Eung-bok said: "Season 2 will include a new setting, and the technical details that we couldn't refine in season 1 will be further honed in season 2," possibly "hinting at a wider franchise universe and even more stunning visuals," according to Netflix.
The official release dates for seasons 2 and 3 of Sweet Home have yet to be announced.
D.P.
This compelling K-drama exploring the dark side of the Korean military will also be back for another season.
D.P. (which stands for "Deserter Pursuit," referring to a real-life unit of the Korean army's military police that chases after AWOL soldiers), was one of the first K-dramas to be picked up for a second season in the past year, It was quietly renewed in December 2021, a mere three months after its release in late August last year.
The second season will see the return of the main D.P. team duo played by Jung Hae-in (from the Disney+ K-drama Snowdrop and Koo Kyo-hwan (from "Ashin of the North," a special episode of the Netflix series Kingdom) and others from the original cast. Joining them for the first time will be Kim Ji-hyun (from Netflix's Thirty-Nine) and Ji Jin-hee (from Designated Survivor: 60 Days on Netflix).
The official release date of D.P. season 2 has not been confirmed.
Single's Inferno
The second season of Single's Inferno, the first-ever Korean reality show to join Netflix's global television show ranking in January, was officially confirmed by the streamer in April.
The Korean dating show saw 12 singletons (six women and six men) spend just over a week together on a remote island in a bid to get coupled up on a quest for true love.
According to Netflix, viewers expect to see "steamy moments, adrenaline-pumping dates and much more," in the second installment.
Se-hoon and Ji-yeon, among the finalists from season 1 who became one of the show's most beloved couples, returned to the island for a sneak peek at some of its new features in a video shared at the recent Tudum event.
According to Se-hoon, "There are [now] many new things that we didn't have" on the island, such as a new romantic date spot overlooking the beach coast. The finalist also said contestants in season 2 will have a longer period of time with the person of their choice for any evening private dates, which are earned by competing in a game during the day.
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