The number of 2023 Kdramas based on webtoons is only rising high by the minute, and we couldn’t be more thrilled about this development! Many shows like Netflix’s D.P. 2 Joseon Lawyer, Taxi Driver 2, Uncanny Counter 2, Black Knight , Heavenly Idol and Bloodhounds, to name a few, have already showered us with stories falling under numerous genres. Among one of the newest announcements on the block, Lee Jun-ho, who was recently seen in King the Land, is also in talks to lead yet another upcoming live-action adaptation of the Cashero webtoon.
There’s no end to Korean shows finding their source and fuel in engrossing texts on the digital pages of a webtoon. And though, we’re now headed towards the end of the year, the count is nowhere close to dropping anytime soon. Just when we’d thought we’d seen the end of such adaptations, even better shows came out to stun us all, and so it’s time to check out which all titles are worthy sticking by in the second half of the year.
2023 Kdramas Based on Webtoons (Ongoing or Upcoming)
Moving
Directed by Park In-je and written by Kang Full, the South Korean supernatural action thriller series is based on the webtoon of the same name (무빙) written by Full himself. First premiering in August, the Disney+ exclusive has now become one of the highest-rated fan-favourite releases this year with intriguing characters and their arcs keeping the audience engrossed.
Starring Ryu Seong-ryong, Han Hyo-joo, Lee Jung-ha, Go Youn-jun and others, the series revolves around three high school students, their parents and the discovery of their extraordinary super powers. Eventually, these innocent teenagers have to face off against the world’s most dangerous governments and nefarious forces. The calm and peace in their lives is disrupted when a mysterious organisation adds their names to its death pool and starts hunting them down, one at a time.
With a 20-episode run, the show’s new episodes are released every Wednesday at 12: 30 PM IST. You can read our episodic reviews of the Disney+ K-drama here.
A Good Day to Be a Dog
Starring ASTRO’s Cha Eun-woo, Park Gyu-young and Lee Hyun-woo in lead roles, this MBC K-drama of 2023 is an upcoming series based on the Naver webtoon of the same name written by Lee Hye. The feel-good plot of the webtoon revolves around a woman who mysteriosuly transforms into a dog at midnight upon kissing a man. To break the curse, she must now kiss the same man again, but as her dog-self.
As easy as that task may sound, considering dogs are man’s fluffy best friends, the situation reaches a dead-end and welcomes a chaotic struggle for Han Hae-na as the man she kissed earlier was Jin Seo-won, who has a fear of dogs due to a past traumatic experience. Eun-woo will be playing the role of Seo-won, a high school maths teacher who’s popular among students, while Gyu-young will be playing the cursed woman trying her best to resolve this dilemma.
The series will start airing on MBC on October 11, 2023. Check out the first look at Eun-woo’s character in the show here.
Sweet Home 2
Adapted from the webtoon by Kim Carnby and Hwang Young-chan, the upcoming Netflix instalment is set to premiere sometime this year and will be a follow-up to the 2020 K-drama starring Song Kang, Lee Do-hyun, Go Min-si, Go Yoon-jung, Park Gyu-young and others. The original story of the show follows high school student Cha Hyun-soo and the other residents of Green Home who’re caught up in an apocalyptic scenario when life-threatening monsters take over their homes and are hell bent on wiping out humanity.
Over the course of the show’s first horror-driven season, the survivors struggle to fight these creatures off and stay alive. As can be expected, the first season made some significant tweaks to the original source text, in addition to introducing new characters as well. Season 2 will be set in a different location, following the last minute escape of the survivors from Green Home with Hyun-soo being captured by the military.
In another news, a brand new Bastard webtoon adaptation, also written by the Sweet Home webtoon writers, seems to be in works. Weak Hero Class 1‘s Park Ji-hoon is in talks to lead the series.
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Doona
The upcoming Netflix romantic comedy series starring Bae Suzy as Lee Doo-na and Yang Se-jong as Lee Won-jun in the titular roles is based on The Girl Downstairs (이두나) by Min Song-ah. Set to premiere on October 20, 2023, the show directed by Lee Jeong-hyo will deal with the meet-cute of an ordinary college student and a former K-pop idol who’s left behind her glorious and glamorous days of stardom.
On becoming housemates, as Won-jun offers Doo-na a place of security and warmth, he also starts getting engrossed in the mysterious singer’s past life and her sudden retirement from the K-pop scene despite her being the centre of popularity in her ex-Kpop group. The series is expected to have 9-episode run, and will premiere on Netflix on October 11, 2023.
Vigilante
All set to make his acting comeback this year, Nam Joo-hyuk will be leading the upcoming Kdrama of 2023 which is based on the webtoon of the same name (비질란테), written by CRG and illustrated by Kim Gyu Sam. The Disney+ Vigilante Kdrama series will also star Yoo Ji-tae, Lee Joon-hyuk, Kim So-jin, Lee Do-goon and others.
Reportedly releasing in November 2023, the crime action series will catch Nam Joo-hyuk assuming the lead role of Kim Ji-yong in a story that is centred around the Metropolitan Investigation Team Unit tracking down an organisation called “Vigilante” that deals with criminals who’ve escaped the law untouched. Joo-hyuk’s Kim Ji-yong will also play a student at the police academy, who takes these matters of crime-solving into his own hands at night after his mother is killed by a local gangster.
Death’s Game
Featuring a star-studded cast panel including the likes of Seo In-guk, Park So-dam, Kim Ji-hoon, Super Junior’s Choi Si-won, Lee Jae-wook, Lee Do-hyun, Go Yoon-jung and others. The highly anticipated Korean fantasy drama series is based on the eponymously titled webtoon (이재, 곧 죽습니다), written by Lee Won-sik and illustrated by Gul-chan.
The series will primarily be focussed on Choi Yi-jae aka Seo’s character, who may have died once, but is granted several extra chances to live again. On the other hand, So-dam will take on the role of the fateful character of Death, i.e. the one who’s sentenced Yi-jae to this accursed existence of living through the loop of 12 lives and deaths before finally sending him to hell. The TVING exclusive K-drama has been directed and written for screen by Ha Byeong-hoon, and is set to premiere on the South Korean streaming service in December 2023.
The Killing Vote
The ongoing hardboiled thriller series (국민사형투표) is a live-action adaptation of the webtoon of the same Korean title, aka National Death Penalty Vote by Uhm Se-yoon and Jung Yi-pum. Centred around the anonymously mysterious masked figure of Gaetal, the series reveals the gory circumstances that follow when Gaetal conducts surveys to decide the fate of several criminals. If the votes exceed the 50% limit, he subjects those names to a death sentence, and goes on to execute them himself, thus offering one last chance to punish “devils who were deemed innocent”.
Starring Park Hae-jin, Park Sung-woong, Lim Ji-yeon, the series airs on SBS TV every Thursday at 9 PM KST.
You can check out our episodic reviews of the K-drama streaming on Prime Video here.
The BTS Youth Kdrama
Otherwise also based on the overall Bangtan Universe storyline established through the K-pop septet’s videography, music releases, and other content, the upcoming series finds its basic source text in the Naver Save Me webtoon illustrated by LICO, also known as The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Pt. 0: SAVE ME. The 2019 webtoon had situated the alternate personas of all BTS members – Kim Seok-jin, Kim Nam-joo, Min Yoon-gi, Jung Ho-seok, Park Ji-min, Kim Tae-hyung and Jeon Jung-kook – as the main characters.
Its story leads with Seok-jin’s character finding friendship with the rest of the six main characters, all of whom are dealing with their own share of traumatic experiences, heartbreaks and hardships. In his attempt to save them all, he gets stuck in a time loop, which will only be lifted when he finally achieves the final goal of saving them from their accursed fates.
The K-drama (유스) was supposed to come out in 2020, but it then underwent some changes and reshoots. Now starring a complete panel of rookie actors in the lead, the series’ first teaser was released at the Korea Expo in Paris in May 2023, and it’s expected to release towards the end of the year. Keeping our fingers crossed so that it’s not delayed any further.
We’ve already encountered a number of Kdrama adaptations of webtoons this year. Which of them has stuck with you as a winner all this while? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
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