March 26, 2026
SEOUL – One of the biggest K-dramas of 2027 may already be taking shape.
Titled simply “The Koreans,” the project remains largely under wraps, with few plot details revealed beyond a standout roster of cast and creatives.
Lee Byung-hun, known for playing the cold mastermind of the “Squid Game,” and the protagonist in Park Chan-wook’s “No Other Choice,” is set to play the lead role, while Han Ji-min, the romance queen behind hit dramas such as “Love Scout” will star opposite him.
The A-list cast is also joined by a stellar team behind the camera, with the director of Netflix’s megahit series “The Glory,” Ahn Gil-ho helming the project and Park Eun-kyo, whose past projects include “Made In Korea” and “The Silent Sea,” attached as writer.
The series is adapted from FX’s “The Americans,” the highly acclaimed series which went on to win the Golden Globe for best television drama in 2019. “The Americans” unfolds during the Cold War in the 1980s, centering on Philip and Elizabeth Jennings, KGB operatives in a staged marriage who live undercover as suburban travel agents in Washington D.C.
Against this backdrop, “The Koreans” will be set during South Korea’s democratization and rapid cultural transformation in the early 1990s, centering on a seemingly ordinary middle-class family concealing a secret. To their friends, neighbors and even their children, Myung-joon (Lee) and his wife Hwa-kyung (Han) appear unremarkable. But in reality, they are elite North Korean operatives embedded in the South, tasked with undermining the state from within.
The drama tracks the pair as they grapple with clashing loyalties, questions of identity and the pull of personal relationships, all while a relentless South Korean counterintelligence agent closes in on their true identities. According to Disney+, the narrative will also underscore the deep divide between the two Koreas, once a single nation but now split along ideological lines.
The platform added that “The Koreans” would diverge a lot from its source material.
The show is to be released exclusively on Hulu in the US and on Disney+ elsewhere.