Image via CJ ENM
Published Jun 14, 2026, 9:22 PM EDT
Anja Djuricic was born in Belgrade, Serbia, in 1992. Her first interest in film started very early, as she learned to speak English by watching Disney animated movies (and many, many reruns). Anja soon became inspired to learn more foreign languages to understand more movies, so she entered the Japanese language and literature Bachelor Studies at the University of Belgrade.
Anja is also one of the founders of the DJ duo Vazda Garant, specializing in underground electronic music influenced by various electronic genres.
Anja loves to do puzzles in her spare time, pet cats wherever she meets them, and play The Sims. Anja's Letterboxd four includes Memories of Murder, Parasite, Nope, and The Road to El Dorado.
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Sure, we're only halfway through 2026, but there are so many K-dramas that are already trying to ruin people's sleep schedules. There are revenge thrillers, time-jumping superhero comedies, workplace romances that somehow make auditing look hot, and—I am not making this up—a military fantasy about a recruit who levels up through cooking.
The past few months have been absurdly stacked with Korean television, and the year just plans to be bigger and bigger with many other brilliant shows. So when we discuss the perfect K-dramas you should watch in 2026, it's dramas that respect your time and your intelligence that have come out recently and made everyone clear their weekend plans. Brush up on your 'saranghae' and 'joayo,' and let's jump in.
10 'If Wishes Could Kill' (2026)
Image via NetflixIf you've ever wondered what would happen if a classic Japanese horror a la The Ring and Final Destination had a baby, If Wishes Could Kill is your answer. This is Netflix’s first young adult horror K-drama, and it follows five high school students and friends who discover "Girigo," an app that grants wishes with a horrifying twist: once your wish comes true, a supernatural 24-hour countdown to your death begins. It's an exciting, tense, and high-quality series that will win you over in the first 5 minutes.
The YA horror series centers around Se-ah (Jeon So-young), a track athlete secretly dating her friend Geon-woo (Baek Sun-ho); the popular girl who's been in love with Geon-woo for a long time, Na-ri (Kang Mi-na); and the stoic genius Kang Ha-joon (Hyun Woo-seok), who tries to crack the app's code and put a stop to it. Soon, the youngsters realize that they might need help from someone more apt—Ha-joon's sister, the shaman Haetsal (Jeon So-nee). Its eight episodes are tightly written and plotted; If Wishes Could Kill is a perfect entry-level horror for those who like their dread delivered with a side of high school melodrama. Just don't download any suspicious apps afterward.
9 'The WONDERfools' (2026–Present)
Image via NetflixThe writer of Extraordinary Attorney Woo reunites with star Park Eun-bin to make The Wonderfools (stylized as The WONDERfools), a superhero comedy set near the end of 1999, when the Y2K fears of apocalypse affected many people. The Wonderfools is one of the most chaotically fun shows of the year; it landed on Netflix in May 2026 and quickly became a word-of-mouth hit. If you like Stranger Things, this is a pretty decent replacement for it.
Park marvelously plays Chae-ni, a 27-year-old town "trainwreck" with a congenital heart condition who, after a chemical explosion at the local dump, gains the uncontrollable power to teleport anywhere in the world. She isn't the only one, though: her best friend Ro-bin (Im Seong-jae) gets super strength, while their older-brother-like friend, Mr. Son (Choi Dae-hoon), becomes sticky and stuck to things and people. The trio becomes the worst superhero team imaginable, led by the mysterious "Wunderkind," Un-jeong (Cha Eun-woo), who has the power of telekinesis. They fight the local church that harbors a lab where scientists experiment on people like our foolish trio, and Un-jeong helps them destroy the place. It's weird, scrappy, and genuinely hilarious—the perfect antidote to overly serious caped dramas.
8 'Can This Love Be Translated?' (2026)
Image via NetflixIf YA horror or goofy superheroes aren't your thing, you might just prefer a beautiful, globe-trotting romance that understands love is a language of its own—Can This Love Be Translated? Kim Seon-ho plays Joo Ho-jin, an emotionally restrained multilingual interpreter hired to work for a global dating show. Enter Go Youn-jung as Cha Mu-hee, a world-famous actress who is impulsive, dramatic, and lonely—and a participant in the dating show. Having worked together before, the two struggle (but eventually manage) to find a mutual language that doesn't require interpretation or translating.
The Hong sisters (Hotel Del Luna, Alchemy of Souls) return with another hit series, and Can This Love Be Translated? is like a throwback to old-school romance, with Kim and Go displaying an electric chemistry in every shot. The series was shot across multiple countries, showcasing the stunning cityscapes and landscapes of Japan, Italy, Canada, and South Korea, and it has been a consistent top-ten performer ever since it came out in January 2026. It's warm, witty, and emotional, touching enough to get you in touch with your romantic side once again.
7 'Teach You a Lesson' (2026–Present)
Image via NetflixTeach You a Lesson is a very, very fresh release; it's the cathartic revenge fantasy everyone who was bullied in high school has been waiting for. Based on the popular webtoon Get Schooled, this Netflix action series follows a fictional "Education Rights Protection Bureau," a team of inspectors who step in when schools fail to discipline their worst bullies. Led by Education Minister Choi Gang-seok (Lee Sung-min), who believes the bureau exists to fight against "monsters," he works with the inspectors—played by Kim Mu-yeol, Jin Ki-joo, and Pyo Ji-hoon (Block B's P.O.)—to knock some sense into entitled students who bully others.
Released just last week (June 5, 2026), Teach You a Lesson immediately debuted at No. 1 on Netflix's non-English show chart, ranking in the top 10 across 85 countries and getting Kim Mu-yeol to the top of the drama charts. It was received with mixed impressions among real-life teachers, with some criticizing its fantasy-like discipline and vigilante justice, while others praised it for its depiction of declining problems in South Korea's school system. As pure, brutal entertainment, Teach You a Lesson is an absolute knockout. Watch it now while it's still hot, and you might just have the freshest K-drama knowledge out of anyone in your group.
6 'Filing for Love' (2026)
Image via tvNWorkplace rom-coms are a dime a dozen, but Filing for Love elevates the formula by setting its romance inside the audit department of a major conglomerate. The incredible and highly versatile Shin Hye-sun plays Joo In-ah, the tough-as-nails head of the audit team who hides a secret, while Gong Myung plays Noh Ki-jun, the department's ace who gets suddenly demoted to handle internal misconduct. Their interactions and the plot twists introduce a delightful mix of corporate intrigue, chaebol succession drama (featuring Kim Jae-wook as the conflicted vice chairman), and genuinely swoony romantic tension that makes filing papers feel incredibly romantic.
The 12-episode series aired on tvN between the end of April and May 2026, and it's currently trending on Viki. It's sharp, stylish, and understands that the sexiest thing two people can do is audit a suspicious balance sheet together at 2 a.m. Reviews call the series beautiful and, most importantly, deep—being able to balance romance, some light comedy, and seriousness, showing its two protagonists that they also need to add balance to their busy lives. Shin is having one of the best years of her career, and Filing for Love is Exhibit A.
Collider Exclusive · TV Medicine Quiz Which Fictional Hospital Would You Work Best In? The Pitt · ER · Grey's Anatomy · House · Scrubs
Five hospitals. Five completely different ways medicine goes sideways on television — brutal, chaotic, romantic, brilliant, and ridiculous. Only one of them is the ward your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out exactly where you belong.
🚨The Pitt
🏥ER
💉Grey's
🔬House
🩺Scrubs
FIND YOUR HOSPITAL →
01
A critical patient comes through the door. What's your first instinct? Medicine under pressure reveals who you actually are.
AStay completely present — block everything else out and work through it step by step, right now. BTriage fast and delegate — get the right people on the right problems immediately. CTrust my gut and move — I work best when I stop overthinking and just act. DAsk the question everyone else is ignoring — what's the thing that doesn't fit? ETake a breath, make a joke to cut the tension, and then get to work — panic helps no one.
NEXT QUESTION →
02
Why did you go into medicine in the first place? The honest answer says more about you than the one you'd give in an interview.
ABecause I wanted to be where it matters most — right at the edge, when someone's life is actually on the line. BBecause I wanted to help people — genuinely, one patient at a time, in a system that makes it hard. CBecause I was drawn to the intensity of it — the stakes, the drama, the feeling of being fully alive. DBecause medicine is the most interesting puzzle there is — and I needed a problem worth solving. EBecause I wanted to make a difference — and also, honestly, I didn't know what else to do with my life.
NEXT QUESTION →
03
What do you actually want from the people you work with? Who you want beside you under pressure is who you are.
ACompetence and calm — I need people who don't fall apart when things get bad. BTrust and reliability — I want to know that when I pass something off, it's handled. CConnection — I want colleagues who become family, even if that gets complicated. DIntelligence and the willingness to be challenged — I have no interest in people who just agree with me. EFriendship — people I actually like spending twelve hours a day with, because those hours are going to happen either way.
NEXT QUESTION →
04
You lose a patient you fought hard to save. How do you carry it? Every doctor who's worked a long shift has had to answer this question.
AI carry it. All of it. I don't look for ways to put it down — that weight is part of doing this work honestly. BI process it and move — you have to, or the next patient suffers for the one you just lost. CI feel it deeply and lean on the people around me — I don't think you're supposed to handle that alone. DI go back over every decision — not to punish myself, but because I need to understand what I missed. EI grieve it genuinely, find some way to laugh about something unrelated, and try to be kind to myself — imperfectly.
NEXT QUESTION →
05
How would your colleagues describe the way you work? Your reputation on the floor is usually more accurate than your self-image.
AIntense and completely present — no small talk during a shift, but exactly who you want there. BSteady and dependable — not the flashiest in the room but never the one who drops something. CPassionate and occasionally chaotic — brilliant on the hard cases, prone to drama everywhere else. DBrilliant and difficult — right more often than anyone else, and everyone knows it, including me. EWarm and self-deprecating — not the most intimidating presence, but genuinely good at this and easy to like.
NEXT QUESTION →
06
How do you feel about hospital protocol and procedure? Every institution has rules. What you do with them is a choice.
AProtocol is the floor, not the ceiling — I follow it until the patient needs something it can't provide. BI respect it — the system is broken in places, but the structure is there for a reason and I work within it. CI follow it until my instincts tell me not to — and my instincts are usually right, even when they cause problems. DRules are for people who haven't thought hard enough about when to break them. EI try to follow it and mostly do — with a few memorable exceptions that still come up in meetings.
NEXT QUESTION →
07
What does this job cost you personally? Nobody works in medicine without paying a price. What's yours?
AEverything outside these walls — I've given this job my full attention and the rest of my life has gone around it. BMy idealism, mostly — I came in believing the system could be fixed and I've made a complicated peace with that. CStability — my personal life has been as chaotic as the OR, and that's not entirely a coincidence. DMy relationships — I am not easy to know, and the people who've tried to would probably agree. EMy sense of gravity — I use humour as a coping mechanism, which not everyone appreciates in a hospital.
NEXT QUESTION →
08
At the end of a long shift, what keeps you coming back? The answer to this question is the most honest thing about you.
AThe fact that it's real — that nothing else I could be doing would matter this much, right now, today. BThe patients — individual human beings who needed something and got it because I was there. CThe people I work with — I have walked through impossible things with these people and I'd do it again. DThe next unsolved case — there's always another puzzle, and I'm not done yet. EBecause despite everything — the exhaustion, the loss, the absurdity — I actually love this job.
REVEAL MY HOSPITAL →
Your Assignment Has Been Made You Belong In…
Your answers have pointed to one fictional hospital above all others. This is the ward your instincts, your temperament, and your particular brand of dysfunction were built for.
The Pitt
You are built for the most unsparing version of emergency medicine television has ever shown — one that puts you inside a single fifteen-hour shift and doesn't let you look away.
- You need your work to be real, not romanticised — meaning over drama, honesty over aesthetics.
- You find purpose inside the work itself, not in the chaos surrounding it.
- You've made peace with the fact that this job takes from you constantly, and gives back in ways that are harder to name.
- Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center demands exactly that kind of person — and you would not want to be anywhere else.
ER
You are the person who keeps the whole floor running — not the most brilliant in the room, but possibly the most essential.
- You show up, do the work, absorb the losses, and come back the next day without needing the job to be anything other than what it is.
- You care about patients as individual human beings, not as cases to solve or dramas to live through.
- You believe in the system even when it fails you — and you understand that emergency medicine is about holding the line just long enough.
- ER is television about endurance. You have it.
Grey's Anatomy
You came to medicine with your whole self — your ambition, your emotions, your relationships, your history — and you have never quite managed to leave any of it at the door.
- You feel things fully and form deep attachments to the people you work with.
- Your personal and professional lives are permanently, chaotically entangled — and that entanglement drives both your greatest disasters and your most remarkable saves.
- You understand that extraordinary medicine often happens at the intersection of clinical skill and profound human connection.
- It's messy at Grey Sloan. You would not have it any other way.
House
You are drawn to the problem above everything else — the symptom that doesn't fit, the diagnosis hiding underneath the obvious one.
- You're not primarily motivated by the patient as a person — though you are capable of caring, even if you'd deny it.
- You work best when the stakes are highest and the standard answer is wrong.
- Princeton-Plainsboro exists to house one extraordinary, impossible mind — and everyone around that mind is there because they're smart enough to keep up.
- The only way forward here is to think harder than everyone else in the room. That is exactly what you do.
Scrubs
You understand that medicine is tragic and absurd in almost equal measure — and that the only sane response is to hold both of those things at the same time.
- You are warm, self-aware, and funnier than most people in your field.
- You use humour to get through terrible moments — and at Sacred Heart, that's not a flaw, it's a survival strategy.
- You lean on the people around you and let them lean back. The laughter and the grief are genuinely inseparable here.
- Scrubs is a show about learning to become someone worthy of the job. You are still very much in the middle of that process — which is exactly right.
↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ
5 'The Art of Sarah' (2026)
Image via NetflixWhat if Inventing Anna was Korean, moodier, and a mystery thriller that is at times genuinely unsettling? Netflix's first Korean thriller of 2026, The Art of Sarah, follows Sarah Kim (Shin Hye-sun in Exhibit B), a Korean-American woman who builds a fake luxury brand called "Boudoir" from scratch, targeting Seoul's wealthy elite. When a body is found and her story keeps changing, Detective Park Mu-gyeong (Lee Jun-hyuk) tests every version of her elaborate deception, trying to figure out who Sarah Kim really is.
The Art of Sarah is an eight-episode limited series, a sharp, slow-burn dissection of elitism, narcissism, and the desperate desire to be famous, seen, and recognized. It premiered on February 13, 2026, to positive reviews from fans and critics alike, though some parts warrant a suspension of disbelief. It's wildly entertaining in all of its plot twists and delicious turns, while Shin becomes absolutely mesmerizing as a woman who has lied so much she might no longer know the truth herself. It's a binge-watch that wastes none of your time, and it's a deeply rewarding watch.
4 'Bloodhounds' (2023–2026)
Image via NetflixThree years after the brutal first season, Netflix's grittiest, most exciting action noir returns, and somehow, it's even better than before. While one episode shorter, Bloodhounds Season 2 is a stunning watch that will keep you on your toes throughout its entire run. Woo Do-hwan and Lee Sang-yi reprise their roles as boxing brothers Kim Gun-woo and Hong Woo-jin (calling themselves Gun-woo-jin), now trying to live legit lives as a pro boxer and a coach. But an underground boxing league run by Im Baek-jeong, played by K-pop legend Rain in his first-ever villain role, drags them back into violence after Baek-jeong insists on fighting Gun-woo.
The action in Bloodhounds Season 2 is absolutely stunning; it's longer, more brutal, and shot with visceral, documentary-style realism that makes every punch hurt off-screen. The fighting form of the main cast is incredible, and they move with such intent and speed that you'll admire them and want to become like them. Despite all that, the heart of the show remains the Gun-woo-jin bromance—their friendship is so loyal that they feel like actual brothers who owe each other everything. One note, though, it ties back to Season 1, so this is the perfect excuse to watch every single episode of Bloodhounds. It'll only take a couple of days, and you won't be the same after it.
3 'The Legend of Kitchen Soldier' (2026–Present)
Image via CJ ENMThe biggest surprise of the year is a military fantasy-comedy about… cooking. The Legend of Kitchen Soldier was based on a popular web novel of the same name and stars Park Ji-hoon (of Weak Hero fame), who plays Kang Sung-jae, a recruit who accidentally discovers a hidden talent in the kitchen during his mandatory military service. But there's a twist: a mysterious game-like system appears, giving him increasingly impossible cooking missions that enhance his skills every time he completes them. It sounds absurd, and it is, in the best way possible.
The Legend of Kitchen Soldier is the only show on this list that is still ongoing; it's a 12-episode series that has quietly become a global streaming hit, and it (somewhat unexpectedly) airs on HBO Max. Yoon Kyung-ho, Han Dong-hee, and Lee Sang-yi (his second appearance on this list) co-star, and the show is wholesome, weird, and deeply addictive. You didn't know you needed a show about a soldier who must cook his way through hardship, but trust me: you do.
2 'The Scarecrow' (2026)
Image via ENAThe Scarecrow is a stunning mystery thriller that comes close to being the best K-drama of 2026 so far. Park Hae-soo stars as Kang Tae-joo, a disgraced former ace detective who returns to his hometown of Kangseng to investigate a serial murder case that mirrors the infamous real-life Hwaseong serial murders (the same case that inspired Bong Joon-ho's Memories of Murder). Forced to work alongside his former rival, prosecutor Cha Si-young (Lee Hee-joon), the two men must overcome a thirty-year grudge to catch a killer who has never stopped.
The 12-episode run is tense and shot beautifully, with some incredible choices in camerawork, especially as the killer is revealed. The Scarecrow starts off slow, but when it warms up, it's really hard to let go; it's a chilling watch that avoids sensationalizing the case. Just like in real life, in the series, the killer isn't discovered until 2019, but the show doesn't take real life for granted—all of its characters and plots are fictional, drawing attention to police brutality against innocent suspects, and taking shots at public officials burying the truth for personal gain. The Scarecrow offers a conclusive and satisfying answer, and it's genuinely thrilling and a must-watch.
1 'We Are All Trying Here' (2026–Present)
Image via NetflixWe Are All Trying Here is a black comedy slice-of-life melodrama from JTBC and Netflix and, moreover, a triumphant return of Park Hae-young, the writer of My Mister and My Liberation Notes, two of the most powerful and touching dramas that delve deep into life, existence, and purpose. We Are All Trying Here hits harder than the previous shows, immediately drawing us to Hwang Dong-man (Koo Kyo-hwan), an aspiring director who has spent twenty years trying to make his debut film while watching all his film school friends find success. The themes of envy, jealousy, and desperation of watching everyone else win while you're still waiting for your turn weave through, but depression, anxiety, and anger are prevalent emotions of the show, seeking a reckoning for all the people who complain loudly and leave "all their doors open."
Koo is fantastic here, and he's joined by an even more ethereal Go Youn-jung (pulling double duty on this list), who co-stars as an overwhelmed film producer helping Dong-man rediscover his self-worth. They appear alongside an absolutely stacked ensemble, including Oh Jung-se, the busiest man in K-drama, and Park Hae-joon, the quiet pillar of the drama whose role here is incredibly poignant. Like all other shows written by Park, this one, too, is a slow, meditative burn that finds profound humanity in failure and frustration. If you've ever felt like everyone is moving forward except you, this one will hit straight to the dome, but it'll still make you feel seen.
English (US) ·