The Scandal Netflix K-Drama: Release Date, Cast & Trailer Reveal
K-dramas have thrown a lot at us over the years, fake dating, time slips, the occasional zombie outbreak. This September, Netflix is trying something a little more old-fashioned: seduction, scandal, and a bet that spirals way out of hand in the middle of the Joseon dynasty. It's called "The Scandal," and with three A-list leads and a trailer that's already got fans losing it online, this one's shaping up to be hard to ignore.
Here's everything worth knowing before it drops, release date, where to watch, who's playing who, and how people are reacting to that trailer.
When and Where to Watch The Scandal
"The Scandal" hits Netflix worldwide on September 18, 2026. And yes, it's a full binge drop, all eight episodes land the same day, so nobody's stuck waiting a week between cliffhangers. Each episode runs about 70 minutes.
It's also rated 19+ in Korea, which hasn't hurt the buzz any. Director Jung Ji-woo has said the goal was to keep the show's mature edge intact rather than water it down for a wider streaming audience.
The Story: A Dangerous Bet in Joseon Korea
This isn't a brand-new story. "The Scandal" is a reimagining of Untold Scandal, the 2003 Korean film that itself borrowed its plot from the 18th-century French novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses- yes, the same source material behind Dangerous Liaisons and, further down the family tree, Cruel Intentions. If you've seen any of those, you already know roughly where this is headed: seduction used as a weapon, love turned into a game, and nobody walking away clean.
The plot centers on a sharp, bored noblewoman who talks Joseon's most notorious playboy into a wager neither of them should have agreed to. What starts as a test of pride quickly turns into something real and pulls a third woman, who wanted no part of any of this, straight into the middle of it.
Meet the Cast and Their Characters
Honestly, the cast alone is the reason most people will show up for this one. Netflix pulled together three of Korea's biggest names for a story that asks all of them to play morally messy, complicated people.
Son Ye-jin as Lady Cho
Best known internationally for Crash Landing on You, Son Ye-jin takes on maybe her boldest role yet. Lady Cho (sometimes written as Lady Jo) is smart, cultured, and talented, a skilled writer and painter with basically nowhere to put any of it in a world that has no real place for ambitious women. That frustration is what sets the whole wager in motion. Wit is the one weapon nobody can take from her, so she uses it.
Ji Chang-wook as Cho Won
Ji Chang-wook, of Suspicious Partner and The Worst of Evil fame, plays the man everyone in Joseon warns you about — wealthy, magnetic, and allergic to commitment. He brings the usual charm and dark humor you'd expect, but the real pull of the character is watching him lose control of his own game as the feelings start becoming real.
Nana as Hui-yeon
Nana, stepping into her first period drama after Mask Girl, plays Hui-yeon, a young widow who wants absolutely nothing to do with romance and gets dragged into it anyway as the target of Lady Cho and Cho Won's bet. Nana has talked about the role as a woman trying to claw back some control over her own life in a world that gives her almost none. Early reactions suggest this could end up being a standout performance for her.
The Supporting Cast
Also on board: Kang Chan-hee (Chani) as Kwon In-ho, and Shin Youn-ha, playing a character written fresh for this adaptation. Han Sun-hwa rounds things out in a role that doesn't exist in the original film, a small mystery for anyone who's already seen Untold Scandal
The Trailer: What Happens and How Fans Reacted
Along with the trailer, Netflix dropped a main poster with all three leads shot against Bukchon's hanok village, Lady Cho in bold red and clearly in charge, Cho Won's expression somewhere between hunger and mischief, Hui-yeon looking quietly uneasy under her traditional headwear.
The trailer itself opens on a letter, Lady Cho laying out her proposal to Cho Won — and things go downhill fast from there. By the end, Hui-yeon is begging to be left out of it, Lady Cho is trying to call off a game she started, and Cho Won finally admits, almost against his will, that his feelings stopped being fake a while ago. Two minutes, and it delivers exactly the slow-burn tension it's supposed to.
Fans didn't wait for the trailer to start reacting, honestly. The second the cast was announced, social media lit up, "Now this is a CAST," "I'm TOO seated," that kind of thing — with people saying they never expected to see Son Ye-jin, Ji Chang-wook, and Nana in the same show, let alone the same love triangle. Once the trailer landed, the reaction only got louder, with plenty of people saying the chemistry alone made it worth the wait.
The 19+ rating has people talking too mostly wondering how far the show is willing to go compared to the original film.
Why The Scandal Is Worth the Hype
Between the cast, a story that's already proven itself once on screen, and a director with a track record for handling messy emotional material, "The Scandal" has a lot going for it. Throw in an all-at-once release and this looks like one of Netflix Korea's bigger bets this year.
Whether you're coming in as a fan of the original Untold Scandal, a Dangerous Liaisons type, or just here to watch Son Ye-jin and Ji Chang-wook share a screen, September 18 is worth circling.
The Scandal premieres September 18, 2026, exclusively on Netflix.
