From Kim Go-eun to Suzy, female actresses can’t wait to shine in 2022 with the rise of dramas centering around women
Many Korean actresses are expected to bring the warm breeze to the small screen with new dramas in 2022.
Works that center around female leads and stories of female characters have witnessed a turning point and became so popular in 2020-2021 after dramas, such as Netflix’s original series “The School Nurse Files” and “My name”, tvN’s “Mine”, SBS’s “One The Woman”, etc. began to draw keen attention. According to the public’s reactions, it seems like broadcasters are into an actress syndrome.
Following this popularity and trend, many broadcasters are currently preparing more dramas for female lead roles and female narratives, aiming to air them all in 2022.
TVing’s original drama “Work Later, Drink Now” (written by Wi So-young, directed by Kim Jung-sik), which depicts the friendship and sorrows of 3 women whose belief in life is one drink at the end of the day, quickly confirmed the production of its Season 2 after receiving more positive responses than expected thanks to its realistic and sympathetic stories. Therefore, the Season 2 of this drama is already listed in TVing’s 2022 new lineup. The main character actresses Lee Sun-bin, Jung Eun-ji, and Han Sun-hwa will continue to appear in the second season.
Kim Go-eun, Nam Ji-hyun and Park Ji-hoo were cast to play 3 sisters who are poor but have good relationships with each other in tvN’s “Little Women” (written by Jeong Seo-kyung, directed by Kim Hee-won). This drama will mainly tell the story of 3 sisters getting involved in huge incidents when facing the wealthiest and the most influential families in Korea.
On Netflix, Lee Chung-ah, Park Kyu-young, and Jeon Hyo-sung will work together in “Celebrity” (written by Kim Yi-kyung, directed by Kim Cheol-kyu). “Celebrity” will tell about a mysterious story that happens between celebrities who have become stars through SNS and those who envy them. Director Kim Cheol-kyu, who was behind the success of tvN’s drama “The Flower of Evil”, will grab the megaphone, drawing curiosity from drama fans.
JTBC’s “Cleaning Up” (written by Choi Kyung-mi) is a remake version of a British drama of the same name that has also been added to the spectacular lineup of 2022 dramas. Yeom Jung-ah, Yeom Hye-ran, and Jeon So-min are confirmed to appear in this project to tell the story of stock market cleaners jumping into stock crime cases after accidentally hearing insiders trading.
In addition, other works mainly about female characters, such as JTBC’s recently aired drama “The One and Only” (written by Moon Jung-min, directed by Oh Hyun-jong), tvN’s drama “Umbrella” starring Kim Hye-soo, Suzy’s new project – Coupang Play’s “The Second Anna” (directed by Lee Joo-young) are drawing attention for their broadcasts in 2022.
As the role of women has increased noticeably in the drama market, which used to focus mainly on male characters only. Along with the expansion of the base of female narratives, the diversity of contents has also increased. In many ways, this has blown a fresh wind in the drama production industry.
Much attention is being paid to whether dramas starring women as main characters will be able to draw empathy as well as satisfaction from the viewers in 2022, and continue their current pleasant flow. Furthermore, the K-drama market is also expected to grow step by step.
