October brings 12 new Korean dramas, from a tvN spy romance to an SBS medical noir and three Netflix releases that arrive all at once. Six have already premiered or premiere today, and six more start between October 19 and October 30. This guide lists every premiere date, channel, air time and main cast, with local times for international viewers.
Key Takeaways
- Premiered so far: Your Personal Taxi, Between Steps, Take Charge of My Heart, Doctor X, 100 Days of Deception and Make Me Tingle (October 15).
- Still to come: Love in Disguise (October 19), Final Table and Oh! My Guard (October 24), Summer Vacation (October 26), and Dead-End Job and The Perfect Lie (October 30).
- Netflix releases with all episodes at once: Your Personal Taxi, Take Charge of My Heart and Dead-End Job.
- The two October launches with published ratings are Doctor X (11.4% and 14.9% for episodes 1 and 2) and 100 Days of Deception (5.3% and 7.6%).
October 2026 Premiere Calendar
| Premiere | Title | Channel / platform | Main cast | Premise |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 1 | Your Personal Taxi | Netflix (all episodes at once) | Cha Tae Hyun, Im Se Mi, Joo Jong Hyuk | Healing music drama about a taxi driver and his passengers, with a song for each ride |
| Oct 5 | Between Steps | ENA, Mon/Tue 10 p.m. KST | Choo Young Woo, Kim So Hyun | Romance between a former swimmer and a graduate student |
| Oct 9 | Take Charge of My Heart | Netflix (all episodes at once) | Kim Young Kwang, Chae Soo Bin | Romantic comedy about a man with a failing artificial heart and a woman who can recharge it |
| Oct 9 | Doctor X | SBS, Fri/Sat 9:50 p.m. KST | Kim Ji Won, Lee Jung Eun, Son Hyun Joo, Kim Woo Seok | Medical noir based on a Japanese series |
| Oct 10 | 100 Days of Deception | tvN, Sat/Sun 9:10 p.m. KST | Kim You Jung, Park Jinyoung | Period spy romance |
| Oct 15 | Make Me Tingle | Viki, Thursdays 8 p.m. KST | Nam Ji Hyun, Kim Jae Yeong | Romantic comedy |
| Oct 19 | Love in Disguise | tvN, Mon/Tue 8:50 p.m. KST | Yim Si Wan, Seol In Ah, Kim Jung Hyun, Yeonwoo | Romance thriller |
| Oct 24 | Final Table | JTBC, Sat/Sun 10:40 p.m. KST | Ahn Hyo Seop, Hong Hwa Yeon, Chang Ryul | Cooking competition drama |
| Oct 24 | Oh! My Guard | Lifetime, Sat/Sun 10:50 p.m. KST | Jung Yong Hwa, Hong Seung Hee, Lee Yi Kyung | Romance about an actor and a woman who thinks she is the lead in his drama |
| Oct 26 | Summer Vacation | Lifetime and Viki, Mon/Tue 10:50 p.m. KST | Jin Young, Cho Yi Hyun, Hong Ye Ji | Coming-of-age romance with a mysterious element |
| Oct 30 | Dead-End Job | Netflix (all episodes at once) | Lee Jae Wook, Go Min Si | Mystery-horror fantasy about a tempting part-time job |
| Oct 30 | The Perfect Lie | MBC, Fri/Sat 9:50 p.m. KST | Yoo Yeon Seok, Seo Hyun Jin | Psychological thriller about two opposing accounts of one memory |
Premiere dates, networks and casts come from Soompi’s October list. What’s on Netflix describes the Dead-End Job date of October 30 as unconfirmed, so check Netflix before planning around it.
Early Ratings From the Two Biggest Launches
Two of the month’s weekend and Friday-Saturday launches already have Nielsen Korea numbers. We have full breakdowns in our separate reports on Doctor X and 100 Days of Deception.
| Drama | Episode 1 | Episode 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Doctor X (SBS) | 11.4% nationwide | 14.9% nationwide |
| 100 Days of Deception (tvN) | 5.3% nationwide | 7.6% nationwide |
When to Watch: Local Times for International Viewers
The table converts three common slots into local time. Netflix drops are listed at 4 p.m. KST in Soompi’s guide for Take Charge of My Heart and Dead-End Job. Broadcast times apply to the original Korean channels, and streaming times outside Korea may differ.
| Region | Netflix drop (4 p.m. KST) | Love in Disguise (8:50 p.m. KST) | Final Table (10:40 p.m. KST) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore | 3:00 p.m. | 7:50 p.m. | 9:40 p.m. |
| Thailand, Vietnam, western Indonesia | 2:00 p.m. | 6:50 p.m. | 8:40 p.m. |
| Colombia, Peru | 2:00 a.m. | 6:50 a.m. | 8:40 a.m. |
| Mexico City | 1:00 a.m. | 5:50 a.m. | 7:40 a.m. |
| Brazil, Argentina | 4:00 a.m. | 8:50 a.m. | 10:40 a.m. |
| United States (Eastern) | 3:00 a.m. | 7:50 a.m. | 9:40 a.m. |
| United States (Pacific) | 12:00 a.m. | 4:50 a.m. | 6:40 a.m. |
Editor’s Take
The month’s lineup spreads across genres rather than leaning on one: a period spy romance, a medical noir, two romantic comedies, a psychological thriller, a mystery-horror fantasy, and a cooking competition. For international viewers, that mix matters because only some titles have confirmed global streaming. 100 Days of Deception and Doctor X are listed by The Week and What’s on Netflix as streaming internationally, while Viki, Lifetime and ENA titles need a local check.
Final Table is the one to watch for readers of our K-Culture coverage. Soompi describes it as a survival contest in which chefs from around the world compete to find the best Korean chef, so it sits close to the Korean food stories we have covered, including the folded gimbap from Extraordinary Attorney Woo and the clam bulgogi from Crash Landing on You. For a recent example of a Korean series reaching a global streaming chart, see our report on Mousetrap’s Netflix chart run.
We have not included fan-reaction data because most of these titles are only days old, and we did not find verified reaction reports yet.
Sources
- Soompi · 2026-10-01
- Soompi · 2026-10-11
- Soompi · 2026-10-10
- What’s on Netflix · 2026-09-29
2 thoughts on “October 2026 K-Drama Guide: 12 New Series, Air Times and Where to Watch”