It’s a new year with fresh hopes, and K-dramas are already plotting against your productivity. January 2026 is stacked with judges who won’t retire, thieves you’ll accidentally root for, and romances that require your emotional understanding.

Here are the Kdramas coming to contend with your January plans:

The Judge Returns: January 2 | tvN / Netflix

This drama stars Ji Sung and Won Ji An. Just when everyone thought justice had finally gone on holiday, a legendary judge storms back into the courtroom. After disappearing under mysterious circumstances, he returns to face a case tied directly to his past mistakes, where he was a corrupted judge.

The drama is filled with moral battles, powerful entities, injustice, and struggle that will suddenly want to make you study law.

To My Beloved Thief: January 3 | SBS / Viki

Nam Ji Hyun and Moon Sang Min will team up in this historical drama. Nam Ji Hyun plays the role of a physician and thief that was born between a nobleman and a woman of the lowest class. She becomes entangled with Sang Min, who is the stepbrother of the king and specializes in catching criminals.

Will love allow Sang Min to do his job properly? We cannot wait to see how Nam Ji Hyun will steal his heart away in the romance comedy.  

Spring Fever: January 5 | JTBC / Netflix

Lee Joo Bin and Ahn Bo Hyun are set to bring a novel to life as they take us through a love that bloomed in the rural area, away from the city rush. Joo Bin relocates to a small town from Seoul, where she works as a teacher. She meets Ahn Bo Hyun, an uncle of her students, and honesty paved the way for their romance. We will surely be catching spring fever in winter by January.

Can This Love Be Translated? January 16 | Netflix

A multilingual interpreter played by Kim Sun Ho and a globally famous celebrity played by Go Youn Jung clash when words fail to capture emotions. Miscommunication turns into connection as they learn that love doesn’t always need perfect translation but just honesty and patience.

Human From Today: January 16 |  TVING

Kim Ye Yoon and Lomon team up in a supernatural drama. Ye Yoon plays a gumiho who doesn’t want to become a human, so she refrains from doing good deeds and accumulating the transformation bead. This resolve starts to weaken when she appears in front of Lomon, a world-star soccer player.  Looks like we are going to get some love strikes that change the heart of a gumiho.

Undercover Miss Hong: January 17 | tvN

We are going time-traveling with Park Shin Hye in a drama set in the 1990s. She works as a financial supervisory service worker who only thinks about her job. In order to catch a security company under suspicion of corrupt cash flow, she goes undercover as a 20-year-old student and starts working for them.

Fate connects her with Go Young Pyo, who also shares the same honesty virtues with her as the new CEO. He meets Park Shin Hye, who now has a new name but the same face as the financial woman whom he once loved. How he will get the truth will surely keep us on our toes, but we are here for the suspense.

Positively Yours: January 17 | Viki

Oh Yeon Seo detests marriage because of her parents, but has a one-night stand with Choi Jin Hyuk, who also shares the same belief. Both of them have an interest in working alone, but with this new development, they have to make decisions that will change their lifelong resolution.

January 2026 is coming in hot with romance, law, mystery, fantasy, and emotional torture scheduled weekly. It is a new year, yet the same rule of “just one episode” is a lie. We hope you have a pleasant January full of K-drama vibes, but still crush the personal goals you have set aside.

Which one are you most excited about?