Netflix has confirmed its next Korean crime series, Paper Man, assembling a cast that puts two of the most recognisable names from the streamer’s Korean content stable directly in opposition — with Squid Game’s Park Hae-soo hunting down Hospital Playlist’s Cho Jung-seok across a story built around counterfeit money and fractured domesticity.
The series follows Cha Myung-jo, a downtrodden husband who works at a maker of knockoff character stickers and lives in the shadow of his far more accomplished wife. When he produces a counterfeit banknote so flawless it cannot be distinguished from the genuine article, he is pulled into a dangerous world he never imagined. The show is described as a crime thriller laced with dark humor, examining the value of money, human desire, and the blurred line between what is real and what is fake.
Park plays Oh Seung-eop, the first deputy director of the Anti-Counterfeiting Division at the Korea Mint and a relentless investigator set on Myung-jo’s trail. Claudia Kim takes the role of Ko Hye-seok, Myung-jo’s wife and an elite judge whose polished exterior conceals mounting pressures and genuine dilemmas.
The project marks the second collaboration between Park and director Lee Il-hyung, following their 2025 Netflix crime thriller Karma. Lee’s earlier credits include the 2016 hit A Violent Prosecutor, establishing him as a director drawn to morally complex characters caught between institutional systems and criminal underworlds.
The announcement adds another title to an already crowded Korean crime slate at Netflix. Other upcoming titles include The Art of Sarah, starring Shin Hye-sun and Lee Jun-hyuk, and Mousetrap, featuring Ryu Jun-yeol and Sul Kyung-gu. In January, the streamer revealed a 2026 Korean content slate spanning 33 series and feature films, rolling out a schedule it unveiled on the back of Squid Game Season 3 becoming the fourth most-watched series in the platform’s history.
Netflix announced a $2.5 billion investment in Korean content over four years, a commitment that reflects how thoroughly K-drama has reshaped the platform’s international strategy since Squid Game first launched in 2021. Production on Paper Man is now underway; no premiere date has been set.
