With gender-bending romcom and historic spy romance, tvN marks 20 years with a bang

tvN's drama lineup for the rest of 2026 includes a spy romance set in Japanese-occupied Seoul and a gender-bending romcom whose producers hope will introduce a new genre-defining lead as memorable as the one in the 2007 hit “Coffee Prince.”

“‘Coffee Prince’ had Go Eun-chan, who became the defining cross-dressing heroine of Korean romantic comedies,” said Kim Ho-jun, chief producer of “Love in Disguise,” at a media conference introducing tvN’s upcoming lineup at CJ ENM’s headquarters in Seoul on Wednesday.

“That was in 2007. It’s been nearly 20 years. Now, let’s try to replace that with Kang Jae-hee,” Kim said he asked of Seol In-ah, who plays the series' heroine.

Jae-hee is a former special forces soldier-turned-police officer who disguises herself as a man to infiltrate the inner circle of a conglomerate heir as his secretary and bodyguard. Playing the heir is Lim Si-wan, whom Kim said the crew spent nearly a year trying to cast, with one promise: to “create a romantic lead unlike anything we’ve seen before.”

“[Jae-hee] transcends physical gender differences and becomes the one protecting the male lead,” Kim said.

“There are quite a few BL [boys’ love]-coded elements [in the series] — as much as the channel will allow,” he added, referring to a genre that portrays romantic relationships between men.

At the head of tvN’s drama slate is “100 Days of Deception,” a period spy romance starring Kim Yoo-jung and GOT7’s Park Jin-young and set in 1930s Gyeongseong, as Korea's capital city was called under Japanese colonial rule.

Park Sang-hyuk, who oversees entertainment content and marketing at CJ ENM, described the series as a tvN flagship production marking the network’s 20th anniversary. CJ ENM owns tvN and the streaming platform Tving, as well as studios behind its original content, including major drama producer Studio Dragon.

Jang Shin-ae, chief producer of “100 Days of Deception,” said the drama builds suspense around language itself, as the characters switch between Japanese, English and Chinese. Kim plays Ga-gyeong, a pickpocket recruited by Korea's independence movement to infiltrate the Japanese Government-General's office as an interpreter, while Park plays Tae-woong, the adopted son of a senior colonial official who returns to Gyeongseong as a translator.

“One of the strengths of Korean dramas is the way they handle characters’ stories through very nuanced emotional arcs,” Jang said. “Even though ‘100 Days of Deception’ is set in a very specific time and place, the emotions of the people living through that period can resonate anywhere.”

tvN’s variety lineup leans on established intellectual property. The third season of “Iron Girls” (2024–) will see its cast take on short-track speedskating, while a spinoff of “Undercover Chef” will bring overseas chefs featured in the original series to Korea, where they will be hosted by the Korean chefs who once worked under them abroad.

“tvN content feels a bit like the subway or a bus,” producer Kim Ho-jun said. “It's accessible, universal content that can accommodate a lot of people without giving up on quality.”

BY KIM JU-YEON [[email protected]]