Netflix has officially confirmed the cast for its upcoming Korean crime drama series ‘Paper Man’, currently listed as a working title. The series will star Cho Jung-seok, Park Hae-soo and Claudia Kim in the lead roles. Director Lee Il-hyung will helm the project.
What the series is about
‘Paper Man’ centres on Cha Myung-jo, a worker at a company that produces imitation character stickers. Despite nominally heading his household, Myung-jo lives in the shadow of his far more capable wife. His life changes when he accidentally produces a counterfeit banknote so convincing it cannot be distinguished from the real thing. The error pulls him into a criminal world beyond anything he has previously known.
The series has been described as a black comedy crime drama.
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Cho Jung-seok as the lead
Cho Jung-seok plays Cha Myung-jo, the central character, as he moves from domestic obscurity into dangerous new territory.
He is one of South Korea’s most recognised actors across film and television. The actor began his career in theatre, performing in musicals and plays for nearly a decade before making his film debut in the 2012 box office hit ‘Architecture 101’. He later starred in television series including ‘The King 2 Hearts’ (2012), ‘Oh My Ghost’ (2015) and ‘Hospital Playlist’ (2020–2021), as well as films such as ‘Exit’ (2019).
For his role in the 2024 film ‘Pilot’, he won the Baeksang Arts Award for Best Actor. The Baeksang Arts Awards are South Korea’s most prominent entertainment honours.
Park Hae-soo as the investigator
Park Hae-soo plays Oh Seung-eop, the First Deputy Director of the Anti-Counterfeiting Division at the Korea Mint. The character is described as a determined investigator tracking Myung-jo.
Park is widely recognised internationally following his role in Netflix’s ‘Squid Game’. He was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for that performance. Park began his career in theatre before transitioning to film and television. His domestic breakthrough came with ‘Prison Playbook’ (2017–2018), which became one of the highest-rated Korean dramas on cable television.
He has worked frequently with Netflix, including on ‘Time to Hunt’ (2020), ‘Yaksha: Ruthless Operations’ (2022) and ‘Narco-Saints’ (2022). Most recently, he starred in the Netflix crime thriller ‘Karma’ (2025), also directed by Lee Il-hyung.
‘Paper Man’ marks the second collaboration between Park Hae-soo and Lee Il-hyung, following ‘Karma’.
Claudia Kim as the wife
Claudia Kim plays Ko Hye-seok, Myung-jo’s wife and an elite judge. The character presents a seemingly perfect life on the surface but faces real personal dilemmas and mounting family pressures.
In the series, Ko Hye-seok is described as the eldest daughter of a wealthy family. She and Cho Jung-seok’s character will appear as an on-screen married couple, marking their first on-screen collaboration together.
Claudia Kim, whose Korean name is Kim Soo-hyun, was born on 25 January 1985 in Seoul. She studied International Studies at Ewha Womans University and spent several years of her childhood in the United States before returning to South Korea.
She appeared in Western productions including ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ (2015), ‘The Dark Tower’ (2017) and ‘Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald’ (2018). On the Korean side, her credits include ‘Gyeongseong Creature’ (2023–2024) and ‘The Atypical Family’ (2024), both on Netflix.
Claudia Kim recently attended the Cannes International Series Festival for the JTBC drama ‘Sacred Jewel’, where she appeared on the pink carpet.
The Director: Lee Il-hyung
Lee Il-hyung is a South Korean film director and screenwriter. Before directing his first feature film, he worked as an assistant director on productions including ‘The Moonlight of Seoul’ (2008), ‘My Way’ (2011) and ‘Kundo: Age of the Rampant’ (2014).
His directorial debut, ‘A Violent Prosecutor’ (2016), became the second highest-grossing South Korean film of that year, earning $66.6 million worldwide.
‘Karma’ (2025) marked his first foray into directing a series. The six-episode Netflix crime thriller starred Park Hae-soo alongside Shin Min-a, Lee Hee-joon, Kim Sung-kyun, Lee Kwang-soo and Gong Seung-yeon.
Both ‘A Violent Prosecutor’ and ‘Karma’ established Lee as a director drawn to morally complex protagonists navigating institutional and criminal systems.
The broader Netflix Korea slate
‘Paper Man’ joins a series of Korean-language crime and thriller productions Netflix has in development for 2026. Other upcoming titles on the streamer’s Korean slate include ‘The Art of Sarah’, starring Shin Hye-sun and Lee Jun-hyuk, and ‘Mousetrap’, featuring Ryu Jun-yeol and Sul Kyung-gu.
Netflix has expanded its Korean-language content significantly over recent years. The platform has produced string of high-profile Korean crime and thriller series with ‘Squid Game’ remaining one of the most-watched Netflix series globally since its 2021 debut.
Release
‘Paper Man’ is scheduled to premiere later in 2026. No episode count or specific release date has been announced at this time. The title remains a working title and may change before broadcast.