Best Shows to Binge This Chuseok Holiday 2026

Netflix just released “Scandal,” starring Son Ye-jin and Ji Chang-wook, timed for the Chuseok holiday. Streaming platforms across Korea are stacking new series and returning shows for the four-day break. Whether you love dramas, remakes, or comedy, this Chuseok holiday offers something for every couch potato.

What to Stream This Chuseok Holiday

Four days off work sounds simple. But for many Koreans, it means one thing: finally catching up on that show everyone’s been talking about.

This Chuseok holiday, streaming services timed their biggest releases to land right before the break starts. That’s not an accident. Platforms know exactly when people have free time, and they compete hard for your attention during this window.

Think about your own habits for a moment. Don’t you save certain shows for a long weekend, telling yourself you’ll “get to it eventually”? This Chuseok holiday, that eventually has arrived, with a lineup built for exactly that kind of marathon viewing.

Scandal Leads the Chuseok Holiday Lineup

The headline release this Chuseok holiday is Netflix’s “Scandal,” featuring Son Ye-jin as Madam Jo and Ji Chang-wook as Jo Won. Son plays a sensuous, layered character, while Ji Chang-wook takes on a role described as coldly cunning. That contrast is exactly what makes period dramas like this one so compelling to watch.

Korean period dramas often explore power, deception, and desire dressed in historical costume. “Scandal” appears to follow that tradition closely. If you’ve enjoyed shows built around court intrigue or forbidden ambition, this one seems designed with you in mind.

Why does casting like this generate so much buzz before a show even airs? Son Ye-jin and Ji Chang-wook each carry loyal fan bases built over years of television and film work. Putting them together practically guarantees conversation, and Netflix clearly timed the release to maximize word-of-mouth during the Chuseok holiday.

Remakes and Reunions Fill the Chuseok Holiday Schedule

Beyond “Scandal,” the Chuseok holiday lineup includes “Made in Korea 2,” a sequel highly anticipated by fans of the original series. Sequels carry a particular kind of pressure. Viewers arrive with expectations already shaped by the first season, so the comparison game starts the moment episode one begins.

That comparison, though, is part of the fun. Watching a sequel side by side with its predecessor lets you track how characters evolved and how production quality shifted. (Some viewers genuinely rewatch the entire original season first, just to prepare properly — dedication that would make any professor proud.)

Variety programming rounds out the holiday offerings too, with “Chaotic Kian Show 2” bringing lighter entertainment to the mix. Not every long weekend needs heavy drama. Sometimes a goofy variety show is exactly the palate cleanser your brain needs between intense episodes.

Remakes deserve special attention here as well. Korean television has a long history of reworking earlier hits, updating storylines for modern audiences while keeping the emotional core intact. This Chuseok holiday’s slate leans into that tradition, giving longtime viewers a chance to measure new adaptations against beloved originals.

Why Binge-Watching Matters During Chuseok Holiday

Chuseok itself carries deep cultural weight in Korea. Traditionally, it’s a harvest festival built around family gatherings, ancestral rites, and shared meals. Streaming marathons might seem like a modern departure from all that, but they actually fit naturally into the holiday’s rhythm of rest and togetherness.

Extended family time can be wonderful, and it can also be exhausting in equal measure. Sitting down together for a show gives relatives common ground without requiring constant conversation, which matters more than people admit. At the same time, that shared screen time sometimes papers over quieter tensions within families, the kind that surface during any long holiday spent under one roof.

There’s something genuinely valuable in that balance. A good series lets generations sit in the same room, laughing or gasping together, even when their daily lives look completely different. The best Chuseok gatherings probably hold both truths at once: real warmth, and real fatigue, existing side by side without either one canceling the other out.

For readers outside Korea, this pattern will feel familiar. Holiday binge-watching isn’t unique to one culture, but the specific mix of dramas, remakes, and variety shows says something about what Korean audiences value: strong performances, layered storytelling, and a bit of comic relief. According to Kyunghyang Shinmun, this year’s Chuseok holiday slate reflects exactly that balance across platforms.

So streaming platforms will keep timing releases around major Korean holidays going forward. That strategy works because it taps into something real: the human need to slow down and share a story together. What’s on your own watchlist for this kind of long weekend, and does it lean more toward drama or comedy?

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