SEOUL – South Korean actor Lee Jung-jae is starting to think his co-star Lim Ji-yeon brought him on to their new K-drama Nice To Not Meet You just to “mess” with him, he said at the show’s press conference on Oct 28, only half-joking.

“I keep asking, ‘Why are you treating me like this?’”

The Emmy winner for Squid Game (2021 to 2025) is returning to Korean television after wrapping three seasons of the hit Netflix survival drama, and he has picked something deliberately lighter.

Premiering on Prime Video on Nov 3, Nice To Not Meet You is a romcom that is all banter, casual misunderstandings and zero deadly games that drench you in blood and gore.

Lee plays Hyeon-jun, an A-list actor stuck in his show’s fifth season as a fictional cop. Typecast as the virtuous hero in a procedural that never ends, Hyeon-jun wants out. He is gunning for a role in melodrama, one that lets him cry on camera instead of throwing punches.

It is a set-up that mirrors the meta-casting at work.

Lee, 52, now recognisable in the world from Squid Game – first the clueless player, then the bitter survivor trying to take down the game – is pivoting to something decidedly lighter. He is looking for that shift in television, where he built his career long before international fame.

“My previous works were quite genre-heavy,” he said. “I wanted to try something lighter, more vibrant and fun. At just the right moment, Lim Ji-yeon reached out.”

Turns out that was not just a casual suggestion. Lim, known for playing the merciless villain in Netflix’s revenge drama The Glory (2022 to 2023), actively pursued him.

“After reading the script, I instantly thought Lee Jung-jae would be perfect for Hyeon-jun,” said the 35-year-old. The two belong to the same management agency, Artist Company, but this marks their first time working together.

Lim plays Jeong-sin, a political ...