[HanCinema's News] "Resident Playbook" Conspicuously Absent on tvN's 2025 Lineup

As 2024 comes to a close and tvN is unveiling its 2025 lineup, one name has been curiously absent from its current marketing push. "Resident Playbook" had supposedly cast Go Youn-jung as the lead with plenty of supporting cast besides, with cameos at minimum from the "Hospital Playlist Season 2" stars. But at a recent press conference, there was still no new information about when the spin-off might appear on South Korean television.

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The December 3rd press conference that was tvN's last major infodump and contained quite a bit of information about the network's plans for next year. For one, tvN will now start premiering dramas in the Wednesday/Thursday timeslot again, something the network hasn't done since "Stealer: The Treasure Keeper" in 2023. "When the Stars Gossip" now has a confirmed premiere date of January 4th, with "The Queen Who Crowns" starting shortly thereafter on January 6th.

"Black Salt Dragon" will premiere on February 17th, followed by "The Potato Lab" will premiere on March 1st. Later, "Unknown Seoul" will start on April 12th with "Divorce Insurance" to follow on April 14th. "Please Don't Drink" will come out on May 26th. Ongoing filming for "Seocho-dong" and "Typhoon Boss" and "The Tyrant's Chef" and "Gyeon-woo and Fairy" were all explicitly discussed. Even "My Happy Home" received acknowledgment, despite details on that drama remaining quite scarce.

While "Resident Playbook" has not formally been canceled, its omission in these announcements nevertheless remains conspicuous, due to the popularity of the "Hospital Playlist Season 2" dramas. But since those last aired, the public sentiment regarding doctors in South Korea has taken a turn for the negative. Professional medical associations have been striking against the government for ten months against a policy designed to increase the doctors admitted to medical school.

It's possible that "Resident Playbook" has merely been facing production delays. But there's no denying that the political situation has soured the public mood on this genre of romantic doctor story, and was likely a major factor in "Doctor Slump" underperforming expectations earlier this year. At any rate, "Resident Playbook" won't be making a television appearance until at least the second half of next year.

Written by William Schwartz