The Scandal (스캔들) drops on Netflix on September 18, 2026

The Scandal (스캔들) drops on Netflix on September 18, 2026. It’s an 8-episode period drama directed by Jung Ji-woo (Tune in for Love, Eungyo). It remakes the 2003 film Untold Scandal and, further back, the French novel Dangerous Liaisons. The setting is late Joseon, specifically the high-society world of Bukchon.

The story, in plain terms
Lady Cho (Son Ye-jin) is a gifted, restless noblewoman. She’s married, wealthy, and stuck. Confucian rules keep her in the inner quarters even though she’s smarter and more ambitious than most of the men around her. She decides to play a dangerous game.
She challenges Cho Won (Ji Chang-wook), Joseon’s most notorious playboy. He treats romance like sport and doesn’t believe in lasting love. The wager: seduce Hui-yeon (Nana), a young widow who has sworn to remain chaste after her husband’s death. If Cho Won succeeds, Lady Cho will give him something he has wanted for a long time.

Cho Won accepts. He thinks it will be easy. Hui-yeon is not easy. She resists him, then starts to feel things she doesn’t want to feel. Meanwhile Lady Cho watches from the shadows. What begins as a cold, calculated bet starts leaking real emotion, pride, and jealousy. None of the three people in this triangle are fully in control anymore.
That’s the core. Desire, power, reputation, and the cost of wanting something society says you can’t have.
What’s actually exciting about it

The cast chemistry looks dangerous. Son Ye-jin as the woman who starts the fire, Ji Chang-wook as the man who thinks he can’t get burned, Nana as the one who was never supposed to be in the game. The teaser already shows the looks between them. It doesn’t feel like polite historical romance.
Son Ye-jin’s first Netflix project. After Crash Landing on You and years of film work, she’s playing a character who is calculating rather than purely sympathetic. That’s interesting.
Director Jung Ji-woo doesn’t usually do straightforward melodrama. He has said he wanted characters who ask “Who am I?” instead of just falling in love. Expect more psychological tension than sweeping love scenes.

Visuals. Joseon period pieces on Netflix tend to look expensive. Costumes, lighting, the contrast between public virtue and private mess — this one is being sold hard on atmosphere.
Short runtime. Eight episodes. If they keep it tight, it won’t drag the way some sageuk romances do.
Tone. It’s marked 18+. This is not a fluffy first-love story. It’s about people using each other and then discovering they might actually feel something.

Is it worth watching?
Yes, if you like:

Period dramas that feel a little dangerous instead of pretty and safe
Morally gray characters
Slow-burn tension and “what are they really thinking?” scenes
Beautiful production design

Skip it (or wait for reviews) if you want light romance, clear heroes, or a story that stays wholesome. This one is built on lies and desire. The original 2003 film was both a hit and a bit of a scandal itself, so the remake is aiming for that same adult heat with a modern eye.
The teaser that dropped today already has people talking. If the series delivers on the promise of three people who start a game they can’t finish cleanly, it should be one of the more stylish Netflix K-dramas of the year. Mark September 18.