Goldscene series
Film, TV, and streaming picks with enough cultural framing to explain why a title matters beyond the trailer.
For viewers building a queue across languages, platforms, and time zones. Browse 40 stories in this series, or read how we work in our editorial standards.
Apple TV dropped the trailer for Awkwafina: The Unlikely Cook, an eight-episode food docuseries premiering November 6. Nora Lum tries to revive her family’s Flushing restaurant while admitting she cannot cook.
Image: Apple TV
Well Go USA opens Wen Muye’s Once Upon a Time in the Middle East in U.S. and Canadian theaters October 9. Shen Teng leads the China summer hit about a Chinese chef whose restaurant becomes a wartime refuge.
Image: Well Go USA Entertainment
Celine Song’s Oscar-nominated debut still follows Nora and Hae Sung across 24 years between Seoul and New York. In late 2026 it is often a rent-or-buy in the U.S. and on Crave in Canada. Here is why it remains the right quiet night.
Image: Martin Kraft (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Song Hye-kyo’s school-violence revenge thriller still streams on Netflix in the U.S. and Canada. Here is why The Glory remains the sharp gateway after softer K-drama nights.
Image: K-POPIT 케이팝잇 (CC BY 3.0)
IU and Park Bo-gum’s Jeju epic finished March 2025, topped TIME’s best K-dramas list, and is still streaming on Netflix in the U.S. and Canada. Here is why it remains the right long weekend start.
Image: K-POPIT 케이팝잇 (CC BY 3.0)
Netflix's The Scandal opened at No. 7 among non-English shows. Korean viewers have been cooler on the eight-episode Joseon remake of Dangerous Liaisons. Here is who the weekend is for.
Image: Netflix
Netflix's Thai original Delusion lands Thursday, Sept. 24. A Chiang Khan teacher tries to prove her father has dementia after the town decides he is a Phii Pong.
Image: Netflix
The Ribbon Hero lands on Netflix August 8, adapting Osamu Tezuka’s Princess Knight for a global streamer audience. The useful question is not the runtime. It is why this particular heroine is being revived now, and what a 1950s gender experiment becomes in a calamity story.
Image: Twin Engine / Netflix
tvN’s My Bias, My Boss premieres August 3 at 20:50 KST with Kim Hye-jun as a lifelong idol fan, Kang Hoon as her CEO, and Cha Woo-min as the bias who pulled her into the fashion startup.
Image: tvN / CJ ENM
Spooky in Love premieres July 18 on tvN and Netflix, remaking the 2011 film Spellbound with Park Eun-bin as a ghost-seeing hotel heiress and Yang Se-jong as a prosecutor who is terrified of spirits.
Image: Marie Claire Korea (CC BY 3.0)
Netflix will stream Wild Sing worldwide on July 31, taking Gang Dong-won, Um Tae-goo, Park Ji-hyun, and Oh Jung-se's early-2000s co-ed idol comedy from Korean theaters to a 32-language subtitle rollout.
Image: TV10 (CC BY 3.0)
Paramount and HYBE America locked the title K-Pop: The Debut and a February 26, 2027 theatrical date for Benson Lee's live-action K-pop survival drama, starring Ji-young Yoo and Eric Nam.
Image: Variety
It's Not an Affair lands on Coupang Play July 31 with Kim Hye-soo and Jo Yeo-jeong as neighbors whose curated family brands collapse faster than any cheating headline. The show treats happy-home content as wage labor, not wallpaper for scandal.
Image: Marie Claire Korea (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Netflix's The East Palace lands July 17, 2026 as Nam Joo-hyuk's first Korean series after military discharge, a horror-fantasy pivot with production fire history and romance-brand baggage.
Image: beautypl / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)
Netflix's The East Palace dropped all eight episodes on July 17, 2026, with Nam Joo-hyuk as spirit slayer Gu-cheon alongside Roh Yoon-seo and Cho Seung-woo in a Joseon palace curse mystery.
Image: Netflix
Diaspora rom-coms stopped asking permission to be funny. Newer series and films trade trauma monologues for specificity, family chaos, and aesthetics that borrow from K-drama gloss without copying the plot homework.
Image: Forbes / Hulu
Husbands lands on Netflix June 19 with Jin Seon-kyu and Gong Myung as divorced and current husbands forced into one rescue mission when a criminal group kidnaps their wife and daughter, backed by a stacked Korean ensemble cast.
Image: Netflix / Photo via STARNEWS
Drishyam 3 begins streaming on Amazon Prime Video June 18, 2026, less than a month after its May 21 theatrical release, with Malayalam audio plus Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada dubs after crossing Rs 330 crore worldwide.
Image: Raphael Pinter / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
Hulu is streaming all six episodes of The Season starting June 17, a Hong Kong-set drama about elite sailing friends whose summer trip turns into betrayal, produced by SK Global and shot largely on location.
Image: Benh LIEU SONG / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The first wave of NYAFF 2026 titles runs July 10–26, with Yeon Sang-ho's Colony opening, Joan Chen receiving a lifetime honor, and 50+ filmmakers set to attend across five New York venues.
Image: New York Asian Film Festival / Wikimedia Commons
Netflix series Teach You a Lesson reached No. 1 on the global non-English Top 10 three days after its June 5 debut, with 6.4 million views and No. 1 ranks in ten countries including India and the Philippines.
Image: Netflix
Creator Leslye Headland outlined four major Season 2 storylines for Manny Jacinto's Stranger, including Darth Plagueis lore and ties to later Star Wars canon, after Disney+ canceled the series in 2024.
Image: Lucasfilm / Disney+
Netflix Tudum announces Best of the Best, a dance comedy starring Maitreyi Ramakrishnan and Priyanka Kedia as childhood friends competing on a college Bollywood fusion team, streaming Sept. 18.
Image: Flexfxproductions / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Japanese directors led a strong Asian showing at the 79th Cannes Film Festival, even as producers face distribution pressure and flat admissions in key markets.
Image: BDS2006 (talk) / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Netflix's The Wonderfools is the superhero comedy-drama Cha Eun-woo finished before beginning South Korean military service in July 2025.
Image: Ten Asia / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)
A24 has wrapped The Peasant, Dev Patel's India-shot action-thriller and the studio's first production in the country, with a cast spanning Europe and South Asia.
Image: Diliff / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Alexander Zverev's 2026 French Open breakthrough fits Shah Rukh Khan's Om Shanti Om monologue about desire, destiny, and the universe conspiring in your favor.
Image: sk4t / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Backlash around Janhvi Kapoor's role in Peddi opens a wider debate about female characters in Telugu, Tamil, and Malayalam commercial cinema.
Image: Raphael Pinter / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
Diana Ding founded Ding Ding TV in 2009 to give Asian American communities in Silicon Valley a stronger platform for stories and cultural perspective, work recognized in the 2026 AAPI Awards cycle.
Image: Diana Ding / Photo via Silicon Valley Business Journal
Chinese actress Xin Zhilei was cast to play Anna May Wong in a new bilingual feature, Sunset Boulevard: The Anna May Wong Story, announced by Fundamental Films ahead of the Cannes Film Market.
Image: Chas Smith / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)
The Wrap's cast guide breaks down Mindy Kaling's new Hulu ensemble series Not Suitable for Work, following 20-somethings in a Murray Hill apartment building where neighbor groups keep colliding.
Image: William Hook / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Asian reality series can feel less combative than many American formats, with attention to names like Choi Mina Sue and Lee Sung-hun.
Image: JOHN K THORNE / Wikimedia Commons (CC0)
Hulu's Deli Boys received the AANHPI Storyteller Icon Award at the Philadelphia Asian American Film Foundation's inaugural benefit, tied to the show's affection for Philadelphia and its growing AAPI community.
Image: Severin Dostal / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Hallmark faced pushback on Hallmark's All's Fair in Love and Mahjong, with critics pointing to an awkward gap between the game's Asian roots and the leads on screen.
Image: The Housley Life / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)
The Legend of Maula Jatt opened in Chinese cinemas in May 2026, earning early box-office traction as Pakistan and China mark 75 years of diplomatic ties.
Image: Joe Mabel / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
In a CBC interview, Simu Liu argues that Hollywood has pulled back on Asian representation, treating Asian-led projects as too risky even as Asian and diaspora audiences keep showing up for film and TV.
Image: Gage Skidmore / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
HuffPost speaks with Beef's Korean cast and creator about the Netflix series' cultural weight, framing the show as both a tense character drama and a story rooted in Korean identity and experience.
Image: Netflix / A24
The 2026 Da Nang Asian Film Festival will launch under the theme “Bridging Asia to the World,” widening international opportunities for Vietnamese cinema and newer filmmaking voices.
Image: BDS2006 (talk) / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Romantic comedies from East and Southeast Asia are leaning into high-gloss production, familiar tropes, and diaspora-friendly emotional clarity.
Image: MTV International (CC BY 3.0)
In K-drama and beyond, the second lead has evolved from plot obstacle to fan favorite, often carrying the emotional intelligence a series needs to last.
Image: @_TV10 (CC BY 4.0)
Mina Park
The Goldscene Desk