Following the cliffhanger ending of Idol I Episode 6, you’ll no doubt be itching for the next chapter. Thankfully, Episode 7 and 8 of the K-drama are coming to Netflix soon – be sure to make note of the release dates and times so you don’t miss a thing.
January is packed full of new TV shows to tune into, but if you’re a fan of K-drama, Idol I is one you won’t want to sleep on. The series centers on Maeng Se-na, a ruthless criminal attorney by day and a K-pop fan by night.
Her world is turned upside down when she’s forced to defend her favorite idol, Do Ra-ik of the Gold Boys group, over a shocking murder. As the legal case unfolds, feelings between the pair start to develop.
Although it’s not a Netflix show, the streaming service has the international rights to air the series, meaning it follows the release pattern of Korean network, ENA. We’ve explained when to expect the next batch of episodes below. Warning: spoilers ahead for Episodes 5-6!
Idol I Episode 7 will release on Netflix on January 12, 2026, while Episode 8 drops on January 13. Although the show releases on these dates at 10pm KST in Korea, reports suggest that it lands on Netflix at approximately 10am ET / 7am PT.
As said, new episodes follow the Korean broadcast schedule rather than Netflix’s usual global release pattern, meaning viewers should expect staggered drop times each week.
We’ve listed several other time zones below so you know roughly when to tune in:
- 12pm Brazil
- 3pm UK
- 4pm Central European Time
- 8:30pm India Standard Time
- 2am Australia (January 13 & 14)
- 4am New Zealand (January 13 & 14)
How many episodes are there?
Idol I has 12 episodes in total, with each one approximately an hour long. No titles have been released, but the descriptions for the first six episodes have been, which you can check out below:
- Episode 1
- “By day, Maeng Se-na is a top lawyer – but by night, she’s a secret K-pop mega fan. Do Ra-ik’s world unravels when he faces a deadly crisis.”
- Episode 2
- “Facing dividing loyalties and backlash from all corners, Se-na questions Ra-ik as he insists on his innocence while his fandom erupts.”
- Episode 3
- “Ra-ik falls into despair as detective Park Chung-jae investigates the case. Meanwhile, Se-na relies on her intuition rather than evidence.”
- Episode 4
- “Ra-ik begs Se-na to keep a figure from his past away from the case – but she soon notices a connection between the two.”
- Episode 5
- “Unexpected feelings begin to grow as Ra-ik tends to Se-na after her injury. Meanwhile, Se-na learns crucial information about the accident.”
- Episode 6
- “Se-na makes a breakthrough, finding motives tied to the music industry. Ra-ik makes an unsettling discovery about Se-na.”
Full release schedule
Rather than Netflix’s usual all-at-once release schedule, Idol I is dropping two episodes per week across two nights. You can check out the full upcoming release schedule below:
- Episode 7 – January 12, 2026
- Episode 8 – January 13, 2026
- Episode 9 – January 19, 2026
- Episode 10 – January 20, 2026
- Episode 11 – January 26, 2026
- Episode 12 – January 27, 2026
Who’s in the cast?
Choi Soo-young plays the female lead Maeng Se-na in the Idol I cast, while Kim Jae-young plays male lead Do Ra-ik. You can check out the rest of the cast below:
- Jung Jae-kwang as Kwak Byung-gyun, a cold-blooded prosecutor
- Kim Hyun-jin as Park Chung-jae, Se-na’s private investigator
- Choi Hee-jin as Hong Hye-joo, Ra-ik’s ex-lover
- Park Jeong-woo as Choi Jae-hee, the drummer of the Gold Boys
- Choi Geon as Lee Young-bin, the youngest Gold Boys member
- Ahn Woo-yeon as Kang Woo-seong, a Gold Boys member who dies mysteriously
Even though Choi, aka Sooyoung, is playing a high flying attorney in the new TV show, in real life she’s a singer, having joined the group Girls’ Generation in 2007.
Since then, she’s found success in acting, with notable roles in Dating Agency: Cyrano, My Spring Days, Squad 38, Run On, So I Married the Anti-Fan, If You Wish Upon Me, and Not Others.
As for Jae-young, he’s a model and actor, known for roles in 100 Days My Prince, The Judge from Hell, and Love in Contract.
In a press conference for the show, he said (via MK), “The story goes back ten years. I thought of band idols like CNBLUE, F.T. Island, and Day6 while acting…
“I’ll be forty next year. I don’t think I’ll be able to play an idol in dramas anymore. I really hope this project does well. Please support us.”
What happened in Episodes 5 & 6?
In Idol I Episodes 5–6, Maeng Se-na’s car crash is revealed to be sabotage by Do Ra-ik’s stalkers, suspicion tightens around Choi Jae-hee, and the truth behind a supposed secret contract emerges. But the biggest twist is that Ra-ik discovers Se-na is a Gold Boys fan.
There are many moving parts in the murder case, with Kwak Byung-gyun obtaining CCTV footage that shows Gold Boys drummer Jae-hee wasn’t at the hospital on the night of Kang Woo-seong’s murder – and he was spotted near Do Ra-ik’s house.
But when he’s called in for questioning, Jae-hee claims he has evidence that Ra-ik is the killer. Episode 6 reveals what that “evidence” is when the prosecutor calls Jae-hee and Ra-ik in for a face to face.
Jae-hee claims that Ra-ik was preparing to quit Gold Boys, and that Woo-seong found out on the day of his murder. “He knew he’d already been talking to another agency,” Jae-hee says. “He went to stop him.”
A flashback scene shows Jae-hee telling this to Woo-seong, saying a friend of his works for the agency Ra-ik allegedly made a secret solo deal with, earning him a huge advance payment.
But as we learn in the present day, the payment was sent to Do Mi-gyeoung – Ra-ik’s evil mother. It doesn’t take long for him to put two and two together. Together with Se-na, Ra-ik confronts his mother and tells her to leave him alone.
The truth is Ra-ik never made this secret deal. Se-na needs the contract to prove it’s a void deal and help Ra-ik’s case, but Mi-gyeoung admits she has none of the details. So, she gets Chung-jae to dig for her.
Even though Jae-hee provided this information to the prosecution, he’s angered to know it doesn’t give him immunity and he’s still considered a suspect. At the end of Idol I Episode 6, Jae-hee is seen packing a bag and leaving.
Meanwhile, Byung-gyun is in a difficult position: he’s under pressure to target one suspect and solve the case, but right now, he has no solid evidence to arrest anyone.
Ra-ik, on the other hand, has some relief when he meets up with Goldie Entertainment’s CEO Geum. He reassures Ra-ik that he knows he was never trying to secretly leave Gold Boys – in fact, Ra-ik refused to maintain his contract until he knew the other members had theirs renewed too.
CEO Geum promises he’ll testify for Ra-ik in court if it comes to it, giving him further peace of mind that he has his back.
Chung-jae manages to find the company that the deal was signed with. Turns out, it was Woo-seong who was arranging it. The exec tells Se-na, “He [Woo-seong] was sure he could bring Do Ra-ik to us so we coordinated the deal.”
Idol I Episodes 5-6 also show more from Ra-ik and Se-na’s pasts. Ra-ik reveals the reason he and Jae-hee fell out was because of growing tension between the two when fans favored Ra-ik over Jae-hee.
Things came to a head during a band practice when Ra-ik said some things he didn’t mean. Ra-ik admits he was wrong and, at the time, he thought it was the only way to succeed.
As for Se-na, we learn that she was close with her father, but when she was younger, he was imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit – and it was Se-na’s boss who acted as his attorney.
Se-na’s father later died in prison, and in a heart-to-heart in the present day, her boss says he fully supports her defending Ra-ik, saying it’s a similar situation.
Hong Hye-joo also reappears at the end of Episode 5, begging for Ra-ik to take her back. However, he tells her that she screwed him up when she left him, and that he’s happy now for the first time with Se-na.
Speaking of which, the previous batch of episodes show Ra-ik slowly but surely falling in love with Se-na, not that either of them will admit it. But right at the end, a terrible discovery unfolds.
While trying to find rice to make Se-na her favorite dish, gimbap, he discovers a box filled with all of her Gold Boys fandom merch. There are t-shirts, framed pictures, pillow cases, and posters all with Ra-ik’s face on them.
Se-na arrives home to find these items strewn across the floor, with Ra-ik in the corner, his eyes filled with tears. “Tell me. Explain what all this is. Explain it,” he says, but Se-na is lost for words – and then the episode ends.
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