Why Is K-drama Hospital Playlist’s Spin-Off, Resident Playbook, Facing The Danger Of Being Scrapped?

TVN’s popular medical drama Hospital Playlist successfully ran for two seasons. The audience liked the K-drama’s story so much that the channel announced a spin-off of it. Resident Playbook, starring Go Youn-jung, Shin Shi Ah, Kang Yoo Seok, Jung Joon Won, and Han Ye Ji in the leading roles, was initially scheduled to be released in the first half of 2024. However, that now seems a distant dream, with even the danger of being scrapped looming over the Hospital Playlist’s spin-off.

After facing repeated postponements, Resident Playbook might have to face possible scrapping due to the ongoing medical strike in South Korea. The South Korean doctors’ strike began on February 20 over the government’s plans to increase medical student quotas. Thousands of trainee doctors have quit or refused to work, with professors covering for them and only urgent cases being treated at tertiary care facilities. This has raised concerns about hospital finances and patient care, with two doctors dying from overwork.

Amidst the strike, the producers of Resident Playbook have decided to delay the show’s release due to the fear of criticism for romanticizing the lives of medical staff. Originally scheduled to air in May 2024 after CJ ENM’s Queen Of Tears, Resident Playbook was replaced by The Midnight Romance In Hagwon and postponed to July. Meanwhile, several media reports also suggested that the medical drama will likely air in 2025 as the network’s weekend slot for this year is already filled.