The clever move that Resident Playbook (μΈμ κ°λ μ¬κΈ°λ‘μΈ μ 곡μμν) makes is choosing the one hospital specialty nobody wants. Its first-year residents pick obstetrics and gynaecology in a country with one of the world’s lowest birth rates, which means empty delivery wards, an understaffed department, and a constant low hum of “why did you choose this?” hanging over every shift. That premise gives the spin-off a sharper edge than its warm, jam-session predecessor, and it’s the reason the show works as more than a nostalgia lap around the same hospital universe.
The premise
The show drops you into the fictional Jongno branch of Yulje Medical Center, the same hospital franchise fans know from Hospital Playlist, and follows a cohort of brand-new OB-GYN residents learning the job the hard way. Oh Yi-young arrives without the safety net her peers seem to have, and the early episodes are mostly about the gap between what a first-year thinks medicine will be and the actual grind of it: the missed sleep, the small humiliations, the patients who don’t fit the textbook.
It keeps the affectionate, ensemble rhythm of the original but trades the seasoned-friends-with-a-band setup for something rawer, the panic and clumsiness of people who don’t yet know what they’re doing. The friendships here are still forming, and a few of them are genuinely turbulent.
Where to watch
In Korea, Resident Playbook aired on tvN over weekends, running its full 12-episode season from April 12 to May 18, 2025. Internationally, it streams on Netflix, though availability is limited to select regions rather than the platform’s full global catalogue.
- South Korea: originally broadcast on tvN; the complete run has aired.
- International: Netflix in selected regions. As with most tvN titles, the regional lineup shifts over time, so check whether it’s listed in your country before committing.
The cast
Go Youn-jung leads as Oh Yi-young, the first-year resident whose lack of connections and tendency to put herself last anchor the series. Shin Si-ah plays Pyo Nam-kyung, and Kang You-seok, who had a strong 2025 between this and When Life Gives You Tangerines, plays Um Jae-il. Rounding out the resident cohort are Han Ye-ji as Kim Sa-bi and Jung Joon-won as Ku Do-won.
Behind the camera, the lineage is the selling point. The show was planned by Shin Won-ho and Lee Woo-jung, the duo behind Hospital Playlist and the Reply series, directed by Lee Min-soo and written by Kim Song-hee. That creative pedigree is why it feels of a piece with the original even with an entirely new cast.
Filming locations
Here’s the honest part: there’s no verified location to send you to. The production team never publicly confirmed where the Jongno-branch hospital scenes were shot, and unlike many K-dramas there’s no official location list circulating for this title. Hospital Playlist famously used Ewha Womans University Seoul Hospital in Gangseo District, but carrying that over to the spin-off would be a guess, not a fact, so treat any “filmed at” claim about Resident Playbook with skepticism. If a documented site surfaces later, it’ll be worth adding; for now, the hospital here is best thought of as a set rather than a place you can visit.
Worth your time?
If Hospital Playlist was comfort food, Resident Playbook is the same kitchen with a colder open window. It’s for viewers who liked the Yulje world but wanted a little more friction in it, and for anyone drawn to medical dramas that treat the profession as exhausting work rather than a backdrop for romance. At 12 episodes it’s an easy weekend, and Go Youn-jung carries the lead with enough restraint that Yi-young’s small wins actually land. Come for the Hospital Playlist connection; stay for the first-years figuring out who they are.
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