Kim Ji-won Eyed for Lead Role in Medical Drama

Kim Ji-won has been considered for a starring role in Doctor X: Age of the White Mafia, a new medical drama. The popular Korean actor is reportedly evaluating the project favorably, as announced by her agency, HighZium Studio.

The drama, if she accepts the offer, will be Kim Ji-won’s next, following the massive success of her preceding, Queen of Tears—one of our 10 best K-dramas of 2024—a bittersweet narrative of a married couple’s journey through the complexities and emergencies in life when the wife, Hong Hae-in (Kim Ji-won), is diagnosed with a fatal health condition and the husband Baek Hyun-woo (Kim Soo-hyun) will stop at nothing to keep her alive and well.

Directed by Lee Jung-rim, best known for her earlier successful dramas like VIP (2019) and Revenant (2023), Doctor X: Age of the White Mafia is a medical series also blending elements of crime, noir, and mystery for a multilayered narrative that delves into what I assume are the intricacies of the medical profession, the power dynamics within the healthcare system, and the insidious influence of organized crime.

In this story, Kim Ji-won has been eyed to play Kye Su-jeong—a one-of-a-kind doctor, feisty by nature, but struggling with a rough past while also having issues and enemies within her profession. That said, she takes to her exceptional procedures and surgical proficiency, challenging the adverse circumstances.

Given its noir ingredients, Doctor X: Age of the White Mafia, in effect, is a complex portrayal going against the often-glorified image of healthcare. Its protagonist, doctor Kye Su-jeong, is also a complex individual amid the moral challenges, organizational problems, and illegal activities getting into and influencing the story.

Doctor X: Age of the White Mafia joins the ranks of medical K-dramas with titles like Good Doctor (2013), Doctor Stranger (2014), The Doctors (2016), Doctor Romantic (2016 – 2023), Life (2018), Doctor John (2019), Hospital Playlist (2020), Doctor Cha (2023), and the most recent superhit The Trauma Code: Heroes on Call (2025), to list a few.

Medical dramas are very intriguing in how they place and contrast the potentially fatal consequences of the medical profession with their characters’ interpersonal conflicts and relationships, as may be the case with this new drama. With such an interplay, I hope Doctor X: Age of the White Mafia will give viewers a sense of something that’s simultaneously real and enigmatic.

The rest of the cast details and release date for the drama are yet to be announced. According to media reports, it’s expected to go into production this year.