Nana, Kim Dan, and Jeong Geon-ju team up for Netflix thriller Maderessa under Queen of Tears director

Netflix has confirmed production of Maderessa, a new original thriller series led by director Jang Young-woo, best known internationally for Queen of Tears. The announcement marks Jang's return to the platform after establishing himself as one of the more commercially reliable directors working in Korean television.

The series centers on a cold-blooded criminal psychologist and professor named Maderessa, who carries the weight of past trauma into her work on unsolved homicide cases. She is joined by two figures with their own complications: an assistant named Park Seol, whose composed exterior conceals a secret, and a prosecutor named Yu A-ram, an old friend who helps her pursue the cases. As the three dig deeper, buried truths and long-suppressed emotions begin to surface.

The cast

Nana takes the title role of Maderessa herself. She has built a steadily expanding dramatic resume over the past several years, and a lead role in a Netflix original of this profile represents a significant step up in visibility. Kim Dan plays Park Seol, the assistant hiding something behind a calm face, and Jeong Geon-ju plays prosecutor Yu A-ram, Maderessa's longtime friend and investigative partner.

The combination of a crime psychology framework with a tight three-person ensemble is a format that has worked well for Korean streaming content, where character dynamics tend to carry as much weight as the procedural plot.

The creative team

Jang Young-woo's directing credits extend beyond Queen of Tears to include the supernatural action drama Bulgasal. The writing team is equally experienced: Kwon So-ra and Seo Jae-won, who co-authored the scripts, previously worked together on the Netflix series Crown Prince and the drama Son: The Guest. That pairing suggests the show will lean into psychological tension over straightforward procedural plotting, given how both earlier projects handled atmosphere and character interiority.

No release date has been set for Maderessa.