Yoo Yeon-seok and Seo Hyun-jin Reunite After 10 Years in MBC's Liar

Ten years after Dr. Romantic Kim Sa-bu peaked at a 27.6% rating, Yoo Yeon-seok and Seo Hyun-jin are back on the same screen, and this time they are on opposite sides of the truth. Their new MBC Friday-Saturday drama Liar premiered on the 30th at 9:50 p.m.

The setup is a first date that looked perfect. Afterward, Min Jun-ho (Yoo), a single dad and cardiac surgeon, and Kang Ji-seon (Seo), a teacher who is warm with children, get caught up in an unexpected incident. Each remembers the same day in a way that contradicts the other, and one of them is lying. The structure is built to keep viewers doubting both until the end, so the audience ends up tracing the truth between two memories.

From colleagues saving patients to opponents

Yoo and Seo first worked together in the 2016 SBS drama Dr. Romantic Kim Sa-bu, as surgeons Kang Dong-ju and Yoon Seo-jung. The show hit that 27.6% peak, and their chemistry was a big part of the conversation. The reversal here is stark: colleagues who once worked side by side to save patients now face each other over a disputed account. The two are expected to play emotions that swing between extremes, along with a relationship that shifts rapidly, like a roller coaster.

Both actors have built their careers in the years between. Yoo showed range in Hospital Playlist and When the Phone Rings, while Seo drew praise for delicate emotional acting in Another Oh Hae-young, The Temperature of Love and Why Her? The production team describes Yoo as an actor in whom warmth and coldness coexist, and Seo as one with powerful screen focus.

Ahead of the premiere, the team released stills of the "perfect first date." Min Jun-ho and Kang Ji-seon sit across a table in an atmospheric restaurant, with nervous excitement and mutual interest in their expressions. That date is also the starting point of the incident that upends their relationship, and what happened in that restaurant is the core of episode 1.

The production team said the date is the starting point of everything, and that because the scene matters so much to the story, Yoo and Seo discussed even small details with each other while filming. They asked viewers to watch every line and gesture closely, promising a bigger impact as the story unfolds.

A film studio's first drama

Liar is the first drama from Film Zip, the company behind the films Dark Figure of Crime-era hits like The Priests, Default and Broker. Kakao Entertainment, whose credits include When Life Gives You Tangerines, co-produced. A film studio with a string of box-office hits entering television has drawn attention beyond the drama world.

Director Jo Young-min, known for sensitive emotional work on Do You Like Brahms? and Seon-jung and Eun-sang, is behind the camera. Writer Baek Jae-young wrote the script, which the production describes as combining tight psychological detail with dramatic momentum.

MBC is putting a psychological thriller in its Friday-Saturday slot, so the first-episode response will be watched closely. The team calls it a well-made thriller built to get under viewers' skin in the second half of 2026.