After Parasite put South Korean cinema on the global stage in 2019, 2026 is shaping up to be another landmark year for Korean movies and TV. The Furious came out last month and was labeled the single best action movie since The Raid films. Then, just this month, Human Vapor continued the momentum on the streaming side. The series debuted on Netflix with a phenomenal 91% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes. However, despite its impressive ratings and strong reception, another K-drama has emerged as an even bigger breakout hit, completely overshadowing Human Vapor on the global streaming charts.
The series stars So Ji-sub as Manager Kim, a mild-mannered bank manager and single father who used to be an elite, highly classified covert operative. That is, until a criminal syndicate kidnaps his daughter and drags his old life back to the surface. With no one else capable of bringing her home, Kim is forced to return to the skills he spent years trying to forget. That’s kind of like John Wickmeets Taken if you think about it. The major difference is that instead of it being a single film, this one stretches that whole story for ten episodes, and that episode drip-drop is the main reason why it’s still riding the wave at the top.
The series is titled Agent Kim Reactivated. And it is currently the #1 most popular series on Netflix’s global chart for foreign-language titles. And for anyone still chasing the adrenaline rush The Furious delivered earlier this year, Agent Kim Reactivated is the perfect follow-up and should be at the top of their watchlist.
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Collider Exclusive · Action Hero Quiz Which Action Hero Would Be Your Perfect Partner? Rambo · James Bond · Indiana Jones · John McClane · Ethan Hunt
Five legends. Five completely different ways of getting out alive — with style, with muscle, with charm, with luck, or with a plan so intricate it probably shouldn’t work. Ten questions will reveal which action hero was built to have your back.
🎖️Rambo
🍸James Bond
🏺Indiana Jones
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🔧John McClane
🎭Ethan Hunt
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01
You’re dropped into a dangerous situation with no warning. What do you need most from a partner? The first few seconds tell you everything about who belongs beside you.
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02
You have to get somewhere dangerous, fast. How do you travel? How you get there is half the mission.
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03
You’re pinned down and outnumbered. What does your ideal partner do? This is when you find out what someone is really made of.
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04
The mission is paused. You have one evening to decompress. What does your partner suggest? Who someone is when the pressure drops is who they actually are.
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05
How do you prefer your partner to communicate mid-mission? Good communication is the difference between partners and a liability.
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06
Your enemy is powerful, well-resourced, and has the upper hand. How should your partner approach them? The approach to the enemy defines the partnership.
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07
Things go badly wrong and you’re captured. What do you trust your partner to do? Who someone is when you need them most is the only thing that matters.
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08
What does your ideal partner bring to the table that you couldn’t replace? A great partner fills the gap you didn’t know you had.
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09
Every partnership has a cost. Which of these can you live with? No one comes without baggage. The question is whether you can carry it together.
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10
It’s the final moment. Everything is on the line. What do you need from your partner right now? The last question is the most honest one.
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Your Partner Has Been Assigned Your Perfect Partner Is…
Your answers have pointed to one action hero above all others. This is the person built to have your back — for better or considerably, spectacularly worse.
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Rambo
Your partner doesn’t talk much, doesn’t need to, and will have assessed every threat in your immediate environment before you’ve finished your first sentence. John Rambo is not a man of plans or politics — he is a force of nature shaped by survival, loyalty, and a capacity for endurance that goes beyond anything training can produce. He will not leave you behind. He has never left anyone behind who deserved to come home. What you get with Rambo is the most capable, most quietly ferocious partner imaginable — one who has been through things that would have broken anyone else, and who chose to keep going anyway. You’ll never need to ask if he has your back. You’ll just know.
James Bond
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Your partner will arrive perfectly dressed, perfectly briefed, and with a cover story so convincing it’ll take you a moment to remember what’s actually true. James Bond is the most professionally dangerous person in any room he enters — and the most disarmingly charming, which is the point. He operates in a world of layers, where nothing is what it appears and every advantage is used without apology. You’ll never be bored. You’ll occasionally be furious. But when it matters — when the mission is genuinely on the line and the margin for error has collapsed to nothing — Bond is exactly the partner you want. He has survived things that have no business being survivable. He does it with style. That is not nothing.
Indiana Jones
Your partner will know the history, the language, the cultural context, and exactly why the thing everyone else is ignoring is actually the most important thing in the room. Indiana Jones is brilliant, reckless, and occasionally impossible — but he is also one of the most resourceful, most genuinely knowledgeable partners you could find yourself beside. He approaches every situation with a scholar’s eye and a brawler’s instinct, which is an unusual combination and a remarkably effective one. He hates snakes and gets personally attached to objects of historical significance, both of which will slow you down at least once. It doesn’t matter. What Indy brings is irreplaceable — and the adventures you’ll have together will be the kind people write books about. Assuming you survive them.
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John McClane
Your partner was not supposed to be here. He does not have the right equipment, the right information, or anything approaching the right odds. He has a sarcastic remark and an absolute refusal to accept that the situation is as bad as it looks. John McClane is the greatest accidental hero in the history of action cinema — a man whose superpower is stubbornness, whose contingency plan is improvisation, and whose capacity to absorb punishment and keep moving would be alarming if it weren’t so useful. He will complain the entire time. He will make it significantly more chaotic than it needed to be. And he will absolutely, unconditionally, without question come through when it counts. Yippee-ki-yay.
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Ethan Hunt
Your partner has already run seventeen scenarios by the time you’ve finished reading the briefing, and the plan he’s settled on involves at least two things that should be physically impossible. Ethan Hunt operates at the absolute edge of human capability — technically, physically, and intellectually — and he brings the same relentless precision to protecting his partners that he brings to dismantling organisations that shouldn’t exist. He is not easy to know and he will never fully tell you everything. But he will carry the weight of the mission so completely, so absolutely, that your job is simply to trust him — and the remarkable thing is that trusting him always turns out to be the right call. The mission will be impossible. He will complete it anyway.
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2 Additional Episodes Have Been Confirmed for ‘Agent Kim Reactivated’
Better yet, since the response to the series has been far bigger than anyone expected, following its strong ratings and overwhelming fan reaction, SBS initially decided to extend the show’s run with one special episode. But it appears that even that wasn’t enough. Due to the series’ continued popularity, the network has now added another special, meaning fans will get two additional episodes after the finale. These specials will feature never-before-seen behind-the-scenes footage, unaired clips from the show, and interviews with the director and stars. The two additional episodes will be released on July 31 and August 1, respectively.
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Agent Kim Reactivated was originally planned as a 10-episode series, and it is already nearing the end of its season. The first eight episodes are currently available to stream on Netflix, with the final two episodes scheduled to arrive on July 24 and July 25.
The first eight episodes of Agent Kim Reactivated are currently available to stream on Netflix, with new episodes releasing weekly on Fridays and Saturdays. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
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