Zombie Detective

Zombie Detective (Korean: 좀비탐정; Hanja: 좀비探偵; RR: Jombitamjeong) is a 2020 South Korean television drama series broadcast by KBS2. Directed by Shim Jae-hyun, it stars Choi Jin-hyuk and Park Ju-hyun.^[1] It aired from September 21 to October 27, 2020.^[2] It tells the story of a zombie and a writer who team up to solve crimes.^[3]

Zombie Detective
Promotional poster
Hangul	좀비탐정
Hanja	좀비探偵
Genre	Comedy Fantasy Mystery
Created by	KBS Drama Division
Written by	Baek Eun-jin
Directed by	Shim Jae-hyun
Starring	Choi Jin-hyuk Park Ju-hyun Kwon Hwa-woon
Music by	Ok Jeong-yong
Country of origin	South Korea
Original language	Korean
No. of episodes	24
Production
Executive producer	Ki Min-soo (KBS)
Producers	Park Ji-young Kim Dong-rae
Running time	70 minutes
Production company	RaemongRaein
Original release
Network	KBS2
Release	September 21 (2020-09-21) – October 27, 2020 (2020-10-27)

Synopsis

Kang Min-ho (Choi Jin-hyuk) wakes up and discovers that he is a zombie with no memories of his past. He trains himself to walk and talk like a human, covers up his scars with makeup, and assumes the identity of private detective Kim Moo-young while trying to solve the mystery of his past. Gong Sun-ji (Park Ju-hyun) is a former investigative journalist who gets hired as a part-time assistant at Moo-young's agency. She discovers Moo-young's zombie secret, and the two team up to solve crimes and discover the mystery behind the existence of zombies.

Cast

Main

• Choi Jin-hyuk as Kim Moo-young/Kang Min-ho
• Park Ju-hyun as Gong Sun-ji
• Kwon Hwa-woon as Cha Do-hyun

Supporting

World King Agency

• Tae Hang-ho as Lee Sung-rok
• Lee Joong-ok as Wang Wei

Gong Sun-ji's family

• Ahn Se-ha as Lee Tae-kyun
• Hwang Bo-ra^[4] as Gong Sun-young
• Sung Min-jun as Lee Joon-woo

Gangrim Police Station

• Park Dong-bin^[5] as Hwang Chun-seob
• Jung Chae-yul as Bae Yoon-mi^[6]

Others

• Lim Se-joo as Kim Bo-ra
• Bae Yoo-ram as Station PD
• Park Sang-myun as Lee Gwang-sik
• Ha Do-kwon as Noh Poong-sik
• Seo Yeon-woo as Yeon-woo
• Uhm Tae-yoon as Um Tae-yoon
• Yoon Ki-chang as real Kim Moo-young

Special appearances

• Park Joo-yong as Santa suspect (Ep. 1)
• Yoo Min-sang as pizza box man (Ep. 1)
• Lee Seung-yoon as zombie movie actor (Ep. 1)
• Kim Hye-seon as zombie movie actress (Ep. 1)
• Yoo Jae-suk^[7] as zombie movie poster actor (Ep. 1)
• Kim Min-kyung as zombie movie poster actress (Ep. 1)
• Kim Yo-han as skin cream CM model (Ep. 1)
• Lee Ga-sub as Oh Hyeong-cheol (Ep. 2)
• Han Hye-ji as Oh Hyeong-cheol's wife (Ep. 2)
• Song Ga-in as trot singer (Ep. 2)
• A.C.E^[8] as zombie dancer (Ep. 2–3)
• Shin Yun-sook as Kim Moo-young's landlord (Ep. 2)
• Ok Joo-ri as food cart vendor (Ep. 2)
• Kwon Hae-hyo as movie company CEO (Ep. 2)
• Lee Young-ji as paramedic (Ep. 2)
• Kim Jung-pal as fast center manager (Ep. 3)
• Jang Se-hyun as fast center client (Ep. 3)
• Park Sun-young as Kang Go-eun (Ep. 3)
• Yebin as Yoo Hee-seon (Ep. 3)
• Sam Hammington as Butcher (Ep. 5)
• William Hammington as Butcher son (Ep. 5)
• Ryu Hye-rin as Shaman (Ep. 6)

Production

KBS released the photos from the first script reading on July 22, 2020.^[9] KBS released the main poster of the series featuring all the casts.^[10]

Viewership

Average TV viewership ratings

Ep.	Part	Original broadcast date	Average audience share (Nielsen Korea)[11]
1	1	September 21, 2020	2.9%
	2		3.6%
2	1	September 22, 2020	2.7%
	2		3.0%
3	1	September 28, 2020	2.1%
	2		2.8%
4	1	September 29, 2020	2.0%
	2		2.8%
5	1	October 5, 2020	2.0%
	2		2.9%
6	1	October 6, 2020	2.5%
	2		3.4%
7	1	October 12, 2020	2.4%
	2		3.1%
8	1	October 13, 2020	2.6%
	2		3.7%
9	1	October 19, 2020	2.4%
	2		3.1%
10	1	October 20, 2020	2.0%
	2		2.6%
11	1	October 26, 2020	2.1%
	2		2.2%
12	1	October 27, 2020	1.9%
	2		2.6%
Average			2.6%
The blue numbers represent the lowest ratings and the red numbers represent the highest ratings. N/A denotes that the rating is not known.

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Recipient	Result	Ref.
2020	18th KBS Entertainment Awards	Best Challenge Award	Zombie Detective Team	Won	[12]