Serial killer dad returns in Hunter with a Scalpel: All the details ahead of the Disney+ K-drama premiere

Hunter with a Scalpel lands on Disney+ June 16, 2025, bringing one of the platform’s darkest and most twisted K-dramas to date. Seo Se-hyun, a brilliant but emotionally detached forensic pathologist, finds herself on the trail of a killer she thought long gone.

The killer is her own father, Yoon Jo-kyun, a man she believed had been dead for twenty years. This is no ordinary family reunion. Beneath the polished Disney+ banner, Hunter with a Scalpel cuts deep into crime, deception, and survival, standing as a key piece in Disney’s strategy to expand its global thriller catalog.

After making waves at the Cannes International Series Festival, Hunter with a Scalpel arrives poised to claim international attention, setting up a deadly clash between hunter and hunted, where the prey knows the killer’s face all too well.

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The plot: a daughter, a killer, and a race against time

Adapted from Choi Yi-do’s homonymous novel, Hunter with a Scalpel dives into a world shaped by obsession and survival, where buried secrets resurface with devastating consequences.

In Hunter with a Scalpel, the trail of murder cuts back through the years like a knife. Seo Se-hyun, a forensic pathologist known for her cold precision, is pulled into a savage hunt when fresh evidence leads to the one killer she never expected: her father, Yoon Jo-kyun. Once South Korea’s most feared serial predator, Jo-gyun disappeared two decades ago, presumed dead. But now, his work has started again, each body left behind a brutal calling card.

Se-hyun knows the clock’s ticking. The police are closing in, but she has her reasons to get to Jo-kyun first. Not to stop him, but to bury the dangerous truths that link her to his past crimes. With every new body, the blood trail thickens, and Se-hyun has to decide how far she’s willing to go before she becomes prey herself.

Seo Se-hyun is brilliant, emotionally detached, calculating, and unnervingly composed in the face of horror. Diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder, she operates in the world like a surgeon in an operating room: methodically, without sentiment. Her clinical detachment makes her an exceptional pathologist, but it also places her perilously close to the man she is chasing. Her father’s darkness did not just touch her life. It shaped her, leaving fractures that never healed. As the investigation closes in, the question is not whether she will stop him, but whether she is more like him than she dares to admit.

Hunter with a Scalpel plunges into the heart of murder, betrayal, and survival, where family ties tighten like a noose and every move could leave another corpse in its wake.

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Cast and characters: a killer’s bloodline and the hunt closing in

At the center of Hunter with a Scalpel stands Park Ju-hyun as Seo Se-hyun, the icy, brilliant forensic pathologist who’s spent her life outrunning the shadow of her family name. She’s a survivor shaped by science and cold logic, but facing her father’s return pulls her into a world where evidence and reason can’t protect her.

Park Yong-woo takes on the chilling role of Yoon Jo-gyun, the father and the monster, a serial killer who vanished two decades ago, leaving behind a trail of butchered victims. Jo-kyun is no phantom; he’s a predator, alive and calculating, slipping through the cracks of the city’s underworld as he resumes his deadly work.

Kang Hoon steps in as detective Jung Jung-hyun, the head of the violent crimes unit and a man who knows the stakes better than anyone. His path crosses with Se-hyun’s as they both hunt the same killer, but every encounter between them sparks tension and suspicion. Jung-hyun doesn’t just want to solve the case; he wants to know what Se-hyun’s hiding.

The trio’s dynamic sets the stage for a brutal, high-stakes collision, where every glance and every withheld truth push them closer to disaster. Hunter with a Scalpel thrives on this friction, sharpening the emotional and psychological edge with each episode.

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International impact: Cannes spotlight and Disney’s global play

Hunter with a Scalpel carves its place on the international stage with precision. Selected for the Cannes International Series Festival, it arrives already dripping with prestige, carrying the kind of weight that demands global attention. Cannes showcases stories that strike hard, and this K-drama joins that circle with the metaphorical blood on its hands and danger in its bones.

Disney+ has been building a library of Asian originals designed to hook global audiences on sharp, morally twisted thrillers. After landing hits like Hyper Knife and A Shop for Killers, the platform sharpens its next weapon: Hunter with a Scalpel. This series isn’t here to pad the catalog. It’s a strategic hit, aimed at staking Disney’s claim in the dark corners of international streaming, where survival belongs to the boldest, the coldest, and the most brutal stories.

Every kill, every revelation, every pulse-raising scene in Hunter with a Scalpel adds another cut to Disney’s expanding global influence.

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Expanding Disney’s thriller arsenal

Disney+ isn’t dabbling; it’s investing heavily in thrillers that grip audiences across borders. With each high-stakes release, the platform reinforces its commitment to bringing Asian narratives to a global stage. Hyper Knife explored the shadowy side of medicine, where brilliance and obsession spiral into vengeance, while A Shop for Killers delivered tense, character-driven suspense set against a backdrop of assassins and shifting alliances.

Hunter with a Scalpel builds on these foundations, but it raises the stakes with a uniquely personal twist: a daughter’s pursuit of the father who shaped her life in blood. It’s the kind of story that transcends genre formulas, combining the pulse of a thriller with the gut-punch of a family tragedy.

For viewers hungry for dark, uncompromising stories, Hunter with a Scalpel promises a chilling look into how far someone’s willing to go to outrun the past or fall victim to it.

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What the audience can expect from Hunter with a Scalpel

Early reactions from Cannes suggest Hunter with a Scalpel isn’t content to play it safe. Critics who previewed the series highlighted its intense pacing, sharp direction, and willingness to explore moral gray zones that many shows shy away from. Expect a tightly wound narrative where every episode pushes the characters closer to the edge, leaving little room to catch a breath before the next blow lands.

Disney+ aims to pull in not only K-drama fans but also international audiences who crave complex, layered stories about power, loyalty, and the cost of survival. With its sleek production values, psychological weight, and strong performances, Hunter with a Scalpel has all the tools to break through language and cultural barriers, cutting straight into the global thriller conversation.

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Conclusion: a killer move in Disney’s arsenal

Hunter with a Scalpel slices through the noise of crowded streaming lineups, bringing a cold, calculated energy that stands apart. With a story rooted in blood ties, betrayal, and the hunt for a man who was supposed to be dead, this K-drama promises a relentless, edge-of-your-seat experience.

For Disney+, it’s more than just another title launch. It’s part of a deliberate push to claim space in the global thriller market, stacking its platform with dark, uncompromising stories that hit hard across cultures. As Hunter with a Scalpel steps into the international spotlight, it sharpens both its narrative blade and Disney’s reputation for delivering bold, addictive content.

When the first episodes drop on June 16, audiences will be pulled into a deadly game, one where the hunter and the hunted share the same blood. But when the bodies fall and the secrets surface, who will survive the final cut?