You and Everything Else cast and character guide: Who plays whom in the latest Netflix K-drama?

Since its release on Netflix, the South Korean series You and Everything Else has quickly become a global obsession, telling a decades-long story of friendship altered by unspoken rivalry, longing, and grief.

In a shift from Netflix's usual emphasis on high-octane thrillers, the show chronicles a story closer to home, offering intimate character studies as it charts the fragile bond between two women through their teenage years into their 40s. The official synopsis of the show, according to IMDb, reads:

"Two friends linked by warmth and tension grow apart - until one is asked to accompany the other through her final days."

With all fifteen episodes dropping at once, the series lets viewers immerse themselves in the emotional ups and downs of Ryu Eun-jang and Cheon Sang-yeon’s history together. Each episode reveals how adoration creeps toward bitterness, and love lingers even when broken.

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Cast and character guide of You and Everything Else

Kim Go-eun as Ryu Eun-jang

Ryu Eun-jang is raised by a single mother in relative poverty, influencing her self-identity and longing for acceptance. She's very bashful but she also radiates a lively, sociable charm.

Park Ji-hyun as Cheon Sang-yeon

Cheon Sang-yeon's frugal and wealthy but emotionally inaccessible daughter. Her childhood experience has left her emotionally guarded and deeply wounded, especially as she can feel herself gradually being erased in Eun-jang’s shadow.

Kim Gun-woo as Kim Sang-hak

A timid university student and the photography club secretary, Kim Sang-hak is Eun-jang’s confidant. Their bond becomes even more complicated after Sang-yeon also joins the club, setting them up in a delicate emotional triangle.

Seo Jung-yeon as Yun Hyeon-suk

Yun Hyeon-suk, Sang-yeon’s mother, comes into the picture as the girls begin their adolescence and brings another level of complexity to the relationship.

Kim Jae-won as Cheon Sang-hak

Sang-yeon’s older brother, Cheon Sang-hak, befriends the teenager Eun-jang, helping to create a tenuous link between their families.

Lee Sang-yoon as Kyung Seung-ju

Kyung Seung-ju, who becomes a colleague of the women later in life, witnesses the bond slowly coming apart and coming back together.

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The cast on how they prepared their characters in You and Everything Else

In its slow-burning pace, the story of You and Everything Else deepens little by little to show how time, ambition, and loss can both erode and cement ties to others. As per The Korea Times, speaking in a press conference at The Ambassador Seoul- A Pullman Hotel, Kim Go-eun opened up about the first impression that she got when she read the script. She explained:

“I’d only read up to the fourth episode when I first got the script, but episode five kept echoing in my mind — that’s where the drama’s real depth pulled me in.”

Park Ji-hyun shared that trust in the creative team drew her to the project, saying:

“Sang-yeon’s backstory was so compelling, and knowing the director and Kim Go-eun were involved made me want to do it.”

Both physically and emotionally, they got ready for what it would be like to play their characters in You and Everything Else. Kim noted that she had to gain weight to play the soft Eun-jang in her twenties, and Park explained that she lost weight and developed Sang-yeon’s controlled facade. They added:

“It might seem brazen to ask for such a thing, but for Sang-yeon it was about wanting forgiveness before the end.”

Kim added:

“I thought about how I could truly let her go and send her off well. It made me reflect deeply on the feelings of those who remain and the opportunity to provide care and closure for someone I love.”

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What is the plot of Netflix's You and Everything Else?

You and Everything Else is a character-driven series, spanning three decades and mapping the changing emotional landscape of two women linked by love but driven apart by rivalry.

The show places their romance within what critics have called the “melodramatic mundane,” where everyday occurrences are invested with emotional significance by a heightened narrative gaze. Finally, it climaxes in the present when the terminally ill Sang-yeon invites Eun-jang to go with her to be euthanized. This urgent request makes them confront decades of silent hurts and unvanquished affection.

Jo Young-min helms the series with Song Hye-jin as the writer, creating a nontraditional structure of binge-release episodes to permit You and Everything Else's emotional rhythm to crescendo without interruption.

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