We Are All Trying Here

Synopsis

The "Group of Eight" is a gang of filmmaker friends who met as juniors and seniors in their university film club. They've since built successful careers in the industry—all except Hwang Dong-man. An aspiring director who hasn't debuted in twenty years. To mask it, he overcompensates by dominating conversations and lobbing harsh critiques at everyone. He tries to pass as a mentor, but his constant chatter wears people down. This behavior causes his friends to become frustrated with him. Despite Hwang's struggles with his perceived failure, his friends continue to support him.

Cast and characters

Main

Koo Kyo-hwan as Hwang Dong-man

Among the eight members of the film club, he alone has not debuted and has been preparing for his directorial debut for 20 years. The other members he started with are later successful film directors and producers. But Dong-man is still in the same place. Then, he meets an overwhelmed producer, Byeon Eun-ah, who helps him rediscover his self-worth.

Go Youn-jung as Byeon Eun-ah

Han Si-a as young Eun-ah

The production director of Choi Film. Nicknamed "Dokki (Axe)" for her brutal script critiques, Eun-ah seems unshakably composed in every situation. Underneath, she battles her own trauma and often suffers from emotional overload.

Oh Jung-se as Park Gyeong-se

A successful director of Kopark Film with at least five films released worldwide, he is also a member of the "Group of Eight", a well-known film industry gathering. Though technically an adult, he remains unfinished, still growing into himself. His success looks complete, yet he strives relentlessly to validate his worth, pushing upward or bracing against a fall. He maintains a childlike antagonism toward Dong-man while harboring a deep inferiority complex toward him.

Kang Mal-geum as Ko Hye-jin

Gyeong-se's wife, who is the CEO of Kopark Film. She began her career as a journalist but quit the film industry after growing to hate digging into other people's tragedies. The "Group of Eight" drains her—not just Dong-man, whose reputation for trouble precedes him—but her own husband, too, a man ruled by his inferiority complex.

Park Hae-joon as Hwang Jin-man

Dong-man's older brother, who is a talented writer. He won a literary contest with a poem out of nowhere. After an unexpected win in a poetry contest, he quit his job. Unsure if he could live as a writer, he entered graduate school to become a professor and write poetry for the rest of his life—but nothing went as planned. Now he just tries to manage his unstable life, getting through each day with the help of alcohol.

Supporting

Jeon Bae-soo as Park Young-soo

Shim Hee-seop as Lee Jun-hwan

Park Ye-ni as Choi Hyo-jin

Bae Myung-jin as Lee Gi-ri

Jo Min-kook as Woo Seung-tae

Yeon Woon-kyung as Ga Su-ja

Eun-ah's grandmother

Kim Jong-hoon as Ma Jae-young

Park Soo-young as Representative Park

Kim So-yul as Sae-bom

Jo Soo-yeon as Im Na-young

Special appearances

Sung Dong-il as Noh Gang-sik

Top actor

Kim Dong-wook as Jeong-min

Gang-sik's junior

Production

Development

Cha Young-hoon, who helmed When the Camellia Blooms (2019), and Welcome to Samdal-ri (2023–2024), was attached to direct. The script is written by Park Hae-young, who previously wrote My Mister (2018), and the production is handled by Studio Phoenix, SLL, and Studio Flow.

Casting

In April 2025, Koo Kyo-hwan, Go Youn-jung, Kang Mal-geum, Oh Jung-se were reportedly cast to lead the series. Han Sun-hwa was cast in September 2025, and Park Hae-joon was reportedly considering it.

JTBC confirmed Koo Kyo-hwan, Go Youn-jung, Oh Jung-se, Kang Mal-geum, Park Hae-joon, Bae Jong-ok, Han Sun-hwa, and Choi Won-young as the principal cast of the series through its official website.

Filming

Principal photography began in October 2025.

Release

We Are All Trying Here premiered on JTBC on April 18, 2026, and aired every Saturday and Sunday. It is also available for streaming on Netflix.