The cast of Hierarchy brings Netflix’s newest K-drama to life with a mixture of established names and rising stars. Hierarchy combines revenge K-drama tropes with a high school story where one student has to go against an entire institution.
Netflix has been treating us to some fantastic K-dramas, and now Hierarchy joins the ranks of original web series exclusively released on the streaming platform. The possibility of Hierarchy season 2 is uncertain, but the show was initially introduced as a limited series.
Hierarchy episode 7’s ending includes a major cliffhanger that could be revisited in a potential season 2.
At any rate, Hierarchy is a series meant to largely standalone wherein the stories of Jung-Jae, Ha-ie, and Ri-an become connected following the strange death of a scholarship student after several months of constant bullying. Most of the cast of Hierarchy are young actors who are just now getting their first leading roles.
| Hierarchy’s Main Cast | Characters |
| Roh Jeong-eui | Jung Jae-i |
| Lee Chae-min | Kang Ha |
| Kim Jae-won | Kim Ri-an |
| Ji Hye-won | Yoon He-ra |
| Lee Won-jung | Lee Woo-jin |
1Roh Jeong-eui as Jung Jae-i
Date of Birth: July 31, 2001
Actress: Roh Jeong-Rui is an actress from South Korea born in Bundang District, Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province. In 2011, she debuted on the screen with the film I Am a Dad and the television series Bachelor’s Vegetable Store.
Before her leading role in Hierarchy, Ron Jeong-Rui was recognized in series like 18 Again (2020), Our Beloved Summer (2021–2022), and Dear. M.
Character: Jung Jae-i is one of the main characters in Hierarchy. She is the daughter of Jung Ki-young, head of the Jaeyul Group, and was born and raised as heir to the throne.
When Hierarchy starts, Jae-I has just returned from the United States. Surprisingly, she scraps her nine-year relationship with her boyfriend Ri-an, bringing a whole mystery to what she had discovered.
She soon befriended Kang Ha, whose brother was an acquaintance of Jae-in. She is also friends with many school bullies but soon enough realizes that it is not right how the school treats their scholar students.
2Lee Chae-min as Kang Ha
Date of Birth: September 15, 2000
Actor: Lee Chae-min is a South Korean actor born in Goyang. Hierarchy is Lee Chae-min’s first leading role, but he has already been in series like Love All Play (2022) and Crash Course in Romance (2023).
His earliest television role was in 2021’s High Class. Lee Chae-min also hosted a KBS music show, Music Bank, in 2024.
Character: Kang Ha is a transferee joining Jooshin due to a scholarship program. Like all scholarship students at Jooshin, Kang Ha is treated awfully by the rich students. But Kang Ha was prepared for it.
His transfer to Jooshin was not a coincidence, for Kang Ha wanted to get there to investigate his brother, In-han’s, death.
3Kim Jae-won as Kim Ri-an
Date of Birth: February 9, 2001
Actor: Kim Jae-won is a South Korean actor born in Seoul. Before Hierarchy, Kim Jae-won’s biggest roles were in Our Blues (2022), Stealer: The Treasure Keeper (2023), and King the Land (2023). His breakout role was in 2021’s Love From Home, although he had worked as a model since 2018.
Character: Ri-an is the heir of the Jooshin Group, the owner of the school that his family owns. As such, Ri-an is by far the richest and most famous student at Jooshin.
Around him, the whole ecosystem of the school is rotated, which is why Ri-an becomes the first suspect when Kang Ha begins to investigate the murder of his brother.
Ri-an dated Jae-i for years; he has known her since he was six. Once Jae-i returned to South Korea and broke up with him, Ri-an was confused about what he did not do and what was going on.
4Ji Hye-won as Yoon He-ra
Date of Birth: March 30, 1998
Actor: Ji Hye-won is a South Korean actress born in Seoul. Although she debuted on the screen in a supporting role in Justice, she is known for her role in dramas like It’s Okay Not To Be Okay, The Sound Of Magic, and My Perfect Stranger.
Interestingly, My Perfect Stranger also featured Lee Won-jung, who plays Woo-jin in Hierarchy.
Character: He-ra is one of the most popular girls at Jooshin High School. She and Jae-i are best friends and have known each other since childhood.
However, He-ra has always loved Ri-an and decides to use his breakup as an opportunity, leading to a classic K-drama love triangle. She is greedy and believes nothing is ever enough regarding money and prestige.
Following a fallout with Jae-i, He-ra becomes one of the show’s antagonists. She is also good friends with Woo-jin and has a good relationship with her family, particularly her father.
5Lee Won-jung as Lee Woo-jin
Date of Birth: February 14, 2001
Actor: Lee Won-jung is a South Korean actor born in San Francisco, California. He is known for his roles in dramas such as New Normal Zine, Live On, Real-Time, and My Perfect Stranger, although his first screen role was in 2019’s Class of Lies.
Lee Won-jung’s performance in My Perfect Stranger granted him the KBS Drama Awards for Best New Actor in 2023.
Character: Woo-jin is Ri-an’s best friend in Hierarchy. He is an artist and lives in his studio. Woo-jin hides a major secret that puts him and those close to him in danger – he is secretly sleeping with Ji-soon, one of Jooshin’s teachers.
Woo-jin and Ji-soon are willing to do whatever it takes to hide their secret, which soon becomes tangled with everything happening between Jae-i and Kang Ha.
As the son of a congressman about to run for the presidency, Woo-jin knows he must stay away from the spotlight as much as possible.
Hierarchy Supporting Cast & Characters
Choi Won-young as Jung Ki-young: Jung Jae-i’s father, head of a major company that rivals the Jooshin Group. He treats his daughter poorly and sees her as an asset to the family and the company.
Kim Tae-jung as Choi Yun-seok: One of the school’s top bullies; he acts as a henchman to Ri-an and becomes one of Kang Ha’s targets once his plan for revenge starts.
Kwon Eun-bin as Ye-ji: One of the popular students at Jooshin. Like the rest of the high-class students on the show, she believes there should be a separation between them and scholarship students.
Yoon Seok-ho as Tae-ho: Kang Ha’s friend from before high school. He attends Jooshin due to his father’s wealth.
Kim Min-chul as Kang In-han: A scholarship student at Jooshin whose death sets the events of Hierarchy in motion. He was the brother of Kang Ha, who spent most of the K-drama trying to find out who killed In-han.
About Hierarchy
Hierarchy (Korean: 하이라키) is a 2024 South Korean teen romance television series written by Chu Hye-mi, directed by Bae Hyeon-jin, and starring Roh Jeong-eui, Lee Chae-min, Kim Jae-won, Ji Hye-won, and Lee Won-jung.
Set in Jooshin High School, which prides itself on providing the best high-quality education service in South Korea and where the top 0.01% of children gather. It was released worldwide on Netflix on June 7, 2024.
Founded by South Korea’s top conglomerate, the Jooshin Group, Jooshin High School is a place where children are chosen from the moment they are born. At this prestigious private high school, an exciting story of love, friendship, revenge, and compassion unfolds among eighteen young people.
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