In a world where survival usually means staying quiet, two women choose to fight back through crime. As You Stood By, the South Korean drama now tearing through Netflix’s global Top 10, turns domestic violence into a detonator, pushing the psychological thriller into darker, more intimate territory. Directed by Lee Jung-rim and adapted from Hideo Okuda’s Naomi to Kanako, it pulses with the quiet rage of lives pushed past their limit.
Anchored by Jeon So-nee, Lee You-mi, Jang Seung-jo, and Lee Moo-saeng, the series blurs friendship, complicity, and revenge until the lines disappear completely. Released globally on November 7, 2025, it has shot into the Top 10 within days – and early reactions suggest it may be the year’s most emotionally explosive K-drama.
All the key details about As You Stood By
- Title: As You Stood By
- Original title: 당신이 죽였다 (*Dang-sin-i Jug-yeoss-da*)
- Format: Series
- Runtime: 1 season / 10 episodes
- Genre: Crime Drama / Psychological Thriller
- Country: South Korea
- Language: Korean
- Year: 2025
- Director: Lee Jung-rim
- Main cast: Jeon So-nee, Lee You-mi, Jang Seung-jo, Lee Moo-saeng
- Produced by: StudioS, Ghost Studio, Mizi Film
What happens in As You Stood By?
The story follows Eun-su (Jeon So-nee), a quiet saleswoman, and Hui-su (Lee You-mi), her best friend trapped in an abusive marriage. When Hui-su’s husband, Jin Pyo (Jang Seung-jo), turns violent, the women form a pact to kill him — and that decision binds them in blood and guilt.
After the crime, a mysterious man named So-baek (Lee Moo-saeng) claims to know their secret. As suspicion grows, friendship turns fragile, and survival becomes a matter of silence. The series examines loyalty, trauma, and how far love can stretch before it breaks.
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Who’s in the cast?
Jeon So-nee anchors the series with a quiet, devastating intensity, building on the emotional precision she brought to Our Blooming Youth and When My Love Blooms. Lee You-mi, after breaking through globally with Squid Game and All of Us Are Dead, delivers a haunting, unpredictable turn as a woman who seems to unravel and harden at the same time. Jang Seung-jo, familiar from The Good Detective and Strangers Again, and Lee Moo-saeng, unforgettable in The World of the Married and The Glory, bring an undercurrent of tension that never lets up. Together, the four create a chemistry that turns a crime thriller into an emotional battleground, where survival, guilt, and the need for redemption collide in every scene.
Is it based on a true story?
No. It is based on Hideo Okuda’s fictional novel Naomi to Kanako, reimagined in a Korean context that explores modern social and moral issues. While the events are fictional, the emotional landscape — women trapped in silence, the cost of justice, and the moral corrosion of abuse — feels painfully real. The adaptation reshapes the original’s Tokyo setting into the high-rise isolation of modern Seoul, giving it a distinctly Korean heartbeat and cultural weight.
As You Stood By – Our review
As You Stood By doesn’t chase comfort. It leans into raw emotion and unvarnished truth, using darkness not as shock but as the natural language of people pushed too far. The passion here isn’t romantic – it’s the instinct to survive, to hold on to the one person who understands your pain. The series is shot with an eye for nuance: trembling hands, averted glances, soft lies spoken with eyes full of fear. Viewers on Korean forums have already dubbed it the next The Glory, praising how its realism and restraint make the horror of abuse feel chillingly authentic.
What makes the show hit so hard is how it pulls you in. You’re not just watching Eun-su and Hui-su cross lines they never imagined – you feel the weight behind every step. And if you’ve ever lived through a dark moment or supported someone through theirs, this story will touch something deep inside you: a memory, an old bruise, or simply gratitude for the people who stood by you when everything else felt broken.
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Where was it filmed?
Filmed in Seoul, Busan, and Incheon between late 2024 and spring 2025. The mix of glossy cityscapes and shadowy interiors mirrors the story’s duality of surface and secret.
When is As You Stood By coming out on streaming?
As You Stood By streams on Netflix from November 7, 2025. Watch on Netflix.
Watch the trailer
In the meantime, here’s the trailer.
