General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20264 min read

Chimera (키마이라)

Chimera (키마이라; revised romanization Kimaira) is a 2021 South Korean mystery thriller television series broadcast on the cable channel OCN, in which a detective, a criminal profiler, and a surgeon investigate a serial murder and bombing case that repeats a crime from 35 years earlier.¹^•² It ran for 16 episodes from October 30 to December 19, 2021, airing Saturdays and Sundays at 22:30.¹

Key fact	Detail
Original title	키마이라 (Kimaira)
Network and run	OCN, October 30 to December 19, 2021, 16 episodes, Saturdays and Sundays at 22:30¹
Director / writer	Kim Do-hoon / Lee Jin-mae¹^•³
Main cast	Park Hae-soo (Cha Jae-hwan), Claudia Kim, credited as Soo-hyun (Eugene Hathaway), Lee Hee-joon (Lee Joong-yeop)¹^•⁴
Premise	The 1984 Chimera incident, a serial murder and explosion crime, recurs 35 years later in 2019²
IMDb rating	7.4/10 from about 708 user ratings⁵
Peak Nielsen rating	2.1 percent nationwide average on November 28, 2021, the drama's all-time high⁶
Streaming (US)	Rakuten Viki and The Roku Channel, free with ads⁷

Spoilers

Premise

The story centers on the Chimera incident, a serial murder and explosion crime that shook South Korea in 1984, which takes place again thirty-five years later in 2019. The killer is called Chimera, after the monster of Greek myth with the head of a lion, the body of a goat, and the tail of a snake that shoots fire through its throat.² An explosion in the past led to the serial murder case known as the Chimera case, and a similar explosion occurs 35 years later.⁵

Three principal characters pursue the truth for different reasons. Cha Jae-hwan (Park Hae-soo) is an enthusiastic violent crimes detective. Eugene Hathaway (Claudia Kim, credited as Soo-hyun) was adopted by parents in the United States as a child, once worked for the FBI, and now works as a criminal profiler. Lee Joong-yeop (Lee Hee-joon) was adopted by parents in England as a child, became a surgeon, and returned to South Korea, where he becomes involved in the mysterious case.¹ Supporting cast includes Cha Joo-young as the reporter Kim Hyo-kyung, Nam Gi-ae as Cha Eun-soo, Kang Shin-il as Han Joo-seok, and Woo Hyun as Baek Seung-gwan.⁸

Production and broadcast

The series was directed by Kim Do-hoon, whose earlier work includes The Moon Embracing the Sun, and written by Lee Jin-mae, who wrote Ex-Girlfriend's Club.³ Its early working title was "Chemistry", and it took over OCN's Saturday and Sunday 22:30 time slot from Dark Hole.¹ The Thai-language rights were licensed to Viu.⁹

Casting context. The series drew attention for its lead, Park Hae-soo, who had just appeared as contestant number 218 in the Netflix hit Squid Game; the South China Morning Post noted in November 2021 that he was already back on screens leading Chimera.³

Reception

According to Nielsen Korea, the episode broadcast on November 28, 2021 reached an average nationwide rating of 2.1 percent, the highest of the drama's run to that point and its all-time high.⁶ A CJ ENM investor summary compiled with Nielsen Korea data lists the series' peak viewership rating as 1.4 percent, a lower figure than the Soompi report of the November 28 episode.¹⁰ On IMDb the series holds a 7.4/10 rating from about 708 votes, with individual episode ratings rising over the season, from 8.0 for episode 1 to 9.1 for episodes 13 and 14.⁵^•¹¹ On the Japanese review site Filmarks it scores 3.7 out of 5 from 562 reviews.¹²

Distribution

Streaming availability varies by country. In the United States the series can be watched on Rakuten Viki and The Roku Channel, free with ads; in South Korea it is on TVING, in Japan on FOD, and in Canada and Germany on Rakuten Viki.⁷^•² In July 2023, CJ ENM and SBS announced an agreement to showcase Korean thriller series including Chimera to Australian audiences.¹³

References

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026