# Namib (나미브) (TV series)
**Namib** (나미브) is a South Korean television series broadcast on the cable channel ENA from December 23, 2024 to January 28, 2025.[1](https://ktena.co.kr/bbs/board.php?bo_table=drama&wr_id=33) It is a music drama about a fired star producer, Kang Su-hyun, and a discarded long-term idol trainee, Yoo Jin-woo, who meet and pursue their separate goals together.[1](https://ktena.co.kr/bbs/board.php?bo_table=drama&wr_id=33) The title refers to the Namib Desert, and the series frames its two leads as a desert-like woman and an ocean-like young man whose meeting gives the story its shape.[2](https://www.unext.co.jp/en/press-room/namib-2024-12-20)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Original title | 나미브 (Namib)[1](https://ktena.co.kr/bbs/board.php?bo_table=drama&wr_id=33) |
| Network and slot | ENA, Mondays and Tuesdays at 22:00; also a Genie TV original[3](https://asianwiki.com/index.php?redirect=no&title=Namib_%28Korean_Drama%29) |
| Run | December 23, 2024 to January 28, 2025, 12 episodes[1](https://ktena.co.kr/bbs/board.php?bo_table=drama&wr_id=33) |
| Main cast | Go Hyun Jung as Kang Su-hyun; Ryeoun as Yoo Jin-woo; Yoon Sang-hyun as Shim Jun-seok[1](https://ktena.co.kr/bbs/board.php?bo_table=drama&wr_id=33) • [4](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/namib) |
| Production | Directed by Han Sang-jae and Kang Min-gu; written by Eom Sung-min; planned by KT Studio Genie, produced by SLL and Studio Wooyoungsoo[1](https://ktena.co.kr/bbs/board.php?bo_table=drama&wr_id=33) |
| Episode length | About 59 to 62 minutes per episode[5](https://www.thetvdb.com/series/namib/seasons/official/1) |
| Audience ratings | 9.3/10 from 10,747 ratings on Rakuten Viki; 6.4/10 on IMDb[6](https://www.viki.com/tv/40730c-namib) • [4](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/namib) |
## Premise
Kang Su-hyun is a star producer who trains idols with her own philosophy and intuition, and she serves as co-representative of Pandora Entertainment, a company she helped build. For reasons initially unexplained, she is fired from the company. At home she is the breadwinner of her family; her husband, Shim Jun-seok, is a full-time homemaker caring for their son, Shim Jin-woo, who lost his hearing in a childhood car accident. Jun-seok worked as a music producer before quitting to care for his son and household.[7](https://tv.apple.com/ca/show/namib/umc.cmc.ki9lq0xsel9mmzlcaro9onii)
To get back on her feet, Kang Su-hyun begins a new project to create a star and picks Yoo Jin-woo as her trainee. Jin-woo has trained to become an idol for ten years and carries burdens including his parents' debt and his past career; he was dropped by Pandora after failing to make the debut lineups. When he was about to give up on his dream, Su-hyun selected him, and he restarts his training in earnest. Jun-seok's desire to return to music production grows, and Su-hyun tells him to work as Jin-woo's producer.[7](https://tv.apple.com/ca/show/namib/umc.cmc.ki9lq0xsel9mmzlcaro9onii)
The series' own synopsis describes the meeting of the fired star producer and the released long-term trainee as two people moving forward toward their respective goals.[1](https://ktena.co.kr/bbs/board.php?bo_table=drama&wr_id=33) A TVmaze synopsis adds a transactional motive at the start: Su-hyun is offered a severance arrangement involving her longtime trainee, and she initially trains Jin-woo to sell him to another company so she can buy a factory for her disabled child, before coming to help him sincerely.[8](https://www.tvmaze.com/shows/80685/namib)
## Cast
The ENA program page lists the principal characters as Kang Su-hyun, Yoo Jin-woo, Shim Jun-seok, Shim Jin-woo, Jang Hyun-chul, Chris, Hong Jeong-hwa, Oh Bong-gyu, Kyung Ha-na, and Yun Ji-young.[1](https://ktena.co.kr/bbs/board.php?bo_table=drama&wr_id=33) Go Hyun Jung, described by the entertainment news site Soompi as a legendary actress, plays Kang Su-hyun, whose heart is described in the character note as always parched like a desert despite her excellent eye for talent.[1](https://ktena.co.kr/bbs/board.php?bo_table=drama&wr_id=33) • [9](https://www.soompi.com/article/1712552wpp/first-impressions-namib-unveils-the-exploitative-nature-of-the-k-pop-) Ryeoun, described as a rising star, plays Yoo Jin-woo.[9](https://www.soompi.com/article/1712552wpp/first-impressions-namib-unveils-the-exploitative-nature-of-the-k-pop-) Yoon Sang-hyun plays Shim Jun-seok, and Lee Jin-woo plays the son, Shim Jin-woo.[4](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/namib)
## Production and broadcast
The series was planned by KT Studio Genie and produced by SLL and Studio Wooyoungsoo, with direction by Han Sang-jae and Kang Min-gu and a screenplay by Eom Sung-min.[1](https://ktena.co.kr/bbs/board.php?bo_table=drama&wr_id=33) It aired in ENA's Monday and Tuesday 22:00 time slot, which it took over from *Brewing Love* and handed to *Mother and Mom* on March 3, 2025.[3](https://asianwiki.com/index.php?redirect=no&title=Namib_%28Korean_Drama%29) The first episode aired on December 23, 2024 and the twelfth and final episode on January 28, 2025.[5](https://www.thetvdb.com/series/namib/seasons/official/1)
The title and its imagery draw on the Namib Desert, described as the place where desert and ocean meet; the Japanese press release for the series explains the concept as the meeting of a woman living a desolate, desert-like life and a young man drifting like the sea.[2](https://www.unext.co.jp/en/press-room/namib-2024-12-20)
## International distribution
In Japan, U-NEXT streamed the series as a "U-NEXT original" under the title *Namib: Desert and Ocean Dream* (ナミブ ―砂漠と海の夢―), beginning December 23, 2024, the same day as the Korean broadcast, as Japan's first and exclusive flat-rate distribution of the show.[2](https://www.unext.co.jp/en/press-room/namib-2024-12-20) Internationally, the series streamed on Rakuten Viki with subtitles in English, Portuguese, Spanish, and more than a dozen other languages.[6](https://www.viki.com/tv/40730c-namib) [JustWatch](https://www.edgepedia.org/justwatch) also listed free-with-ads and subscription availability on Rakuten Viki in the United States.[4](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/namib)
## Reception
On Rakuten Viki the series holds a 9.3 rating from 10,747 user ratings, while IMDb lists a 6.4 rating from about 1,000 users.[6](https://www.viki.com/tv/40730c-namib) • [4](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/namib) Soompi's first-impressions review, published after two episodes, wrote that the show had already shown potential to become a social commentary on the idol industry as a whole, and described its subject as the meeting of an idol with limitless talent, like an ocean, and a star maker whose luck is as dry as a desert.[9](https://www.soompi.com/article/1712552wpp/first-impressions-namib-unveils-the-exploitative-nature-of-the-k-pop-)
## References
1. [나미브 > 드라마, ENA program page](https://ktena.co.kr/bbs/board.php?bo_table=drama&wr_id=33)
2. [『ナミブ ―砂漠と海の夢―』U-NEXT original distribution press release, U-NEXT corporate (December 20, 2024)](https://www.unext.co.jp/en/press-room/namib-2024-12-20)
3. [Namib (Korean Drama), AsianWiki](https://asianwiki.com/index.php?redirect=no&title=Namib_%28Korean_Drama%29)
4. [Namib streaming information, JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/namib)
5. [나미브 Season 1 episode list, TheTVDB](https://www.thetvdb.com/series/namib/seasons/official/1)
6. [Namib, Rakuten Viki](https://www.viki.com/tv/40730c-namib)
7. [Namib, Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/ca/show/namib/umc.cmc.ki9lq0xsel9mmzlcaro9onii)
8. [Namib, TVmaze](https://www.tvmaze.com/shows/80685/namib)
9. [First Impressions: "Namib" Unveils The Exploitative Nature Of The K-Pop Industry, Soompi (December 29, 2024)](https://www.soompi.com/article/1712552wpp/first-impressions-namib-unveils-the-exploitative-nature-of-the-k-pop-)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › International serial drama and telenovelas › East Asian drama series › Korean contemporary drama › Medical, legal, and workplace series*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 18, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 18, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license