Hierarchy Cast & Character Guide

Warning: This article includes minor spoilers for Hierarchy.

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. There have been some great K-dramas on Netflix recently, with Hierarchy now joining the list of original web series released exclusively on the streaming platform. Whether Hierarchy season 2 will happen is difficult to say, but the show was originally described as a limited series.

Hierarchy episode 7’s ending includes a major cliffhanger that could be revisited in a potential season 2. Regardless, Hierarchy tells a mostly self-contained story where the lives of Jung Jae-i, Kang Ha, and Kim Ri-an become intertwined after a scholarship student dies under strange circumstances following months of dealing with bullying. Most of Hierarchy’s main cast consists of young actors who are just now having their first leading roles.

Roh Jeong-eui as Jung Jae-i

Date of Birth: July 31, 2001

Actor: Roh Jeong-eui is a South Korean actress born in Bundang District, Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province. She made her screen debut in 2011 with the film I Am a Dad and the TV series Bachelor’s Vegetable Store. Before her leading role in Hierarchy, Ron Jeong-eui was most known for series such as 18 Again (2020), Our Beloved Summer (2021–2022), and Dear. M. Earlier in 2024, Roh Jeong-eui starred in Netflix’s Badland Hunters movie, whose cast also included Dong-seok.

Character: Jung Jae-i is one of the lead characters in Hierarchy. She is the daughter of Jung Ki-young, head of the Jaeyul Group, and was raised as heir to the throne. When Hierarchy starts, Jae-I has just returned from the United States. To everyone’s surprise, she breaks up with her long-time boyfriend, Ri-an, sparking a mystery about what is behind her decision. She soon becomes close to Kang Ha, whose brother was connected to Jae-in. Although she is friends with a lot of the bullies, Jae-I comes to realize the way they treat scholarship students is wrong.

Lee 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 first 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 transfer student who joins Jooshin due to a scholarship program. As with all scholarship students at Jooshin, Kang Ha is treated awfully by the rich students. However, Kang Ha was ready for it. His transfer to Jooshin was not a coincidence, as Kang Ha wanted to get there to investigate the death of his brother, In-han. Kang Ha’s connection to In-han is unknown to most of them, which makes him a wild card who is ready to face wealthy families and their heirs in this thriller K-drama.

Kim 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 already been working as a model since 2018.

Character: Ri-an is the heir of the Jooshin Group, meaning his family owns the school. As such, Ri-an is by far the richest, most famous student at Jooshin. The school’s entire ecosystem is centered around him, which is why Ri-an is the number one suspect when Kang Ha begins to investigate the death of his brother. Ri-an dated Jae-i for years and has known her since they were six years old. Once Jae-i returns to South Korea and breaks up with him, Ri-an does not know what to do and tries to understand what is happening.

Ji Hye-won as Yoon He-ra

Date of Birth: March 30, 1998

Active Since: 2018

Actor: Ji Hye-won is a South Korean actress born in Seoul. While she made her screen debut in Justice, she is also known for her roles in K-dramas such as It’s Okay To Not 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 is Jae-i are best friends and have known each other since they were kids. However, He-ra has always been in love with Ri-an and decides to use his breakup as an opportunity, leading to a classic K-drama love triangle. She is very greedy and believes nothing is ever enough when it comes to 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.

Lee Won-jung as Lee Woo-jin

Date of Birth: February 14, 2021

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 own studio. Woo-jin hides a major secret, one that puts him and those close to him in a position of 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 that is happening between Jae-i and Kang Ha. As the son of a congressman who is 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 nothing but 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. She, like the rest of the high-class students on the show, 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.

Stream on Netflix