10 Best K-Dramas Of 2024

Summary

• 2024’s K-dramas offer a mix of genres and stellar performances that make them must-watch for all genre fans.
• Shows like
  Parasyte: The Grey
  and
  Gyeongseong Creature
  highlight horror elements and deep storytelling.
• Queen of Tears
  stands out as TvN’s most-watched K-drama of all time, showcasing an incredible romance and unforgettable performances.

From record-breaking romances to revenge dramas full of incredible twists and turns, 2024’s best K-dramas have been nothing short of entertaining. Though some of these upcoming 2024 K-dramas have been well-anticipated successes, others have been a big surprise, a welcome breath of fresh air and have proven that a Netflix release isn’t crucial to a K-drama’s international success. Now, with more investment in international K-dramas releases than ever, the future of K-dramas is looking more and more exciting.

2024’s K-dramas are some of the best K-dramas of all time and are all just as bingeworthy as each other, despite their different genres and stories. Career-best performances, tightly woven storylines, and incredible K-drama couples are just some of the keys to their individual successes and show the very best of what K-dramas have to offer. These 2024 K-dramas make bold choices to deliver hours of entertainment that make time feel it was well spent and solidify them as must-watches for all K-drama fans.

10 Parasyte: The Grey

Starring Jeong So-nee, Koo Kyo-hwan & Lee Jung-hyun

Parasyte: The Grey is one of several 2024 K-dramas that delves into the meaning of life and does so through spectacular visuals and great acting. Parasyte: The Grey is based on the Japanese Manga Parasyte and is the third live-action installment of the series, following Parasyte Part 1 (2014,) Parasyte Part 2 (2015,) and the anime Parasyte: The Maxim (2014). Parasyte: The Grey extends Parasyte‘s universe by exploring the parasytes’ effects outside of Japan through a deftly written script that mixes horror with deeper meanings.

Parasyte: The Grey
is at its best when leaning into its horror elements, which make for some thrilling moments within the K-drama.

Parasyte: The Grey may have roots in manga and anime, but there is no need to have seen the original to appreciate its story. Parasyte: The Grey is at its best when leaning into its horror elements, which make for some thrilling moments within the K-drama. The CGI is generally well done and makes the absurd parasytes feel alive. Though thrills are the best part of Parasyte: The Grey, the build-up of Jeong Su-in’s (Jeong So-nee) character deepens the show’s emotional connection and takes it one step further as a great watch.

9 Gyeongseong Creature

Starring Park Seo-joon & Han So-hee

Despite the majority of the horror K-drama’s first season airing at the tail end of 2023, Gyeongseong Creature‘s second part was a great way to kick off 2024’s K-drama program with an intense historical K-drama that focused on real-life atrocities done by the Imperial Japanese Unit 731. Much like Parasyte: The Grey, Gyeongseong Creature is a horror at heart but balances several genres and plotlines to elevate it beyond just a story full of gore.

Gyeongseong Creature is not without its faults, as some elements of the story felt rushed, and the first few episodes ran a little slower than was needed. Despite this, Gyeongseong Creature has an all-star cast and incredible production value that makes the romantic and political elements thrive on-screen and make for a wholly enjoyable watch. Plus, Gyeongseong Creature‘s upcoming second season looks to completely change its foundation by moving from 1945 to the present day, which makes the anticipation for Gyeongseong Creature season 2 all the more exciting.

8 Flex X Cop

Starring Ahn Bo-hyun & Park Ji-hyun

Flex X Cop is a welcomed change of pace as it focuses more on comedy rather than the thrills of the dramatic, but still finds time to inject heart-wrenching emotion into some of its more intense moments to create an overall well-balanced K-drama. Ahn Bo-hyun takes the helm as Jin Yi-soo and does a great job at showing the different sides of the chaebol cop, and works effortlessly with Park Ji-hyun, who gives a reliable performance that gives Flex X Cop the grounding it needs.

Flex X Cop could have quite easily strayed into outlandish territory yet restrained itself by humanizing the initially eccentric Jin Yi-soo. Plus, Flex X Cop is full of many well-developed storylines that allow the crime K-drama to maintain a great pace while also engaging in a tonal shift that feels cohesive to the lighthearted tone that it initially aired with. Flex X Cop has already been renewed for a second season, and, seeing just how much the series is capable of already, the next installment looks to be just as gripping as the first.

7 Death’s Game

Starring Seo In-guk & Park So-dam

Death’s Game has one of the most star-studded casts in K-drama history thanks to the ever-shifting appearance of its leading character, Cho Yi-jae (Seo In-guk), who has to live the lives of 12 others and avoid dying to beat Death (Park So-dam) and her own game. Though Seo In-guk and Park So-dam have very little screen time due to Death’s Game‘s concept, their performances are incredibly impactful. Alongside them, an array of well-known faces within the K-drama industry band together to portray a dark yet human story that delves deep into the meaning of life.

Death’s Game
is not afraid to twist the story at each turn, leaving what could have been a very disjointed story seamless and well-anticipated.

Though the first part of Death’s Game aired in December 2023, the second part aired on January 5, 2024, and certainly made the wait worth it, thanks to a devastating cliffhanger. Death’s Game is not afraid to twist the story at each turn, leaving what could have been a very disjointed story seamless and well-anticipated. Death’s Game has even earned itself an impressive 8.5 rating on IMDb, making it one of the highest-rated K-dramas of 2024 so far.

6 Pyramid Game

Starring Kim Ji-yeon (Bona), Jang Da-ah & Ryu Da-in

Since its release, Pyramid Game has been dubbed Squid Game‘s perfect replacement. The titular game that sees violent bullying legitimized and the commentary on social class that comes with this twisted popular vote bore many similarities to the popular Netflix thriller. However, Pyramid Game is much more than Squid Game‘s replacement and is easily one of the best K-dramas of 2024 thanks to its twisted premise that constantly shifts the narrative in unexpected ways.

Pyramid Game‘s almost entirely female cast is the biggest selling point. Unlike most popular K-dramas that are full of big names, the majority of Pyramid Game‘s cast are fresh faces in the genre. This includes Jang Da-ah, who makes her on-screen debut as the antagonist Baek Ha-rin, yet gives a breathtaking performance for a rookie actress. Every character in Pyramid Game is easy to define but hard to predict, and the ever-changing voting system that enables compliance rather than defiance is horrifying but thrilling to watch, making Pyramid Game a K-drama that is one of 2024’s must-watches.

5 Wonderful World

Starring Kim Nam-joo, Cha Eun-woo, Kim Kang-woo & Lim Se-mi

Wonderful World marks actress Kim Nam-joo’s (Misty, My Husband Got A Family) return to television after a six-year hiatus, and she certainly did not disappoint. Wonderful World is a revenge-thrillerfull of complexities that sees Kim Nam-joo give an exceptional performance as Eun Soo-hyun, who is quickly thrust into a world of mystery following the death of her son. The series also stars Cha Eun-woo, who sheds his typecast to give an equally layered performance that adds further intrigue to its story.

Wonderful World deftly mixes mystery and suspense to keep the audience guessing. The show also explores heavy subjects through themes of grief, guilt, and redemption. Like many of 2024’s best K-dramas, Wonderful World keeps up with the momentum it has built to create a K-drama that is an interesting and heartbreaking addition to this year’s K-drama line-up.

4 Marry My Husband

Starring Park Min-young, Na In-woo, Lee Yi-kyung, Song Ha-yoon & Lee Gi-kwang

2024’s K-dramas started on a high note thanks to Marry My Husband‘s unique twist on the popular revenge genre. Revenge K-dramas are one of the most beloved K-drama genres, and Marry My Husband does well to stand out in an oversaturated landscape as something completely new, while also giving the same amount of thrills that audiences have come to love from the genre. Marry My Husband‘s intoxicating mix of fantasy, comedy, romance, and revenge is hard not to watch all in one sitting, as new information is brought to light.

Though
Marry My Husband
‘s later episodes lost steam compared to the rest of the series, the outstanding performances from
Marry My Husband
‘s main cast members make up for it.

Though Marry My Husband‘s later episodes lost steam compared to the rest of the series, the outstanding performances from Marry My Husband‘s main cast members make up for it. Song Ha-yoon’s performance as the show’s antagonist, Jung Soo-min, was a particular standout, making Marry My Husband‘s revelations all the more shocking. On the other hand, Park Min-young’s portrayal of leading character Kang Ji-won’s new-found second chance at life grounded Marry My Husband and made it incredibly entertaining to watch from start to finish.

3 Lovely Runner

Starring Kim Hye-yoon & Byeon Woo-seok

Lovely Runner is one of the biggest surprise successes of 2024. One major problem in Lovely Runner‘s casting department meant that this time-travel K-drama almost never saw the light of day. Despite issues plaguing the production, its final result is magical and was certainly worth the wait. According to Soompi, in its premiere week alone, Lovely Runner ranked No. 1 on the streaming platform Rakuten Viki in over 130 countries, proving that not all K-dramas need a Netflix release to find overwhelming international success.

On the outside, Lovely Runner‘s concept seems nothing more than an avid K-pop fan who tries to save her favorite idol from an untimely death, but within moments, the show shuns that idea and instead lays the groundwork for a drama that is full of sincerity and great chemistry between Kim Hye-yoon and Byeon Woo-seok. Along with this, Lovely Runner‘s nostalgic look at the past evokes a great sense of warmth within the time-travel K-drama and can be attributed as one of its best features and reasons for its resounding success.

2 A Shop For Killers

Starring Lee Dong-wook & Kim Hye-jun

Following the success of K-dramas such as 2023’s Moving, Hulu’s (Disney+ for non-American audiences) K-dramas continue to impress with the release of A Shop For Killers in January 2024. A Shop For Killers quite literally starts with a bang in a high-tension first episode that throws audiences straight into Jeong Ji-an’s (Kim Hye-jun) new world as she uncovers her uncle Jeong Jin-man (Lee Dong-wook)’s dark secrets following his death. A Shop For Killers never loses momentum and only continues to build from its incredible opening.

The performance of K-drama veteran Lee Dong-wook is a standout in this series, with Kim Hye-jun also being an excellent vantage point for the viewers as the new face in this strange world. A Shop For Killers deviates from a traditional K-drama narrative to focus on a tightly wound, character-driven story that replaces romance with incredible fight scenes and a compelling storyline to back them up. Switching between the past and present can deafen a story, yet A Shop For Killers expertly balances this as one of 2024’s best K-dramas.

1 Queen of Tears

Starring Kim Soo-hyun & Kim Ji-won

Though there have been many great K-dramas in 2024, none have had the same impact as Queen of Tears. Queen of Tears broke Crash Landing on You‘s record and became TVN’s most-watched K-drama of all time, with a Nielsen viewing figure of 24.8% for the finale. It has remained in the top 10 globally as one of Netflix’s most-watched non-English shows for a whopping 15 weeks (as of June 16, 2024, via Netflix). Queen of Tears‘ overwhelming success can be attributed to many things. However, there is one reason that the series has attracted so much attention this year.

There is no doubt that Hong Hae-in and Baek Hyun-woo’s relationship will go down as one of the best K-drama romances of all time. Kim Ji-won and Kim Soo-hyun’s career-best performances as the turbulent married couple and their incredible on-screen chemistry make every moment they are on-screen together absolutely magical and make what could have been a romantic fantasy incredibly real. Queen of Tears may not have stuck its ending, but its build-up was so thrilling that it’s hard not to consider this K-drama the best K-drama of 2024.

Source: Soompi, Netflix