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Pierce Conran

Just six months into the year and our ranking of the best 2025 K-dramas to date could compete with the full annual rankings for many other years.
It has been a strong and diverse few months for K-dramas, and thankfully there appears to be much more to look forward to in the coming months as well.
Below are our picks of the 10 best K-dramas so far this year.
10. The Haunted Palace
Lead cast: Bona, Yook Sung-jae
Final Nielsen rating: 11 per cent


In this breezy and entertaining period mystery drama, a reluctant shaman and a seemingly malevolent dragon spirit in human form join forces as supernatural sleuths around the grounds of the royal palace.
They face off with several colourful spirits, battling with them while trying to get to the bottom of the events that turned them into grudge spirits in the first place.
The main foe proves to be a formidable spirit who has been terrorising generations of the royal family for 100 years. Read our early preview | Midseason recap | Final review
9. Weak Hero Class 2
Lead cast: Park Ji-hoon, Ryeoun, Bae Na-ra, Lee Jun-young


Reluctant school brawler Yeon Si-eun (Park Ji-hoon) enrols in a new and far worse school in this pugilistic action-drama sequel.
The formula largely remains the same, as he forms a new group of friends who face up against a new gang of foes. However, this new season offers a new cast and location, as well as a beefier budget, which are put to great use in the show’s many mano-a-mano showdowns. Read our full review
8. Melo Movie
Lead cast: Park Bo-young, Choi Woo-sik


After tenderly exploring the lives of Korean 20-somethings with Our Beloved Summer, writer Lee Na-eun once again teams up with Choi Woo-shik to do the same for 30-somethings in the thoughtful romantic drama Melo Movie.
Though not quite the slam dunk that its predecessor was, this series about a reluctant director (played by Park Bo-young) and a passionate film critic (Choi Woo-sik) casts a sharp eye on the frustrations, obstacles and desires of young Korean professionals, as seen through the colourful lens of the Korean film industry. Read our full review
7. Friendly Rivalry
Lead cast: Lee Hye-ri


Social divides and bullying at an elite school run by an even more elite clique: we have seen this story many times before, but it has never quite been as edgy and stylish as it is in Friendly Rivalry.
In this snappy tale of scholastic deceit, students pitted against each other are torn between self-interest and empathy.
Lee Hye-ri is a delight as the queen bee who befriends a new student played by Chung Su-bin, but she may have some despicable ulterior intentions. Read our full review
6. The Tale of Lady Ok
Lead cast: Lim Ji-yeon, Choo Young-woo
Final Nielsen rating: 13.6 per cent


Best known to viewers as the head bully in The Glory, Lim Ji-yeon plays the formidable titular character in the generation-spanning period drama The Tale of Lady Ok, rising to the challenge of her first outright leading role in a drama series.
Lim plays a scrappy young woman from the low ranks of society who reinvents herself as a noblewoman and dares to enter the legal profession to help those in need, all the while making sure her identity remains a secret. Read our early preview | Midseason recap | Final review
5. Squid Game season 3
Lead cast: Lee Jung-jae, Lee Byung-hun, Wi Ha-joon


Hwang Dong-hyuk’s masterclass in social dystopia dropped its concluding Korean chapters this month – though rumours abound that a US version is in the works – closing out a phenomenon that has boosted Korean culture’s presence on the world stage.
Fan favourites die, tears are shed, and the last fragments of morality and humanity are crushed underfoot in this brutally dark set of episodes.
Season 3 occasionally struggles with the lulls, but the highs remain tense and devastating as we wait with bated breath for the answers to our questions: who will make it through the games, and will the games end? Read our early preview
4. Nine Puzzles
Lead cast: Kim Da-mi, Son Suk-ku


Director Yoon Jong-bin (The Spy Gone North) and writer Lee Eun-mi (Navillera) team up for the thoroughly glossy and entertaining serial killer mystery Nine Puzzles.
Kim Da-mi is an eccentric profiler suspected by Son Suk-ku’s hardened detective of having killed her police captain uncle years earlier. When more bodies start turning up in the present, they are forced to team up, as a rich and involving serial murder mystery thickens.
Brooding and punchy in equal measure, Nine Puzzles takes hold early and never lets go. Read our early preview | Final review
3. The Trauma Code: Heroes on Call
Lead cast: Ju Ji-hoon


Though forever popular, Korean medical dramas can feel very similar – but not so The Trauma Code: Heroes on Call.
The series crashed through genre fatigue early this year thanks to Ju Ji-hoon’s commanding bravado as an outrageously heroic and charismatic trauma surgeon who swoops in on helicopters to save people, and a fresh and lively style courtesy of director Lee Do-yoon.
This is a show that knows how to please but also understands the limitations of the formula it plays with. Read our full review
2. Way Back Love
Lead cast: Kim Min-ha, Gong Myung


Pachinko star Kim Min-ha proves that her performance in that show was no fluke in the fantastic romantic comedy Way Back Love, in which she plays an effervescent teenager who becomes a depressed college student following the death of her first love.
Her first love, delightfully played by Gong Myung, returns to her as a grim reaper, telling her that she has a week left to live.
Despite the heavy-sounding subject matter, Way Back Love is anything but, offering laughter and well-calibrated sentimentality in spades. The performances play a large part, as does the show’s clever scripting and sharp direction. Read our early preview | Final review
1. When Life Gives You Tangerines
Lead cast: IU, Park Bo-gum, Moon So-ri, Park Hae-joon


Six years after When the Camellia Blooms, writer Lim Sang-choon returns with her crowning achievement, When Life Gives You Tangerines.
This is a sprawling slice-of-life drama about a hardy couple’s life on Jeju Island, played in their youth by IU and Park Bo-gum and in their later years by Moon So-ri and Park Hae-joon.
A deep roster of fantastic character actors makes up the cast, breathing life into Lim’s scintillating dialogue and thematically and emotionally rich narrative canvas.
This is a pure K-drama on the biggest possible canvas and one of the best we’ve ever seen. Read our early preview | Midseason recap | Final review
For the 15 best K-dramas of 2024, read our ranking here.


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Weak Hero Class 2, The Haunted Palace, Way Back Love and Melo Movie also among the Korean dramas that have stood out this year


Weak Hero Class 2, The Haunted Palace, Way Back Love and Melo Movie also among the Korean dramas that have stood out this year.


The 10 best K-dramas of 2025 so far, from Squid Game 3 to When Life Gives You Tangerines

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Weak Hero Class 2, The Haunted Palace, Way Back Love and Melo Movie also among the Korean dramas that have stood out this year

10. The Haunted Palace

Weak Hero Class 2, The Haunted Palace, Way Back Love and Melo Movie also among the Korean dramas that have stood out this year