K-dramas span every sub-genre, but Korean science fiction is a criminally underrated corner of the industry. Some of the best sci-fi shows of all time hail from overseas, but Korean dramas especially have been largely overlooked until recent years. While many of the most recognizable titles are romantic K-dramas, to assume all K-dramas are romances would be a foolish generalization.
What sets science fiction apart from realistic K-dramas is its focus on speculative scenarios, typically rooted in technology, environmental disasters, alien life, etc. Some K-dramas veer more towards fantasy but include sci-fi elements, while others are centered strictly on science— real or imaginary— to ground the plot. From their superb storytelling to imaginative settings, many sci-fi K-dramas deserve more recognition.
20 Black Knight
2023
Black Knight starts with a typical dystopian show set-up: in the near future (2071, in this case), the planet faces irreparable environmental damage. Following a meteor strike, lingering air pollution has made it impossible for the surviving population to travel freely. In order to access oxygen, people rely on couriers called Knights.
The story centers on one such deliveryman, only known as Knight 5-8 (Kim Woo-bin). After 5-8 encounters a young outcast, he has to reckon with the uncomfortable truth— even in a wasteland, social division can be more dangerous than the air.
19 W
2016
Strictly speaking, W is more of a fantasy series than anything else. That said, the drama is actually a fascinating study in metaphysics thanks to its split between reality and the much more abstract comic book world. While some K-dramas are based on webtoons, this show has a webtoon of its own, one that its main character gets pulled into.
On a granular level, W can be defined as an unconventional sci-fi story, but admittedly, it’s a romance first and foremost. Nevertheless, the implication that fictional stories create infinite new realities is equally exciting and horrifying, as any good sci-fi tale should be.
18 Alice
2020
Alice is one of the most divisive time-travel K-dramas of all time, but its impact on modern Korean sci-fi can’t be underestimated. The title refers to an agency that oversees time travel similar to a law enforcement organization. When one agent goes rogue to create a new life in the past, however, the consequences of her actions are unfathomable.
The bulk of the story follows her son, who grows up to be a detective with no knowledge of his mother’s true past. Once he inadvertently discovers Alice, the detective has to team up with an unlikely ally to protect the very fabric of reality.
17 Melting Me Softly
2019
Melting Me Softly takes a uniquely romantic approach to science fiction, but it perfectly toes the line of both genres. The one-of-a-kind K-drama couple is made up of two people who signed up to be frozen for 24 hours. When the experiment goes awry, however, they wake up after 20 whole years.
As the pair try to reacclimate to the world, they quickly discover that their accident has left them with a major side effect: the two must maintain steady heart rates and temperatures or else the main characters' unexpected cryogenic sleep could kill them.
16 Duel
2017
Duel seems like a simple K-drama about doppelgängers at first, but the truth behind its main mystery is confounding. Following the abduction of his daughter, a detective has only one clue to guide his investigation: two identical men were at the scene of the crime.
Yet, before it can fall victim to a gauche evil twin plot, Duel takes a delightfully sinister twist by revealing that the identical men are clones. Despite starting with a simple kidnapping case, the detective finds himself uncovering much more than he bargained for.
15 Memories of the Alhambra
2018
One of Hyun Bin’s best K-dramas, Memories of the Alhambra focuses on an augmented reality game set in the eponymous Spanish palace. Hyun Bin plays Yoo Jin-woo, a CEO trying to track down the game’s creator. After he travels to Spain, Jin-woo discovers the programmer, Jung Se-joo (Park Chan-yeol), is missing.
There’s an underlying romance that makes Memories of the Alhambra more appealing to a broader audience, but Se-joo’s plot is unquestionably more interesting. A bug in the AR game causes real-world damage, blurring the line between fiction and reality to a deadly degree.
14 He Is Psychometric
2019
He Is Psychometric puts a paranormal spin on the classic police procedural. Lee Ahn (Park Jin-young) develops the titular psychometry— the ability to gain insight into a person or object via physical touch— after losing both of his parents in a fire. Ahn uses his superhuman ability to fight crime, but he’s far from a superhero.
Aside from struggling to control his powers, Ahn is still grappling with the cause of his parents’ death, which only becomes more complicated after he meets a woman whose father was framed for arson. He Is Psychometric isn’t necessarily groundbreaking, but it’s an easy and entertaining option for beginner sci-fi fans.
13 Tunnel
2017
Since Tunnel premiered in 2017, it’s become a beloved drama that satisfies fans of crime mysteries, period piece settings, and supernatural plot devices. In 1986, Park Gwang-ho (Choi Jin-hyuk) is a leading detective who ends up in a foot chase with a prolific criminal.
After they pass through a suspicious tunnel, the detective and serial killer both time-slip to 2016. With the unfamiliar technological advances and culture shock, Gwang-ho has to contend with a fearsome K-drama villain while thirty years behind the times.
12 Connect
2022
Connect is a gruesome psychological thriller, but the story is rooted in the sci-fi concept of an immortal, self-healing humanoid named Ha Dong-soo (Jung Hae-in). In the borderline horror K-drama, Dong-soo is trapped by organ harvesters who steal from him, knowing his body will regenerate with time.
When he escapes, the humanoid realizes he can see through his missing eye, which was implanted into a serial killer. On a mission to reclaim his stolen body parts, Dong-soo has to use his strange connection to his missing organs to track down the dangerous criminal.
11 Are You Human?
2018
There are plenty of lovable sci-fi robots in TV history, but Are You Human? takes it to the next level. When chaebol heir Nam Shin (Seo Kang-joon) falls into a coma following an assassination attempt, the CEO's mother secretly sends an AI replica of him— Nam Shin III— to take his place.
The replacement fools nearly everyone, aside from Nam Shin’s longtime bodyguard. As she helps protect the android, Are You Human? asks the unavoidable question: what would happen if a robot fell in love? Beyond its controversial romance, the drama has immense political intrigue to keep viewers on the edge of their seats.
10 Yonder
2022
Yonder is one of the most thought-provoking K-dramas ever released, and much of that intrigue has to do with its sci-fi elements. After the main character’s wife dies, a science reporter gets a mysterious phone call from his deceased lover, inviting him to the titular “Yonder.”
Rather than fall into a supernatural afterlife, the reporter learns his wife uploaded her memories into a virtual reality shortly before her death. As such, he can reunite with her under some strict guidelines, but he has to face difficult philosophical dilemmas regarding the true nature of the soul.
9 Signal
2016
Many shows blend a crime procedural with sci-fi elements, but few are as successful as Signal. In the iconic drama, a detective and criminal profiler in the year 2015 commune with a missing detective from the 1990s.
Together, the three solve cold cases, using knowledge from the past and technology from the future to solve age-old mysteries. Plus, some of the crimes they investigate are based on reality, making Signal an unexpected K-drama based on true events.
8 Dark Hole
2021
Unlike many sci-fi stories that take place after some sort of major inciting event, Dark Hole shows the genesis of a potentially world-ending threat. As a metropolitan detective chases her husband’s killer to Muji City, she stumbles upon a strange phenomenon where people are turned into monsters by inhaling dark smoke.
Alongside a local wrecker driver, the detective has to pursue the man who murdered her husband while chaos abounds. The mutants offer another mystery, since the smoke billowing from sinkholes has no clear explanation.
7 My Holo Love
2020
It’s rare for a sci-fi show to have a totally happy ending, but My Holo Love offers viewers a gratifying yet wholesome resolution. A woman with prosopagnosia begins "dating" a holographic companion, Holo, to remedy her extreme loneliness.
Unbeknownst to her, however, Holo’s reclusive creator begins falling in love with her at the same time. It’s the closest the world has come to a sci-fi rom-com, and it works incredibly well as a feel-good K-drama.
6 Blood Free
2024
Blood Free has many elements of a classic K-drama thriller, but what sets it apart is its staunch focus on the environment. At BF, the eponymous company, researchers and scientists are creating cultured meat products and fish to preserve animals existing in nature.
Yet, the company has a major secret: it’s also creating human organs. The explicit, grotesque scenes in Blood Free make it incredibly disturbing to watch, but that’s precisely what gets its message across: the meat industry is horrific.
5 Train
2020
There are countless stories about parallel universes, but Train is particularly full of heart. In Universe A, detective Seo Do-won (Yoon Shi-yoon) discovers his wife, Han Seo-kyung (Kyung Soo-jin), has been murdered. At his lowest, Do-won discovers an enigmatic train that travels between worlds.
In Universe B, Do-won finds Seo-kyung— or at least a version of her— and commits to finding her murderer at all costs. Yet, as Do-won quickly finds out, there are others who know about the dimension-hopping train, and not everybody has a noble mission like him.
4 Dr. Brain
2021
Dr. Brain, the first Apple TV original K-drama, is a pithy dissection of the cost of scientific discovery, shown through the lens of grief. Koh Sewon (Lee Sun-kyun), the central scientist, hacks into dead brains and performs “syncs” to search their memories.
Yet, as all things do, the brain syncs come at a price. Sewon slowly begins to lose his own sense of identity, as deceased consciousness starts to invade his own brain.
3 Moving
2023
Moving is a gripping superhero story packaged in a heartwarming, family-focused K-drama. Rather than have one character suddenly develop powers, Moving follows three entire families unlocking superhuman abilities.
Whether superheroes count as science fiction is a fervid debate among pedants, but Moving was specifically designed and marketed as a sci-fi action drama. As such, the drama irrefutably deserves its spot on the list— with a small asterisk for genre purists.
2 The Silent Sea
2021
The Silent Sea is undoubtedly one of the most well-known Korean sci-fis, if not the most beloved. Nonetheless, the post-apocalyptic show following a voyage to the moon for potable drinking water is immensely entertaining.
Like the campy B-horror movies of the late 20th century, The Silent Sea’s flaws make it even more enjoyable— if you allow them to. Physics fans should probably skip The Silent Sea, but anyone who can suspend their disbelief should tune in.
1 SF8
2020
When it comes to Korean sci-fi, however, there’s one title that’s leaps and bounds ahead of the pack: SF8. Lauded as the K-drama version of Black Mirror, SF8 is an anthology series that offers social commentary vis-à-vis technology-based plots.
Just like Black Mirror, each episode of SF8 is dramatically different— even more so, given eight different directors worked on the project— but the variety means there’s something for everyone. Whether you’re a superfan or just trying out the genre, SF8 is the best sci-fi K-drama of all time.
