The Top 5 Best Historical K-Dramas You Can Ever Watch—According To Fans
Ranker is a popular polling website that has a ranked list for practically everything you could think of. Recently, a poll was created for fans to vote for their favorite historical Korean dramas that they considered the best of the genre.
While everyone has their own tastes, these are the top 5 series that were chosen! Hopefully, it can help you find a place to start.
5. Jewel in the Palace
This K-Drama is based on a true story about a legendary woman in a male-dominated world, Jang Geum (Lee Young Ae), who later became the first woman to become supreme royal physician. Despite her low-class status, Jang Geum overcame many trials, and we see her journey to become the royal cook, then the royal physician, and finally the King’s personal physician.
4. 100 Days My Prince
Lee Yul (EXO‘s D.O.), the Crown Prince of Joseon, is a cold, lonely perfectionist and disregards most people. He passes a law stating that all Korean citizens of marriageable age must be married before 28. Hong Shim (Nam Ji Hyun) is an intelligent, independent woman who supports her and her father, a doctor. After an attempted assassination, Lee Yul is severely injured and ends up in Hong Shim’s house. He now has amnesia, not remembering who he is, and wanders around as a commoner. Due to the law, Hong Shim, the oldest unmarried woman in her village, must marry Lee Yul to escape punishment.
3. Six Flying Dragons
This series tells about the ambition, rise, and fall of everyone surrounding Yi Bang Won (Yoo Ah In). Yi Bang Won was the third king of the Joseon Dynasty (King Taejong) and King Sejong the Great’s father. This tells the story of how he helped his father, King Taejo, establish the Joseon Dynasty.
2. Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo
When a total eclipse of the sun occurs, Go Ha Jin (IU) is transported back in time to the Goryeo Dynasty during King Taejo’s (Jo Min Ki‘s) rule. She wakes up as 16-year-old Hae Soo in the house of 8th Prince Wang Wook (Kang Ha Neul), who is married to her cousin. She soon becomes friends with all the princes until she meets the rejected 4th Prince, Wang So (Lee Joon Gi). Even though she knows she shouldn’t get involved in palace issues, she accidentally becomes a key piece as several princes fall in love with her.
1. Mr. Queen
Jang Bong Hwan (Choi Jin Hyuk) is a South Korean chef who rose to become the chef for the Blue House [where the President lives]. However, in an accident, he finds himself in the body of Queen Soyong (Shin Hye Sun), many years in the past. Queen Soyong’s husband is the reigning monarch, King Cheoljong (Kim Jung Hyun), but is controlled by his mother, Grand Queen Dowager Sunwon (Bae Jong Ok). She faces competition from her brother, Kim Jwa Guen (Kim Tae Woo), who also wishes to control him. Queen Soyong will discover that her husband isn’t quite as meek as she thought and holds several secrets of his own.