Cha Eun-woo takes on darker K-drama Wonderful World — and 4 more K-thrillers to catch in 2024

Romance dramas are often part and parcel of any K-drama enthusiast's watchlist, but what if you want something grittier?

We've been spoiled for choices in recent months with darker shows — from A Shop for Killers, which follows the young niece (Kim Hye-jun) of a retired mercenary (Lee Dong-wook) in the weapons trade who tries to escape an assassination, to Vigilante, which follows a star police academy student (Nam Joo-hyuk) by day and titular vigilante by night.

Here are five more shows — one currently airing and four to be released throughout the year — to get your thriller fix.

Wonderful World

New K-drama Wonderful World follows Eun Soo-hyun, a psychology professor and author — played by veteran actress Kim Nam-joo in her return to the small screen after six years — whose world turns upside down when her son is unjustly killed

Taking matters into her own hand, she decides to punish the person responsible for her son's death by herself and lands in prison.

Once out, she gets involved with other people with similar struggles and tries to solve their own mysterious cases. One of the people she meets is the mysterious Kwon Seon-yul (Cha Eun-woo), a man from a wealthy background living a rough life after losing his parents.

During a Feb 29 press conference, Eun-woo, 26, shared his experience in a darker role as compared to the "sweet" characters he usually portrays.

"To portray this character who chose this more rugged and rough life, in terms of physicality, I tried to work out a little bit more," he said. "And, as for the hairstyle, it couldn't be too polished."

He added that he tried to put himself in the shoes of the character and imagine where he'd be if he had gone through the same events as Seon-yul, going with a "raw and natural" feel instead of a thought-out approach to characterisation.

Wonderful World also stars Kim Kang-woo and Im Se-mi and started airing March 1 on Disney+.

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Blood Free

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Blood Free follows Ju Ji-hoon (Princess Hours, Kingdom) as Woo Chae-woon, a bodyguard and former soldier haunted by the failures of his past.

He gets hired to protect Yoon Ja-yu, played by Han Hyo-joo (Moving, Masquerade), the CEO of the controversial BF Group that dominates the lab-grown meat market. Chae-woon realises that Ja-yu is the survivor of a tragedy from his past.

Blood Free is set to air April 10 on Disney+.

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Unmasked

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Coming out in the second half of 2024 on Disney+ is Unmasked, a K-drama that follows a team of investigative journalists fighting for their careers after broadcasting a controversial story.

They are given a chance to redeem their reputations with a seemingly impossible task — solve the cold case of a famous actor who disappeared 20 years ago.

Unmasked stars Kim Hye-soo (Under the Queen's Umbrella, Signal), Jung Sung-il (The Glory) and Joo Jong-hyuk (Extraordinary Attorney Woo, Yumi's Cells).

The Tyrant

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In The Tyrant, South Korean and US intelligence agencies must work together as they try to recover a deadly virus created in the so-called Tyrant Project which gets stolen during a handover process.

While it was initially supposed to be a movie, the four-part spy thriller K-drama stars Kim Seon-ho (Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha, Start-Up) as Director Choi of the Tyrant Project and Cha Seung-won (One Ordinary Day, Bodyguard) as Lim Sang-won, a former agent-turned-mercenary tasked with eliminating those involved with the project.

Joining them is Kim Kang-woo (The Childe, Wonderful World) as US intelligence agent Paul.

It is scheduled for release on Disney+ in the second half of 2024.

Gangnam B-Side

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Gangnam B-Side is a crime thriller following pariah detective Kang Dong-woo (Jo Woo-jin) who has been demoted. He starts investigating mysterious disappearances of women in the Gangnam district of Seoul after his own daughter's friend goes missing.

The series marks the reunion of Woo-jin, 46, and his Hard Hit (2021) co-star Ji Chang-wook, who plays the mysterious Gangnam broker Ho Yoon-gil in Gangnam B-Side.

Ha Yoon-kyung (Extraordinary Attorney Woo, Hospital Playlist) also stars in the K-drama as junior prosecutor Min Seo-jin.

The drama will be released on Disney+ in the second half of 2024.

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drimac@asiaone.com

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