When we first meet Han Jun-hee (played by Jeon Yeo-been) in A Time Called You, she’s grieving her boyfriend Gu Yeon-jun (Ahn Hyo-seop), who is presumed dead after disappearing in a plane crash a year earlier. But quickly, things become far more complex – and intriguing – when Jun-hee starts inadvertently travelling back in time to 1998, finding herself in the body of teenager Kwon Min-ju (who looks exactly like her) and befriending classmate Nam Si-heon (who looks exactly like Yeon-jun).
What follows is a looping web of romance, mystery, crime and a breaking away from the rules of time and metaphysics as we know them. Following each strand over 12 episodes, A Time Called You becomes an engaging, bittersweet drama that keeps you guessing for each twist – whether big or small – that it takes.
Finished watching the whole series and wondering what to invest your time in next? From time-travelling romances, to supernatural crime-solvers, to shows with alien activity, here’s five more K-dramas to queue up.
Signal
This 2016 fantasy-thriller K-drama took inspiration from both the 2000 film Frequency and a host of real-life crimes in Korea, including the Hwaseong serial murders committed by Lee Chun-jae. The series follows criminal profiler Park Hae-young (played by Taxi Driver’s Lee Je-hoon), who solves cases via a walkie-talkie unbounded by normal rules of time. Signal won multiple awards after it premiered and remains a gripping watch whether you’re viewing for the first time or revisiting it.
Where to watch: Stream it on Netflix, Prime Video or iQIYI
Go Back Couple
In this 2017 K-drama – sometimes known as Couple On The Backtrack – married couple Choi Ban-do (Son Ho-jun) and Ma Jin-joo (Jang Na-ra) are struggling to rediscover the happiness they once felt together. Just as they’re about to reach their limit and get a divorce, they wake up as 20-year-old students in college and get the chance for a do-over, changing their futures with each new choice they make.
Where to watch: Stream it on Netflix, Viki, Viu or iQIYI
See You In My 19th Life
Imagine being able to remember each of your past lives as you move into the next. That’s a skill that Ban Ji-eum (Shin Hye-sun) has as she experiences 1,000 years of reincarnation over 18 different existences in See You in My 19th Life. Until her 18th go-around, she keeps her many pasts as just that but, when her latest life gets cut short in an accident, she decides to find her old childhood sweetheart in their new bodies.
Where to watch: Stream it on Netflix
Still 17
When Woo Seo-ri (Shin Hye-sun) wakes up from a coma, the last thing she remembers is being 17 years old. Unfortunately for her, she’s actually spent the last 13 years unconscious and is now 30 and must readjust to a very different world with very different expectations of her in her adult life. Along the way, she meets Gong Woo-jin (Yang Se-jong), a set designer who’s been carrying the guilt of causing an accident when he was 17 around with him.
Still 17 might not feature the same time travel concepts as A Time Called You, but it shares similarities in some of its other storylines. Plus, there’s the bonus appearance of Ahn Hyo-seop in what’s considered one of his breakthrough roles, playing Woo-jin’s nephew, Yoo-chan.
Where to watch: Stream it on Viki, Pluto TV or Viu
Glitch
In both A Time Called You and Glitch, Jeon Yeo-been plays characters whose boyfriends have disappeared, seemingly without a trace. In this 2022 sci-fi K-drama, though, she portrays a young woman whose past interest in aliens comes back to haunt her as she suspects extraterrestrial connections to her partner’s vanishing. Glitch pulls far less on your heartstrings but is a compelling, fun candidate to follow A Time Called You with.
Where to watch: Stream it on Netflix