Meet 8 iconic vampires from K-dramas and films, from Song Jeong-hwa in the upcoming ‘Portraits of Delusion’ to Kim Sung-yeol in ‘Scholar Who Walks the Night’

In the supernatural rom-com K-drama Heartbeat, available to stream on Prime Video, Ok Taecyeon plays Sun Woo-hyeol, a vampire who has spent centuries longing to become human and experience the “heart-throbbing” love he believes only humans can feel. To make his wish come true, Woo-hyeol must seal himself inside a coffin for 100 years—but his carefully laid plan goes awry when cold and pragmatic school nurse Joo In-hae (Won Ji-an) accidentally wakes him with one day left before his transformation is complete.

The botched ritual leaves him stranded as a half-vampire, half-human forced to navigate 21st-century life. On the upside, Woo-hyeol is no longer entirely ruled by bloodlust; on the downside, his vampire powers become hilariously glitchy, and his body begins ageing prematurely for the first time in centuries. Acting as his reluctant guide to modern society, In-hae helps him adjust to the new century as the unlikely pair gradually discover what it means to find genuine warmth, and perhaps the heart-throbbing romance Woo-hyeol has been searching for all along.

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The Joseon vampire K-drama Scholar Who Walks the Night stars Lee Joon-gi as Kim Sung-yeol, a scholar devoted to the royal family. In order to fight Gwi (Lee Soo-hyuk), a powerful and bloodthirsty vampire who has secretly controlled Joseon’s royal court for generations, Sung-yeol is transformed into a vampire himself.

Unlike Gwi, however, Sung-yeol refuses to surrender his humanity. Instead, he dedicates his immortal life to protecting humans and finding a way to destroy his powerful enemy. His search eventually brings him together with Jo Yang-sun (Lee Yu-bi), a cross-dressing bookseller who helps him track down the secret that could finally bring Gwi down.

Adapted from the webtoon of the same name, Scholar Who Walks the Night blends vampire mythology with palace intrigue, forbidden romance and Joseon-era fantasy—while giving viewers not one but two memorable K-drama vampires in Lee Joon-gi’s tortured hero and Lee Soo-hyuk’s chilling Gwi.

For a vampire, being surrounded by human blood all day may be tempting fate, but Park Ji-sang (Ahn Jae-hyun), a top surgeon at Taemin Cancer Centre who was born with the VBT-01 virus, has dedicated his life to saving others rather than giving in to his bloodlust. The virus gives him extraordinary abilities, including rapid self-healing and physical strength, but Ji-sang believes deeply in the value of human life and dreams only of finding a cure that will help him become fully human.

His life grows increasingly complex when he butts heads with—and eventually falls for—fellow surgeon Yoo Ri-ta (Koo Hye-sun). At the same time, he finds himself in the crosshairs of the hospital’s new director, Lee Jae-wook (Ji Jin-hee), a fellow vampire whose ambitions are far more sinister. Together, Ji-sang and Ri-ta set out to stop Jae-wook before his research puts far more than the hospital at risk.

Mixing medical drama, romance and vampire mythology, the supernatural K-drama follows Ji-sang as he risks his career, his secret and his life to bring Jae-wook down before it’s too late.

In the KBS2 high school fantasy K-drama Orange Marmalade, based on the webtoon by Seok Woo, humans and vampires have been co-existing—albeit uneasily—since a peace treaty was signed 300 years ago. It’s in this context that audiences meet Baek Ma-ri (Seol Hyun), a high school student and vampire who keeps her true identity hidden to avoid the prejudice and discrimination faced by her kind.

Her guard slips when she dozes off next to the most popular boy in school, Jung Jae-min (Yeo Jin-goo), on a train. Intoxicated by the scent of his blood, she instinctively nips at his neck before fleeing in a panic. Jae-min mistakes the encounter for a daring romantic advance and becomes determined to track down the mysterious girl who kissed him.

Jae-min, however, has harboured a deep-seated hatred of vampires ever since he learned that his mother married one. As he and Ma-ri grow closer, her true nature becomes increasingly difficult to keep, and their budding romance forces Jae-min to confront the very prejudices he has carried for years.

Being turned into a vampire might derail most careers, but for private detective Yoon San (Lee Joon), it opens up a whole new way of solving crimes. In the OCN K-drama The Vampire Detective, San is a former police officer whose career is cut short after he’s injured in the line of duty.

San is invited to join the private detective agency of his former police senior, Yong Goo-hyung (Oh Jung-se), only to be mysteriously transformed into a vampire while working a job. He must now learn to navigate his frightening new abilities while continuing to take on cases for clients.

Each investigation brings San closer to uncovering the truth behind his transformation and the secrets buried in his own past. Blending crime and supernatural mystery, The Vampire Detective puts a darker spin on the K-drama vampire by turning its blood-drinking hero into an investigator determined to solve mysteries—starting with his own.

From Oldboy director Park Chan-wook comes Thirst, a Catholic priest’s descent into vampirism after a blood transfusion saves his life. Song Kang-ho plays Sang-hyun, a devoted priest who volunteers for an overseas vaccine trial in the hope of helping others. When the trial takes a catastrophic turn, the transfusion that revives him also transforms him into a vampire.

Suddenly forced to drink human blood to survive, Sang-hyun finds his faith and humanity tested. At first, he tries to avoid killing by finding other ways to feed, but his carefully held moral boundaries begin to crumble when he falls for Tae-ju (Kim Ok-vin), the unhappy wife of his childhood friend.

Their increasingly dangerous affair sends the former priest further down a path of guilt and violence, turning Thirst into something far darker than a conventional romance. Loosely inspired by Émile Zola’s Thérèse Raquin, Park Chan-wook’s provocative film asks what remains of a good man when his body—and his desires—demand that he become something else entirely.

The Priests and Exhuma director Jang Jae-hyun’s next film, Vampire (working title), is already generating plenty of buzz thanks to a stacked cast that includes Yoo Ah-in, Lee Sung-min, Lee Jun-hyuk, Yoon Kyung-ho, Choi Hyun-wook and acting newcomer Doi. Yoo Ah-in stars as a hitman hired by a clergyman, played by Lee Sung-min, to go after the damned. Meanwhile, Lee Jun-hyuk has been cast as a cult member chasing immortality.

The cast has already completed a script reading, with filming underway since August 2026. Details about the film’s plot remain under wraps, but with Jang at the helm and a mystery-occult premise involving immortality, Vampire is already shaping up to be one to watch. The film is slated for a theatrical release in 2028.

From vampire doctors and detectives to Joseon-era immortals and priests wrestling with their darkest desires, these Korean vampires show just how many forms the supernatural can take on screen. And with Bae Suzy’s Portraits of Delusion and Jang Jae-hyun’s upcoming Vampire still to come, there may be even more blood-soaked stories and haunting immortals to sink your fangs into.

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