7 K-dramas that share the same universe, from ‘Bon Appétit, Your Majesty’ and ‘Seorabeol Knife’ to ‘Moving’ and ‘Light Shop’

Audiences who have been hoping for a Hotel Del Luna sequel are getting the next best thing. Director Oh Choong-hwan and acclaimed writers Hong Jung-eun and Hong Mi-ran—famously known as the Hong Sisters—have reunited for Netflix’s Grand Galaxy Hotel, a supernatural K-drama that’s being called a spiritual successor to their beloved 2019 series.

Like Hotel Del Luna, which starred IU as Jang Man-wol, the CEO of a hotel that caters exclusively to ghosts, and Yeo Jin-goo as Koo Chan-sung, the human hotelier she hires to handle the more mundane tasks of running the business, Grand Galaxy Hotel revolves around a mysterious hotel that opens its doors only to spirits.

The two dramas share more than a director, a screenwriting team and a supernatural premise. Lee Do-hyun, who plays lead character Eun-ha in Grand Galaxy Hotel, also had a small but pivotal role in Hotel Del Luna as Go Chung-myung, an enigmatic figure tied to Man-wol’s tragic past. In Netflix’s supernatural K-drama spin-off, he takes on a very different role as the hotel’s new CEO, who steps in after his predecessor suddenly disappears. He is joined by Shin Si-a as Sang-soon, the hotel’s sole human employee, alongside Lee Soo-hyuk as Baek-gi, a free-spirited grim reaper, and Lee Su-hyun as the mysterious Seok-san.

See more: 7 K-dramas about K-pop idol fans and stans, from ‘My Bias, My Boss’ to ‘Lovely Runner’

Iseop’s Romance and A Casual Lie have more in common than their source material. They’re both web novel K-drama adaptations, each based on a separate work by writer Kim Eon-hee—and, more intriguingly, they share the TK Group corporate universe, with their stories connected through the Tae family.

Iseop’s Romance centres on Tae I-seop, the chaebol heir and executive director of TK Group, whose life takes an unexpected turn when he falls for Kang Min-kyeong, a formidably capable senior manager. Meanwhile, A Casual Lie shifts the focus to Tae Jun-seop, I-seop’s cousin and business rival, who is drawn to Yeon Woo-kyeong, an advertising copywriter whose sudden arrival in his life gets entangled with the succession battle against I-seop.

Iseop’s Romance may lean into rom-com territory while A Casual Lie takes a more corporate-drama approach, but the two adaptations are firmly connected, with their casts and storylines set to intersect. Lee Jong-suk and Choi Yoon-ji, who were previously attached to play I-seop and Min-kyeong, respectively, have since departed the project due to scheduling conflicts. Hwang Min-hyun is now in talks to replace Lee Jong-suk, while Lee Jun-hyuk remains attached to A Casual Lie in the lead role of Jun-seop.

Disney+’s Moving and Light Shop, both based on webtoons from the brilliant mind of writer Kang Full, may tell very different stories, but the two K-dramas share the same universe. Whereas Moving is an action-adventure series centred on a group of superpowered former government agents and their teenage children, who are also discovering their abilities, Light Shop is a moody supernatural horror set in the liminal space between life and death.

Both K-dramas feature A-list ensemble casts. Moving is led by Zo In-sung, Han Hyo-joo, Ryu Seung-ryong, Cha Tae-hyun, Lee Jung-ha, Go Youn-jung and Kim Do-hoon, while Light Shop stars Ju Ji-hoon, Park Bo-young, Lee Jung-eun, Kim Min-ha and Um Tae-goo. The connection between the two worlds was made explicit in the post-credits scene of Light Shop, which featured two cameos: Go Youn-jung reprising her role as Jang Hee-soo from Moving, followed by Kim Young-tak, a character from Kang Full’s Timing, leaving the door open for future crossovers.

With Moving season two now in production, audiences will be watching closely to see how, and whether, the series connects with the wider Kang Full universe, which also encompasses two other webtoons, Timing and Bridge.

The success of tvN’s healing medical K-drama Hospital Playlist not only led to a second season but also gave rise to Resident Playbook, a spin-off set in the same universe. The original Hospital Playlist centres on the “99s”, a tight-knit group of five medical school friends and senior doctors—Lee Ik-jun (Jo Jung-suk), Ahn Jeong-won (Yoo Yeon-seok), Kim Jun-wan (Jung Kyung-ho), Yang Seok-hyung (Kim Dae-myung) and Chae Song-hwa (Jeon Mi-do)—working together as senior doctors at Yulje Medical Centre and unwind by jamming as an amateur band. A popular comfort K-drama for its fans, it offers an intimate look into the lives of the doctors, nurses and patients at the hospital, balancing heartfelt friendships and romance with the everyday triumphs and challenges of working in medicine.

Like Hospital Playlist, Resident Playbook delivers a warm-hearted exploration of life in medicine, this time following young OB-GYN residents Oh Yi-young (Go Youn-jung), Pyo Nam-kyeong (Shin Si-a), Eom Jae-il (Kang You-seok) and Kim Sa-bi (Han Ye-ji) at Jongno Yulje Medical Centre as they grapple with the challenges of their profession and the difficult choices they must make while finding their footing as doctors.

Sharing the same universe, the spin-off also gave fans the chance to reconnect with familiar faces from Hospital Playlist. From beloved members of the 99s to their significant others and other characters connected to their lives, the cameos not only rewarded longtime viewers but offered welcome updates on what some of the original characters had been up to since the end of the series.

Extraordinary You and True Beauty are based on separate webtoons with no connection between them, but their K-drama adaptations became linked through a shared director and a memorable crossover.

Extraordinary You is a teen fantasy rom-com built around Eun Dan-oh (Kim Hye-yoon), a high-school student who discovers she’s merely a character in a comic book and decides to challenge the fate written for her—including the love triangle she's stuck in with Baek Kyung (Lee Jae-wook) and Ha-ru (Rowoon). True Beauty, meanwhile, follows Lim Ju-gyeong (Moon Ga-young), a teenager who uses makeup to hide her insecurities after transferring to a new school, and finds herself in a love triangle of her own between Lee Su-ho (Cha Eun-woo) and Han Seo-jun (Hwang In-youp).

Kim Sang-hyub not only directed both K-dramas—Extraordinary You in 2019 and True Beauty the following year—but also arranged a guest appearance from Kim Hye-yoon and Lee Jae-wook as Eun Dan-oh and Baek Kyung in the latter, giving fans a playful interaction between characters from two separate worlds.

Thanks to its irresistible mix of romance, comedy and superhero action, not to mention the undeniable chemistry between Park Bo-young and Park Hyung-sik, Strong Girl Bong-soon became a fan favourite, ending with a glimpse of Bong-soon and Min-hyuk’s married life and their superpowered twins that left audiences wanting more.

What fans got was Strong Girl Nam-soon, a spin-off built around Do Bong-soon’s sixth cousin, Gang Nam-soon (Lee Yoo-mi). Like Bong-soon, Nam-soon is born with extraordinary strength—but the series expands the mythology further, introducing three generations of superpowered women in Nam-soon’s family, including her mother, Hwang Geum-joo (Kim Jung-eun) and grandmother, Gil Joong-gan (Kim Hae-sook).

Park Bo-young and Park Hyung-sik return as Do Bong-soon and Ahn Min-hyuk in the spin-off’s third episode, now married and dropping into Nam-soon’s world as proof that the two stories share a universe. Their appearance neatly ties the two generations of superpowered heroines together while giving fans a glimpse of what became of one of K-drama’s most beloved couples.

Shared universes give K-dramas another way to reward devoted viewers, whether through a fleeting cameo, a familiar face returning in a new story or an entirely new drama that expands an established mythology. While some of these connections are more direct than others, they all offer the same pleasure—discovering that a favourite K-drama world may be bigger than it first appeared. And with new spin-offs and interconnected projects still in the works, there may be even more familiar faces waiting around the corner.

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