Cover Yeo Jin-goo dramas and movies span dark fantasy like ‘Hotel Del Luna’ to action thrillers such as ‘Hijack 1971’ (Photo: IMDB)
Yeo Jin-goo dramas and movies span dark fantasy like ‘Hotel Del Luna’ to action thrillers such as ‘Hijack 1971’ (Photo: IMDB)
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As the actor marks his August 13 birthday during his enlistment, here are nine Yeo Jin-goo dramas and movies to revisit before his 2027 return
Yeo Jin-goo turns 29 on August 13, but this birthday finds him away from the cameras. The actor enlisted in December 2025, beginning an expected 18-month service that will keep him off screen until his return in 2027. Before leaving, he shared a handwritten note with fans, pointing them toward the “30 dramas and 20 films” that make up the career he has built since childhood. It is a remarkable catalogue for an actor who began working as a child, spanning dark fantasy, political sageuk, romance and war comedy. Here are the Yeo Jin-goo dramas and movies worth revisiting while he is away.
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1. ‘Hotel Del Luna’ (2019)—the ultimate dark fantasy romance for unmatched chemistry
Above Yeo Jin-goo charms as an afterlife hotelier in 'Hotel Del Luna'
Long before he traded film sets for military fatigues, Yeo Jin-goo proved he could hold his own opposite IU in this Hong Sisters fantasy. As Goo Chan-sung, a Harvard-educated overachiever conscripted into managing a hotel for the recently deceased, he brings dry wit and quiet heart to a story that could easily tip into melodrama. The chemistry between Chan-sung and hotelier Jang Man-wol carried the series to record cable ratings in 2019 and turned it into a global streaming staple. If you only revisit one title this hiatus, start here.
2. ‘Beyond Evil’ (2021)—the edge-of-your-seat detective mystery for thrill-seekers
Above Yeo Jin-goo turns detective in the gripping thriller 'Beyond Evil'
Detective dramas often rely on the comfort of familiar formulas; Beyond Evil does the opposite. Yeo Jin-goo plays Han Joo-won, a polished young officer whose transfer to a provincial police station draws him into an uneasy partnership with veteran detective Lee Dong-shik (Shin Ha-kyun), as the two investigate a murder that echoes an unsolved case from decades earlier.
Yeo keeps Joo-won tightly controlled, letting suspicion, arrogance and buried vulnerability surface in small shifts rather than obvious outbursts. The series went on to win Best Drama at the Baeksang Arts Awards, but its lasting appeal lies in how thoroughly it unsettles the roles of detective, suspect and victim.
3. ‘The Crowned Clown’ (2019)—the high-stakes historical drama full of royal intrigue
Above Yeo Jin-goo plays a king and his double in 'The Crowned Clown'
Yeo Jin-goo is effectively acting against himself in this Joseon-era political thriller, playing both a volatile king and the street clown summoned to replace him when palace intrigue puts his life at risk. The two characters could hardly be further apart: one increasingly consumed by suspicion and fear, the other disarmingly warm and observant.
Yeo gives each a distinct physicality, voice and rhythm, making their eventual encounters feel like a genuine clash between two men rather than a single actor sharing the frame with himself. His performance earned a Baeksang nomination and remains one of his clearest demonstrations of how far his range could stretch beyond the youthful roles that first made him famous.
4. ‘Moon Embracing the Sun’ (2012)—the iconic historical melodrama that swept national ratings
Above A young Yeo Jin-goo captivated viewers in 'Moon Embracing the Sun'
This is the drama that turned a talented child actor into a household name. As the young Crown Prince Lee Hwon, Yeo Jin-goo’s brief but wrenching performance opposite a noblewoman-turned-shaman set the emotional tone for the entire series and helped it dominate national ratings in 2012. It remains a useful entry point for understanding why Korean audiences were already invested in his career a full decade before Hotel Del Luna made him an international name.
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5. ‘Link: Eat, Love, Kill’ (2022)—the intriguing fantasy-mystery romance driven by shared emotions
Above Yeo Jin-goo feels another's pain in 'Link: Eat, Love, Kill'
Telepathic romance is a tricky premise to sell, but Yeo Jin-goo makes it work as a chef who starts physically feeling the emotions of a woman he has never met. The mystery unravelling underneath the romance—tied to an unsolved case from his character’s past—gives the series more bite than the average fantasy-romance. It is a good pick for viewers who want their love story tangled up with a genuine whodunit, and further proof of his ease with genre-blending scripts.
6. ‘Ditto’ (2022)—the nostalgic time-slip romance set across two generations
Above Yeo Jin-goo crosses time via radio waves in 'Ditto'
A remake of the beloved 2000 film, Ditto swaps in Yeo Jin-goo as a 1990s university student who strikes up an impossible friendship with a present-day stranger over amateur radio. The result is gentler and more wistful than his thriller work, leaning on nostalgia for pre-smartphone Korea rather than plot twists. It is the film to queue up when you want to see his softer, more vulnerable register, away from crowns and crime scenes alike.
7. ‘Circle’ (2017)—the mind-bending dual-timeline sci-fi mystery for genre fans
Above Yeo Jin-goo unravels a mystery across two eras in ‘Circle’
Split across a 2017 present and a sanitised 2037 future, Circle asks what a society built on emotional control actually costs its people. Yeo Jin-goo anchors the 2017 timeline with a performance that trades his usual warmth for something colder and more clinical, fitting for a series more interested in ideas than romance. Genre fans consistently rank it among the most underrated entries in his catalogue, and it rewards a patient, attentive watch.
8. ‘Hijack 1971’ (2024)—the high-octane action thriller packed with suspense
Above Yeo Jin-goo goes rogue as a hijacker in 'Hijack 1971'
Yeo Jin-goo spent most of his 20s playing men worth rooting for, which made his 2024 turn as an airborne hijacker opposite Ha Jung-woo genuinely startling. Based on a real 1971 hijacking, the film strips away any sympathetic framing and lets him play pure desperation and menace. It is the clearest evidence yet that his post-military career has room to go somewhere darker than Hotel Del Luna ever did.
9. ‘The Long Way Home’ (2015)—the heartwarming war comedy celebrating unlikely friendship
Above Yeo Jin-goo forges an unlikely bond in 'The Long Way Home'
Set during the Korean War, this film pairs a young North Korean soldier, played by Yeo Jin-goo, with an older South Korean counterpart after the two are stranded behind enemy lines together. Their reluctant, often funny partnership gives the war-comedy genre real emotional stakes without losing its lightness. It is a smaller title in his filmography, but one that rewards viewers curious about his range outside romance and thriller work.
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After more than a decade in lifestyle media, Clifford has mastered the art of writing seriously about things that are fun—and writing fun things about people who take themselves very seriously. At Tatler Asia, he helped steer its flagship lists, Tatler’s Most Influential and Asia’s Most Stylish. And today, he leads T-Labs, Tatler Asia’s content innovation hub, where he continues the noble pursuit of lifestyle storytelling, spinning stories on wealth, entertainment, necessary style, Hallyu, Hollywood, beauty and more for audiences across Asia.
