As fans of K-dramas, we already know that many have very long episodes, and not every one of them is relevant to the plot. While filler episodes serve as a way to get to know the characters, they can also be detrimental to the story’s progress, making people give up on a show completely. Older K-dramas suffer from this, though there are great exceptions.
The ten greatest K-drama shows with no filler episodes are mostly newer shows, though one or two from the past decade seem to have overcome the grueling issue of being drawn out. This list might help you find your new weekend binge, comfort watch, or just a quick and satisfying time with your favorite K-drama actors and tropes.
10
‘Stranger’ (2017–2020)
Stranger is one of the best K-dramas of the 2010s, and starring Bae Doona and Cho Seung-woo, it’s also full of great performances. Stranger has numerous plot twists which are fun and shocking, and with 32 episodes within two seasons, this creates the potential for many filler episodes. However, throughout its runtime, Stranger is a captivating series in which every episode has a twist, revelation, or progression of an established plot—filler is minimal and handled through small scenes and moments rather than entire episodes.
Stranger follows the public prosecutor Hwang Si-mok (Cho), who, as a result of an early surgery in life, had his emotional regulation center damaged. This helps Si-mok be a prosecutor with the utmost objectivity and complete honor of the law, making him a sore spot in a corrupt prosecution system. When he meets the just and honest detective, Han Yeo-jin (Bae), they join forces to eliminate corruption in the legal and police system, though they find themselves in hot water with officials very often. Stranger is a very entertaining and compelling series that often reflects on real-life examples of when the system failed to root out corruption.
9
‘Kingdom’ (2019–2021)
Another series starring Bae Doona is Kingdom, Netflix’s first original K-drama and the first-ever zombie-themed K-drama. Ju Ji-hoon stars beside Bae, and he’s a compelling and charismatic lead (as always). Kingdom was based on the famous webtoon, The Kingdom of the Gods, and with two seasons with six episodes each, including a feature film, there’s completely minimal filler, and constant action, thrills, and a compelling journey through bravery and responsibility for the protagonist.
Kingdom is a historical zombie thriller, set in the Joseon era of Korea; the Crown Prince Lee Chang (Ju) learns that his father is sick, and that his sickness feels similar to many other cases across the country. While the king is sick, Lee Chang tries to find the cause and the cure, while battling with court drama and intrigue; he meets a local doctor, Seo-bi (Bae), who understands the sickness and helps Lee Chang. Kingdom is at the intersection of several genres, and a brilliantly executed series with great costumes, music, acting, and storytelling.
8
‘The Trauma Code: Heroes On Call’ (2025–)
The Trauma Code: Heroes On Call also stars Ju Ji-hoon as the lead, and his leading man’s charisma really stands out in this medical dramedy. The Trauma Code was released in January 2025, and it’s one of the best K-dramas of the year. Its only downside is that it has only eight episodes, meaning you could easily binge-watch this K-drama in a day, making The Trauma Code perhaps a series where filler episodes would have been welcome. Still, the writing is so compelling and dives so deeply that we get to know our leads fairly quickly and become attached to them.
The Trauma Code is set in a National University Hospital where the trauma center is the most underfunded, but the most vital department. To revive the hospital’s trauma center, the Minister of Health invites an ex-mercenary and field doctor with trauma experience, Baek Kang-hyuk (Ju), to train the resident doctors and make the trauma center a better place. Baek is unconventional and mysterious, but his co-workers are just as diligent and ready to learn; the process of training and befriending the trauma doctors is fun to watch, while the medical emergencies feel real, and the operation scenes are pretty intense.
7
‘The Glory’ (2022–2023)
Song Hye-kyo‘s second most famous K-drama (after Descendants of the Sun) is The Glory, an intense thriller about a woman seeking revenge on those who wronged her deeply in her past. The show tackles school bullying, depicting it, according to accounts, fairly realistically, which is awful considering how brutal and unflinching it is in the show; it comes with other controversies, too, after one of the actors playing a bully was accused of having been a bully herself in high school. Whether The Glory attracts you for its off-screen drama or Song in her finest role, the show’s 16 episodes will be the most compelling 16 hours you’ll ever see—no filler, no pomp.
The Glory follows Moon Dong-eun (Song) through flashbacks to high school and in the present day, when she’s hiding her real identity from people. Dong-eun poses as a teacher today, but plans and plots revenge against the people who bullied her in high school and forced her to drop out. Dong-eun’s long-awaited revenge is satisfying and compelling to watch, but the flashbacks to the bullying are pretty distressing. It’s one of the best K-dramas that has no filler episodes and only attention-grabbing moments from start to finish.
6
‘My Name’ (2021)
A rare K-drama with a 100% Rotten Tomatoes approval is My Name, a Departed-like thriller about secret identities, revenge, and anger. It stars Han So-hee (Gyeongseong Creature) in a very physical role, and she stuns as an action heroine that has a uniquely beautiful face and a great acting talent. My Name is mostly appealing because of Han, but the action choreography is bar none, and the story is captivating from the first to the final moments. It’s one of the best K-dramas of the 2020s.
My Name follows Ji-woo (Han), a girl who loses her father and decides to take revenge on those involved in his death. Ji-woo infiltrates a gang under a secret identity, and then the police with a different identity, playing a double agent who works mainly on her own accord. Juggling three different personas within herself, Ji-woo’s revenge plot soon becomes the question of identity and motivation; this deep theme and brilliantly choreographed action make My Name‘s eight episodes a stunning work of cinematic art that feels too short sometimes.
5
‘D.P.’ (2021–2023)
One of the greatest K-dramas ever made, D.P. (short for Deserter Pursuit) is a captivating and highly rewatchable show, despite often being violent and tragic. D.P. was based on the webtoon D.P. Dog’s Day by Kim Bo-tong, who co-created the show with director Han Jun-hee. The two used their experiences in Korean military service (which is mandatory) and wrote about them through the lens of those who chase army deserters. Jung Hae-in and Koo Kyo-hwan play the two leads, and their chemistry is amazing, as well as their individual performances. With two seasons of six episodes, D.P. is easy to binge-watch, but its themes can feel too tough to handle at times.
D.P. is told from the perspective of Ahn Jun-ho (Jung), a new recruit in the Korean mandatory army service. He witnesses and sometimes becomes the victim of bullying in his unit, until Sergeant Park (Kim Sung-kyun), who runs the deserter pursuit unit, transfers Jun-ho to work with him. Jun-ho joins Corporal Han (Koo), in leaving their posts to chase after deserters almost every day; the stories of the deserters are often told in one episode, showing all the reasons why someone might run away from their service. No episode is a filler here, and each tackles a very important aspect of life.
4
‘Mad for Each Other’ (2021)
Mad for Each Other is one of the rare K-drama rom-coms with episodes that last around 30 minutes. This is unusual for the K-drama world, since most of the standard series have episodes longer than an hour, often going to 80 minutes. Mad for Each Other tells a story within 13 half-hour episodes, and it’s ridiculous, romantic, heartfelt, and thrilling. Jung Woo and Oh Yeon-seo excel in their roles but also have a great chemistry together; you can quickly get attached to them and their characters, without having to go through filler moments.
Mad for Each Other follows two people going to the same psychiatrist: a police detective with terrible anger issues, Hwi-oh (Jung), and a paranoid woman with OCD, Min-kyung (Oh). They meet by accident and continue to bump into each other until a romantic attraction grows between them. Their chemistry helps them learn about each other and themselves, forcing them to get out of their comfort zones and find ways to be better. It’s fast-paced, fun, and often hilarious, especially when Jung Woo plays off of Hwi-oh’s uncontrollable anger.
3
‘The Silent Sea’ (2021)
One of the coolest sci-fi K-dramas of the past decade is The Silent Sea, another Bae Doona show where we can also see one of the coolest K-drama male leads, Gong Yoo. The Silent Sea isn’t a classic K-drama in the sense of using sci-fi concepts only and then being called a sci-fi series; this is a genuine science fiction masterpiece set in space (on the Moon, actually) and doubles as a thriller, very reminiscent of Ridley Scott‘s Alien. The Silent Sea is one of the most underrated shows out there, but the K-drama is a banger from start to finish without a moment of filler or straying away from the plot.
The Silent Sea is set in a distant future, when Earth is suffering from a lack of water sources, and it follows scientist Song Ji-an (Bae), following up on a failed mission that killed her sister, by going to the Moon with a select team of elite astronauts. Song and the team are meant to retrieve samples that will help water rations on Earth, but their mission is hindered by mysterious events and a deadly virus. The Silent Sea is a mystery thriller, and if you love classic sci-fi stories, this eight-episode drama will continuously surprise and delight you.
2
‘Taxi Driver’ (2021–)
A rare South Korean show with more than one season, Taxi Driver is currently in its third season on Netflix and is one of the best K-dramas on streaming. Lee Je-hoon, one of Korea’s biggest action stars, leads an ensemble in this action-packed thriller. The show consistently beats its own viewership numbers and ratings, with Season 2 gaining more recognition and better reviews than Season 1, which is rare. A show that keeps getting better, and no filler episodes? You’re probably thinking, “Sign me up.”
Taxi Driver was based on a popular webtoon called The Deluxe Taxi (Red Cage), and the events in it, which are some vicious crimes, were inspired by real life. The show revolves around Kim Do-gi (Lee), a former special forces member who gets a job at Rainbow Taxi, a special mercenary agency that doubles as a taxi service. Rainbow Taxi consists mostly of vigilantes, meaning it’s undercover, and they help people who hire them and want justice for themselves or someone. This action thriller is stunningly made, and the justice-seeking will surely make you happy and excited.
1
‘Healer’ (2014–2015)
Not to dismiss any older K-dramas or say that only dramas made after 2020 are filler-free, but Healer is one of the few quintessential 2010s K-dramas that truly has no filler episodes and mostly consists of great moments. Despite the episodes’ runtime of around 60 minutes, this thriller is fun throughout and full of greatly surprising twists and heartfelt moments that will never feel like they’re wasting your precious time. Healer made Ji Chang-wook an international superstar, and it’s the ultimate non-Korean K-drama lover’s show.
Healer follows a special operative with incredible fighting and survival skills, known under the codename “Healer” (Ji). “Healer” gets paid by a famous broadcast host to infiltrate a newspaper and protect a reporter called Chae Young-shin (Park Min-young), while looking into an incident from 1992 that caused several deaths and injuries. “Healer” and Young-shin soon fall in love, and both have a unique personality that makes the show feel alive with each scene and episode; Ji and Park have a wholesome chemistry between them, while veteran actor Yoo Ji-tae holds his own, as usual, every time he’s on-screen. Healer is very obviously a product of the 2010s, but it’s a greatly composed show with few filler moments.
