2024’s best K-drama just dropped on Netflix – but there’s a catch

Cameron Frew
The stars of Lovely Runner

K-drama fans, you’re in for a treat: one of the best shows of 2024 has just landed on Netflix… but you may not be able to watch it.

It’s been quite a year for K-drama: Queen of Tears became tvN’s most successful series ever earlier this year, The Atypical Family and Goodbye Earth were both superb, and Netflix filled its Squid Game void with The 8 Show.

While you can use Netflix’s secret code to find more K-dramas to watch, others can be a bit trickier, often airing on the likes of Viki and other Korean channels.

Fortunately, one acclaimed title has finally made its way onto the streaming service: Lovely Runner… but you may need a VPN.

Lovely Runner comes to Netflix – but not the US

All 16 episodes of Lovely Runner are streaming on Netflix now… if you’re in these 19 territories: Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Brunei, Cambodia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Myanmar, Laos, Timor-Leste, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.

If you’re in the US, Canada, UK, or elsewhere in Europe, you may be out of luck unless you have a VPN. All you need to do is sign up, change your location to one of those places, and you can start streaming.

And you should, because Lovely Runner has been hailed as one of the best K-dramas ever made. “This is going to be my best drama of the year and I know that we’re only halfway through. It was just that good,” one Redditor wrote, with another predicting it’ll become a “classic.”

The series, based on Kim Bbang’s The Best of Tomorrow web novel, follows Im Sol (Kim Hye Yoon) after the death of Ryu Sun Jae (Byun Woo Seok), her favorite K-pop star.

Somehow, she travels back in time to 2008. Not only does she have an opportunity to save his life, but the pair could fall in love too – but his fate may be unavoidable.

If you’ve already watched it, check out our breakdown of Lovely Runner’s ending, best time travel K-dramas to watch next, and other TV shows streaming this month.