Best Song Joong-ki Movies and TV Shows, Ranked (2024)

Song Joong-ki, an actor from South Korea, is one of the biggest actors working on Korean dramas right now. Born in Daejeon, a city in central Korea, he was discovered while in college riding on the subway by a talent scout. He made his acting debut in 2008, with A Frozen Flower, which garnered quite a bit of controversy when the film came out because of its LGBTQ+ themes and characters. Several years later, when Song starred in the Korean drama Sungkyunkwan Scandal, it changed the trajectory of his career, launching him into the spotlight and making him one of the top Hallyu actors in the years to come.

Sungkyunkwan Scandal was only the beginning — in the late-2010s and early-2020s alone, Song starred in several hit Korean dramas. Descendants of the Sun, which was a worldwide phenomenon, Reborn Rich, and Vincenzowere all successful on streaming platforms. Song also became a regular on certain reality television shows popular internationally and in Korea, such as Running Man, establishing his reputation differently. Now one of the most beloved drama actors who’s dabbled in movies and reality television, Song’s career still has so much more potential to go higher. These are his best appearances so far ranked.

12 Arthdal Chronicles

Best Song Joong-ki Movies and TV Shows, Ranked (1)

Released in 2019, the Arthdal Chronicles had a wide variety of reactions when it came out. Many, unfortunately, were negative. Arthdal was the first Korean television show that attempted to branch out into the genre of ancient fantasies, although Korean dramas have touched upon historical themes and plot points consistently. Starring Song Joong-ki, Kim Ok-vin, Kim Ji-won, and Jang Dong-gun, the drama takes place during the Bronze Age, and is inspired by the story of the founder of Joseon. In the show, which takes place in the city of Arthdal, power struggles are amiss while the tribe’s leaders seek to unify.

11 The Innocent Man

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Song Joong-ki, Moon Chae-won, and Park Si-yeon star in 2012’s The Innocent Man, which sees Song portraying a poor medical student, Mu-ra, smitten with his neighbor. She is a television reporter who, in deciding she wants a life of comfort by getting together with a rich CEO, leaves behind Mu-ra. He becomes traumatized by the experience, and many years later, when he meets a rich woman, he decides to take revenge against the woman who left him heartbroken all those years ago. A story of betrayal and vengeance, The Innocent Man fits into many of the tropes present in Korean dramas.

10 Space Sweepers

Netflix’s Space Sweepers quietly came out in 2021, starring several big names, including Song Joong-ki, The Handmaiden’s Kim Tae-ri, and Jin Seon-kyu. Space Sweepers is considered to be one of the first big South Korean movies to delve into the subject of space. Song is Kim Tae-ho, who lives in an era in which the Earth can no longer be lived on. The year is 2092 and an elite corporation has made a habitat where the wealthy elites can live in space, and those of lower socioeconomic statuses are left behind on the planet. Kim Tae-ho is a member of the Space Sweepers, a group working for the organization that sweeps up trash in space, but discovers there is a terrorist organization with a sinister plot in the making.

9 Deep Rooted Tree

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Deep Rooted Tree, a drama that came out in 2011, finds its origins in a time when an immense change was afoot in Korean history. Set during the time in which Kim Sejong was creating the Korean alphabet, hangul, and he rises to power, he grapples with the impacts of causing the death of his family members to save them. Two survivors of the massacre swear revenge against him and make plans to kill him when the time is right. At the same time, several scholars are murdered by a secret society, adding even more turmoil to the royal court.

8 The Battleship Island

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2017’s The Battleship Island is based on events that happened during World War II. Before the war, a unified Korea was under Japanese imperial rule, which forced Koreans to be subject to harsh laws that erased their culture, language, and customs. The Battleship Island takes place on Hashima Island, where a forced labor camp exists. Song portrays a member of the Korean independence movement that finds his way onto the island to try and liberate his fellow citizens. Tired of the harsh conditions and treatment they face on the island, over 400 Koreans decide now is the time to break free and get away from the camp, even if it means throwing their lives away.

7 Little Women

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In Little Women, the suicide of a close work friend leaves Oh In-ju, a broke 30-something who struggles to provide for her two sisters and herself, with the equivalent of millions of dollars. Obtained through shady means, it will launch Oh into a game played by the rich, one that could only end in the murder of those involved. With her two sisters, every sibling will be drawn into this world deliberately or by accident. Song Joong-ki plays a small role in the drama. In episode two, he appears as a salesman in a shoe shop. Kim Go-eun’s character, Oh In-ju, gets a piece of valuable information from him, beginning an investigation that might cost her life.Related: Little Women: Why the Netflix Korean Drama Is a Must-Watch

6 Vincenzo

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Netflix’s Vincenzo was one of the standout dramas of 2021. An eight-year-old Korean boy, whose adult character is portrayed by Song Joong-ki, is adopted by an Italian family and becomes Vincenzo. There, he joins the mafia and becomes a lawyer to support the mafia family in their day-to-day operations. He is adopted by the mafia’s leader, but when he dies, the leader’s real son comes after him. To save himself, he runs away to Seoul and finds himself in a situation where he needs to help a building be rescued from destruction after leaving his gold in its basement.

5 A Werewolf Boy

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A Werewolf Boy is one of Song’s more prominent early roles. He co-starred with Park Bo-young, another drama actor, as a feral boy. The movie is told through a flashback format: the female protagonist, now an elderly woman, remembers her childhood on her family’s land. Her mother finds a feral boy on their premises, who does not speak and adopts him thinking that he was an orphan from the Korean War. But as Park’s character befriends him, they begin to fall in love with each other despite the circumstances.

4 Reborn Rich

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Reborn Rich, which came out in 2022, marked Song’s follow-up to Vincenzo. He is an employee working for Soonyang Group, but he is murdered in a cover-up by someone in the chaebol family. He wakes up to find out he has not only been reincarnated, but in the past body of the chaebol family’s grandson. With full memory of what happened to him in the present day, he decides to enact revenge. The show became the second highest rated in South Korean cable history.Related: 6 Non-Romantic Korean Dramas with Intriguing Plots You Should Watch Next

3 Sungkyunkwan Scandal

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Sungkyunkwan Scandal became the show that made Song Joong-ki a star and starred several other names that are big, including Park Min-young and Yoo Ah-in. Park Min-young portrays a young woman who desires to try and make some form of income for her family, so she pretends to be her brother and seeks out jobs. She ends up getting caught while being an illegal test taker for the biggest institution in the nation, but somehow ends up enrolled there. Now forced to keep her secret with even more challenges, she increasingly finds herself attracted to the man who landed her there.

2 Running Man

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Running Man has been on air for 12 years, and is one of the most iconic Korean television reality shows. Those invited onto the show must compete in games to win the episode, and a fixed cast was implemented despite some members leaving throughout the years. Song Joong-ki was one of those members; he previously was on the main cast of the show, but left after 40 episodes to focus on his budding acting career. Running Man is one of the most well-known shows of the early Hallyu wave of Korean entertainment.

1 Descendants of the Sun

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When Descendants of the Sun was released in 2016, it was a massive hit across Asia and the world. Song Joong-ki starred as a captain in a Korean military unit sent abroad to the fictional country of Uruk. But when he was in Korea, he began to date a doctor, played by Song Hye-kyo. Forced apart by the circumstances, the two break it off, but then she is sent months later to Uruk to serve as a doctor. The two are then forced to confront their feelings in hostile situations.

Best Song Joong-ki Movies and TV Shows, Ranked (2024)
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