Shows Like Iljimae
If you loved Iljimae's Action & Adventure and Drama storytelling, these series deliver a similar experience — chosen for tone, narrative quality, and viewer satisfaction. Each includes where to stream it now.
★ Top Picks
Bridal Mask
During the Japanese occupation of Korea in the 1930s, one of the darkest periods of Korean history, heroes came from ordinary men who did extraordinary things in their everyday lives. Lee Kang To is one of those men. A skilled martial artist, Kang To actively participates in the independence movement to fight against the Japanese imperialist regime. He is known as “Gaksital” because he hides his true identity behind a rosy-cheeked traditional bridal mask, known as a “gaksital,” when he fights against the Japanese. But can one man do enough to right the wrongs of a terrifying national enemy?
The Tale of Nokdu
While on the run for his life, a young man discovers that the best place to lie low is in a village of widows — disguised as a woman.
Alchemy of Souls
A powerful sorceress in a blind woman's body encounters a man from a prestigious family, who wants her help to change his destiny.
City Hunter
The story takes place in Seoul, 2011. Lee Yoon-sung is a talented MIT-graduate who's working on the international communications team at the Blue House. He encounters dangerous situations while solving a variety of cases, both big and small, for people who need his help, and eventually becomes a "city hunter."
The King's Affection
When the crown prince is killed, his twin sister assumes the throne while trying to keep her identity and affection for her first love a royal secret.
Into the Badlands
In a land controlled by feudal barons, a great warrior and a young boy embark on a journey across a dangerous land to find enlightenment. A genre-bending martial arts series very loosely based on the classic Chinese tale Journey to the West.
Butterfly
David Jung, a mysterious former US intelligence operative living in hiding in South Korea, has his life blown to pieces when the consequences of an impossible decision from his past come back to haunt him, and he finds himself hunted by Rebecca, a deadly young assassin, and Caddis, the sinister spy organization she works for.
Hwarang: The Poet Warrior Youth
An elite group of young warriors trained in morals and martial arts finds love and friendship in Silla during Korea’s ancient Three Kingdoms period.
More Shows Like Iljimae
Faith
After being found in 918, the kingdom of Goryeo faced a critical existential crisis when the powerful Yuan dynasty tried to subjugate them. In the fictional setting of this drama, a warrior living in the timeline of Goryeo meets a plastic surgeon living in the present day. The plastic surgeon gets kidnapped by the warrior who got an order from the king to find a doctor who can cure the fatally injured queen. The two individuals who were not meant to coexist are brought together to fight their way through the ordeals on the land of Goryeo. The warrior makes a promise that he will return her to her world, but a scheming royal advisor persuades the king to force the surgeon to stay as she can be useful to him. There, the surgeon falls in love with the warrior who is the leader of the royal guard. In this era of change and chaos, love that transcends time and space blooms.
My Country: The New Age
Set during the turbulent time of the fall of Goryeo and the founding of Joseon, two former friends face-off against one another over a woman and the future shape of the nation.
Bloody Heart
It is a fictional historical drama about the story of King Seonjong who ascends to the throne due to a rebellion, and Lee Tae who becomes the King after him.
Weak Hero
With the aid of unexpected friends, a gifted but introverted student confronts bullies and violent foes — unaware of how dangerous his world will become.
Six Flying Dragons
The ambitious success stories of 6 people surrounding Prince Lee Bang Won, and the ideological and political conflict between Prince Lee Bang Won and Jung Do Jeon, the man instrumental in helping King Taejo establish the fledgling Joseon nation.
Kung Fu
A quarter-life crisis causes a young Chinese-American woman to drop out of college and go on a life-changing journey to an isolated monastery in China. But when she returns to find her hometown overrun with crime and corruption, she uses her martial arts skills and Shaolin values to protect her community and bring criminals to justice…all while searching for the assassin who killed her Shaolin mentor and is now targeting her.
Queen Woo
Upon the announcement of the king's death in Goguryeo, a fierce battle ensues among tribes. Queen Woo, who immediately becomes the target of princes and five tribes vying for the throne, struggles to crown a new king within 24 hours. Will Queen Woo be able to transcend the constraints of gender and era to carve out her own destiny?
La Femme Nikita
Nikita is a drug-addicted juvenile delinquent who was accused of killing a police officer in cold blood during an attempted robbery of a pharmacy. She is later arrested and sentenced to death by lethal injection, upon which she was secretly drugged by the government, faking her death. Nikita is then "recruited" by a secret government organization and transformed into a highly skilled assassin who cannot be traced.
Scarlet Heart: Ryeo
A story of a 25-year-old Go Hajin who is transported back in time to the Goryeo Dynasty. She then wakes up in the body of Lady Hae Soo and finds herself amongst the ruling princes of the Wang Family.
Captivating the King
Amid a royal and political power struggle, a king entangles with an intriguing woman — whose hidden desire for revenge transforms into unintended love.
The King 2 Hearts
Set in the constitutional monarchy in an imaginary South Korea, South Korea's Crown Prince Lee Jae Ha is forced to join the World Officers Competition, WOC, by his brother. There, he meets North Korea's strongest female devil instructor Kim Hang Ah.
Arthdal Chronicles
In a mythical land called Arth, the inhabitants of the ancient city of Arthdal and its surrounding regions vie for power as they build a new society.
Why These Shows Are Similar
These recommendations share core qualities with Iljimae (2008): Action & Adventure and Drama themes, similar pacing, and comparable production quality. NoBadPicks uses TMDB collaborative filtering, genre matching, and AI analysis to surface series most likely to resonate with fans of Iljimae.
See full details for Iljimae (2008)