Kpop idols aren’t just rocking the stage in 2025 — they’re owning the screen too! From emotional tearjerkers to intense thrillers, here are 6 Kpop stars who are leading this year’s hottest Kdramas. Let’s see who’s stealing the spotlight!
1. IU – When Life Gives You Tangerines
IU’s recent drama When Life Gives You Tangerines already won the award for “Best Drama” at the 61st Baeksang Arts Awards 2025. A Netflix drama full of love, childhood, adulthood, and slice-of-life elements. We see Oh Ae-sun (IU) as the female main lead alongside Park Bo-gum as the male lead. IU plays a double role as both the mother and her child. The child looks exactly like the mother, and both roles are played by IU. Here, you’ll see Gwan-sik loves Ae-sun more than anything in the world. She means everything to him, and they get married at a young age. With happiness and struggles, they raise their three children—eventually two, as one child dies at age four.
The drama starts in 1951 on a small island in Jeju. Later, IU’s second role appears as Ae-sun’s daughter, Yang Geum-myeong. The story continues with Yang Geum-myeong showing us how strong family bonds can be, how they manage all the struggles, and end up happily. A perfect example of a desired life for everyone. I highly, highly recommend this drama.
2. Park Ji-hoon – Weak Hero Class 2
Wanna One member Park Ji-hoon in Weak Hero Class 1 in 2022 and won Best Actor for it. In Weak Hero Class 2, released this April, the story continues. After transferring to Eunjang High, Yeon Si-eun is still haunted by past battles and the pain of losing someone he couldn’t protect. Vowing not to make the same mistake again, he slowly builds a new circle of trust with Park Hu-min, Seo Jun-tae, and Ko Hyeon-tak. But peace is short-lived.
Their bond draws the attention of a violent gang led by Na Baek-jin—a force more brutal than anything Si-eun has faced before. Now, he’s forced into another fight, not just for survival, but for the people who matter to him. This time, he’s not just fighting to win. He’s fighting not to lose anyone again.
3. BLACKPINK’s Kim Jisoo– Newtopia
Here comes another drama by our K-pop queen Jisoo’s: Newtopia. It’s a thriller, comedy, and zombie drama starring Engineer Kang Young-joo (Jisoo) and Soldier Lee Jae-yoon (Park Jeong-min). Zombie with comedy—sounds weird, right? But yes, Newtopia makes it possible. At the beginning of the drama, Jisoo breaks up with Jae-yoon because of their uncertain future. Later, she regrets it and goes back to her boyfriend’s building to patch things up. At the top of the building is a military office, and below is a hotel. As she tries to reach him, a zombie outbreak begins. The zombie scenes are intense and brutal, and we don’t know where or how the outbreak started.
Both are stuck in their situations—Young-joo fights zombies to reach her boyfriend, and Jae-yoon and his fellow soldiers try to escape the building when he hears she’s coming. What happens next? Were they able to reach each other safely? Watch Newtopia to find out. And if you already watched the drama, let us know your opinion in the comments!
4. Hwang Min-hyun – Study Group
Another Wanna One member, Hwang Min-hyun, leads this school action-thriller drama Study Group, which was released earlier this year. That means both Wanna One members are doing really well this year. In Study Group, you’ll see how a boy struggles so hard to get good grades, but no matter how hard he tries, he’s always second to last in class. That’s why he moves to a new school in search of a study group, because in his current school, no one accepts him. But the new school is full of fighting, bullying, and students who later get admitted into a big crime agency. At first, you’ll think he’s just an ordinary boy, but he has incredible fighting skills that will totally surprise you. Though he has it all, now he just wants to get good grades.
Will Ga-min be able to form a study group in that kind of school? Can he bring back the students from the fight union? And if he does, will he achieve his dream result? To find out what happens next, don’t forget to watch the drama.
5. Yim Si-wan and Jo Yu-ri – Squid Game Seasons 2 & 3
Squid Game Season 3 will release this June, and Yim Si-wan and Jo Yu-ri—players 333 and 222—are already loved for their acting and performances. Yim Si-wan is a member of ZE:A, and Jo Yu-ri is from IZ*ONE. We’re eagerly waiting for Season 3 to see what happens to Jo Yu-ri, as she is pregnant. Will both of them be able to survive?
6. Seo Kang-joon – Undercover High School
5urprise K-pop group’s idol Seo Kang-joon stars in Undercover High School, where Kim Hyung-bae (Seo Kang-joon), a top field agent from South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS), unintentionally gets into trouble, and his job is at risk. To save it, he must find some gold hidden in a school. With this mission, he enters the school as a student but faces many teenage problems he doesn’t understand. The classroom teacher, Oh Su-a (Jin Ki-joo), had already fallen for him before he even entered the school—supposedly thinking he was a student. Actually, he is not, but for this mission, he needs to be in Su-a’s classroom.
Will he be able to find the gold and get his job back? And what about the teacher who has fallen for him—will they fall in love? Don’t forget to let me know if you’ve watched this or not.
So, which one of these Kpop idols impressed you the most with their acting this year? From IU’s double role to Seo Kang-joon’s undercover mission — 2025 is full of surprises! Don’t forget to drop your favorite in the comments and share with fellow drama lovers wavies!
