If You Loved Game of Thrones, Watch These K-Dramas

The Game of Thrones of C-drama. A brilliant strategist, presumed dead after a massacre, returns to the imperial capital with a new identity and begins dismantling the conspiracy that destroyed his family — by controlling the succession battle between the princes. Nirvana in Fire has every Game of Thrones ingredient: a vast political map, characters playing long games, and a protagonist who wins through intelligence rather than force. The writing is extraordinary.

Six people with conflicting visions of what Korea should become navigate the violent founding of the Joseon dynasty. Six Flying Dragons has Game of Thrones' scale — a genuine ensemble where every major character has a complete arc and a coherent political philosophy — plus the historical weight of events that actually happened. The villain is one of the great characters in Korean drama history.

A crown prince investigates a plague spreading from the south and discovers it's being used as a weapon in a succession struggle. Kingdom is Game of Thrones with zombies: political conspiracy, a protagonist trying to do the right thing in a system designed to punish it, and production values that rival anything HBO made. The short episode count (6 per season) makes it the most efficient Game of Thrones equivalent on this list.

A modern woman is transported back to the Goryeo dynasty and falls in love with a prince — while the brothers around her wage war over the throne. Moon Lovers has Game of Thrones' ensemble of princes with different personalities and ambitions, and the same willingness to let the politics devour the people caught inside them. The tragedy is real.

A Korean boy who fled slavery in the 1860s returns as an American Marine officer at the dawn of Japanese colonization — and falls in love with a noblewoman who becomes a guerrilla fighter. Mr. Sunshine has Game of Thrones' historical epic scope and its sense that the characters we love are caught in forces bigger than them. The cinematography is some of the most beautiful ever put on television.

A group of elite warrior-scholars from noble families navigate the dangerous political landscape of the Silla kingdom while forming unexpected bonds. Hwarang has Game of Thrones' young ensemble of privileged, competing characters — each with a different relationship to power — and the court politics that constantly reorder their alliances. Think of it as Game of Thrones: The Next Generation.

A king tries to create a writing system for his people against the fierce resistance of the noble class that benefits from illiteracy. Tree With Deep Roots has Game of Thrones' central question — who does power actually serve? — played out in one of Korean history's most dramatic moments. The political philosophy is sophisticated and the mystery is genuinely gripping.