Humanoid robots to virtual worlds! Korean sci-fi dramas to watch: Are You Human Too?, Memories of the Alhambra and more

Korean television has experimented with science fiction through stories involving artificial intelligence, advanced technology, time travel and virtual realities. Are You Human Too? follows an android created in the image of a wealthy heir, while Memories of the Alhambra centres on an augmented-reality game that begins affecting the real world. Shows such as My Holo Love, Sisyphus: The Myth, The Silent Sea, Circle: Two Worlds Connected and A Time Called You explore different futuristic or speculative ideas.

The South Korean sci-fi thriller series is about an augmented reality (AR) video game that begins causing real-life deaths and danger. Yoo Jin Woo is the ambitious CEO of an investment firm. He travels to Granada, Spain, after receiving a cryptic offer to buy a revolutionary, contact-lens-based AR game inspired by the history of the Alhambra Palace. While Jung Hee Jo is a former classical guitarist who runs a rundown hostel in Spain where Jin Woo stays. She is also the older sister of the game’s missing young genius developer, Jung Se Joo.

My Holo Love is all about a lonely woman who falls in love with an artificial intelligence hologram. The series questions if true love and emotional intimacy are possible between a human and an advanced piece of code. Holo sends So Yeon to build confidence, navigate daily life, and slowly face the emotional walls she built because of her condition. Alongside central romance, a suspenseful subplot involves rival tech companies trying to steal the valuable Holo prototype, putting So-yeon and Nan-do in danger.

Circle: Two Worlds Connected is a 2017 South Korean science fiction and mystery television series which is across two parallel, interconnected timelines: the year 2017 ("Beta Project") and the year 2037 ("Grand New World" or "A Brave New World"). College student Kim Woo Jin becomes entangled in a bizarre series of university student suicides and a mysterious encounter involving an alien intelligence, alongside his twin brother, who is obsessed with the phenomenon. Set in a dystopian future where human emotions are regulated by a high-tech "Stable Care" system to eliminate crime and conflict, a veteran detective named Kim Joon Hyuk investigates a rare murder that takes place inside the utopian-seeming "Smart Earth".

Boyfriend on Demand explores an AI-driven virtual reality dating subscription service. Starring BLACKPINK's Kim Jisoo as Seo Mi Rae, an overworked and burnt-out webtoon producer who has very little free time left after her daily grind. After getting a chance device for a subscription programme called "Boyfriend on Demand", Mi Rae enters a virtual world to experience custom-made, fantastical romances without the baggage or awkwardness of real-life dating. As she enjoys tailor-made dates in dreamy scenarios, the line between her digital affections and real life starts to blur, especially as she interacts with her real-life colleague and rival producer, Park Kyeong Nam.

The Silent Sea is a South Korean science fiction thriller series about a dangerous 24-hour mission to an abandoned moon base to retrieve a mysterious sample that could save a dying, water-starved Earth. The story is set in a grim near-future where Earth has suffered severe desertification, leaving natural water sources completely dried up. Drinking water is strictly rationed by the government based on social class, causing widespread desperation and social unrest. A specialised team of elite soldiers and scientists—led by Captain Han Yoon Jae and astrobiologist Dr Song Ji An—is sent to the abandoned Balhae Lunar Station on the moon. Upon arriving, they soon realise the deadly secret behind "lunar water" and face terrifying hazards that threaten the entire mission and their lives.

Are You Human Too? is all about an artificial intelligence android who pretends to be a wealthy heir in a coma. Nam Shin is a rude, troubled young man and the heir to a large business group. He suffers a severe accident and falls into a deep coma. : His mother, a brain science and AI expert, builds an exact robotic copy named Namshin III to take his place and protect his status. The show contrasts the cold, reckless human heir with the warm, empathetic android. It explores whether a machine can show more humanity than an actual person.