'Your Honor' Hits No. 1 on Netflix Korea Two Years After Its Original Run

A Korean legal thriller that wrapped roughly two years ago is having a second life on streaming. Your Honor, the 2024 drama starring Son Hyun-joo, climbed to No. 1 on Netflix Korea's daily Top 10 series chart on Aug. 27, less than a week after it landed on the platform.

According to Netflix's "Today's Top 10 Series in South Korea" rankings, the Genie TV original surpassed the tvN romance "Spooky in Love" at No. 2 and the Netflix original variety show "Take a Hike!" at No. 3. All episodes of "Your Honor" hit Netflix on Aug. 20.

"Your Honor" first aired from Aug. 12 to Sept. 10, 2024 on ENA and Genie TV. Based on the 2017 Israeli series "Kvodo," the drama follows Song Pan-ho, a respected judge played by Son Hyun-joo, who abandons the law and his own principles to protect his son Song Ho-young (played by Kim Do-hoon) after the young man commits a hit-and-run. Kim Myung-min plays Kim Kang-heon, the crime boss hunting down the person who killed his son, and Heo Nam-jun plays his second son, Kim Sang-hyuk.

The show already had a strong word-of-mouth buzz during its original broadcast. It opened at a 1.7 percent rating and climbed to the 6 percent range by the finale, powered by a tightly written story and its strong cast. But at the time, viewers who missed the linear broadcast had no way to catch up. The drama was not available on any other streaming service, and fans were vocal about their frustration.

Studio Genie, the show's producer, had defended that decision back then. "'Your Honor' is a project designed to strengthen the competitiveness of Genie TV original content and expand benefits for platform subscribers," a company representative said at the time. "We know viewers have shown the drama a lot of love, but we currently have no plans to bring it to other OTT services."

That position has now shifted. About two years later, with the barrier finally gone, and "Your Honor" is proving once again how far word-of-mouth can carry a Korean drama when the gate finally opens.