tvN’s Queen of Tears ends the way few shows dare to: with the audience still wanting more. The 16-episode series, written by Park Ji-eun and co-directed by Jang Young-woo and Kim Hee-won, ran from March 9 to April 28, 2024, and closed on a nationwide rating of 24.850%, per Nielsen Korea. That number made it the highest-rated tvN series ever, passing Crash Landing on You. The record is not a fluke of scheduling. It is what happens when a melodrama respects its own premise.
Trailer, via Netflix K-Content.
Hong Hae-in and Baek Hyun-woo
The setup is a marriage already broken. Hong Hae-in (Kim Ji-won) is a third-generation chaebol heiress of the Queens Group. Baek Hyun-woo (Kim Soo-hyun) is the son of farmers from Yongdu-ri. Three years in, they are on the verge of divorce. Then Hae-in is diagnosed with brain cancer, and the couple is forced to confront the issues they buried.
That is a lot of machinery for a romantic comedy, and the show knows it. Park Ji-eun uses the illness not as a countdown gimmick but as a wedge that opens old arguments. Hyun-woo has to face his own selfishness and his mistakes. Hae-in has to face a family that treats her as an asset. The genre label says drama and comedy; the writing earns both.
Yoon Eun-sung and the Third Party
Park Sung-hoon plays Yoon Eun-sung, Hae-in’s childhood friend who has loved her for years and arrives to offer support and care. He is the show’s most useful piece of pressure. A lesser series would make him a villain. Queen of Tears makes him a mirror, and the marriage has to answer for why he is even a question.
Kwak Dong-yeon, Lee Ju-bin, Kim Kap-soo, Na Young-hee, Kim Jung-nan, Kim Joo-ryoung, Yoon Bo-mi, Lee Mi-sook and Jung Jin-young fill out the Queens Group and the Yongdu-ri side. The cast is deep enough that no subplot feels like filler.
The Numbers Behind the Run
Queen of Tears was the most-watched Korean television series of all time on Netflix, with 682.6 million hours viewed in total.
That figure comes from Netflix’s biannual Engagement Report, released in September 2024. The show streamed on TVING in South Korea and on Netflix in selected regions.
| Category | Result |
|---|---|
| Final episode rating (Nielsen Korea) | 24.850% nationwide |
| Status on tvN | Highest-rated series, surpassing Crash Landing on You |
| Netflix engagement | 682.6 million hours viewed |
| Awards | Best Direction, Asian Academy Creative Awards; Best Scriptwriting, Asian Television Awards |
It also became the first Korean television series to win at both the Asian Academy Creative Awards and the Asian Television Awards in the same year, and took Best Drama at the Korea Drama Awards and the Seoul International Drama Awards.
What the Awards Actually Confirm
The casting history explains the confidence. Park Ji-eun offered the female lead to Lee Ji-eun in April 2022; the offer was declined. Kim Soo-hyun got the male lead proposal the next day. Kim Soo-hyun and Kim Ji-won were confirmed in December 2022. This is Park’s third collaboration with Kim Soo-hyun, after My Love from the Star and The Producers.
The 10.0 score is not generosity. Queen of Tears takes a premise built for tears and refuses to cheapen it, and the ratings and the Netflix hours show viewers stayed for the refusal.
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