7 Kdramas Like The East Palace for Folklore and Palace Horror

Written by Huzaifa

Start with The Haunted Palace for the closest overall match, Kingdom for royal horror, or Revenant if Korean folklore matters more to you than the historical setting. The best kdramas like The East Palace share something more specific than handsome people in hanbok: dangerous spirits, buried wrongdoing, and powerful people who think they can control the consequences.

That combination is the hook. In Netflix’s The East Palace, Gu-cheon can cross into the spirit world, Saeng-gang hears the dead, and the king brings them into a palace full of secrets. Finding your next drama means deciding which part of that setup you want more of.

My picks for your 2026 watchlist are ranked by how closely they answer that craving, with one clearly marked modern-day exception. No major ending spoilers below.

Kdramas Like The East Palace: Pick Your Next Watch

The distinction matters because recent fan discussions aren’t asking for exactly the same thing. In a post-release r/kdramas thread, viewers praised The East Palace’s creature designs and use of colour; in another, viewers thought the eight-episode story rushed its mysteries. Both reactions make sense as viewing preferences. More monsters and more time with a supernatural mystery are two different requests.

For my take on the original, read the DaebakDaily review of The East Palace. Here, the question is what should follow it.

1. The Haunted Palace — The Closest Overall Match

This gets the first slot easily. A reluctant shaman, a serpent spirit occupying a human body, and a vengeful ghost threatening the royal family: the connection goes much deeper than the titles sounding alike.

Kim Ji-yeon plays Yeo-ri, while Yook Sung-jae plays Yoon Gap and the spirit inhabiting him, Gangcheol. Their supernatural predicament leads straight into the palace’s troubles. The human body involved also belongs to Yeo-ri’s first love, which gives the haunting a wonderfully awkward personal dimension.

What makes this especially appealing among Korean folklore dramas is the variety of spirits. SBS’s own coverage highlights water ghosts, a one-legged ghost, and other beings with distinct personalities. The supernatural world has inhabitants, rather than one interchangeable monster appearing whenever the plot needs a scare.

My reservation is about expectations: romance and comedy occupy real space here. You get ghostly danger, but you also get relationship complications and room to laugh.

Choose it if: you want the strongest combination of palace mystery, spirit lore, and an emotionally involving lead partnership.

2. Kingdom — For Royal Secrets With Horrifying Consequences

Of all the kdramas like The East Palace, Kingdom is my first recommendation when someone says, “I liked the palace, but I want more danger.”

Rumours surround the king’s condition while a flesh-eating plague spreads through a country already suffering from corruption and hunger. The crown prince must investigate a threat that is both political and physically terrifying.

The connection is how power works. A royal secret doesn’t remain a private family problem. Ordinary people bear the consequences, and the people best positioned to respond have reasons to hide the truth. That makes the court intrigue part of the horror itself.

There’s a useful fandom receipt here, too: the author of that Reddit thread praising The East Palace’s monsters later added that they had started Kingdom following the recommendations and were enjoying it. That’s a specific viewer’s experience, but it neatly supports this pairing.

Expect blood, bodies, and survival pressure. You’re trading ghost lore for an outbreak, so this is a stronger match for palace horror than for shamanic folklore.

Choose it if: royal corruption and a genuinely dangerous supernatural threat were your favourite ingredients.

3. Mirror of the Witch — For a Curse Inside the Royal Family

Mirror of the Witch, also called Secret Healer, puts a cursed princess at the centre of its fantasy. Kim Sae-ron plays the isolated young woman whose life has been shaped by that curse, while Yoon Shi-yoon plays Heo Jun.

This is where I’d send someone who wants supernatural historical dramas built around the cost of magic. The question isn’t simply whether someone can defeat a threatening entity. It’s whether a person whose life has been defined by a curse can escape what others have made of her.

The dark magic has teeth. One early sequence highlighted in contemporary coverage shows the heroine writhing in pain during a spirit’s visitation. The curse affects her body and relationships; it isn’t just an ominous prophecy mentioned between romantic scenes.

Shaman Hong-joo, played by Yum Jung-ah, adds a human source of menace. The danger comes from people choosing to use magic as well as from the magic itself.

Choose it if: the royal curse interests you more than monster hunting. Expect romance and emotional suffering alongside the darker fantasy.

4. Arang and the Magistrate — For a Ghost Who Needs to Be Heard

Arang and the Magistrate, also listed as Tale of Arang, gives its ghost a problem that a sword cannot solve: she needs to uncover what happened to her.

Shin Min-a plays Arang, a murdered woman’s spirit, opposite Lee Joon-gi as Eun-oh, a man who can see ghosts and becomes a magistrate. Their investigation draws on the Korean legend of Arang, making this one of the clearest folklore connections on the list.

I like this recommendation because it changes your relationship with the supernatural. The ghost is someone you’re following and trying to understand. Her missing history drives the mystery, and listening becomes just as important as confronting danger.

That’s a strong companion to Saeng-gang’s ability to hear the dead in The East Palace. Both premises make contact with spirits a route to information the living don’t readily provide.

The difference is location and tone: this is a local mystery with romance and comedy, rather than a palace-centred horror siege.

Choose it if: you want a ghost’s identity, grievance, and unfinished story to matter as much as the scares.

5. Diary of a Night Watchman — For Ghost Hunters and Court Intrigue

Also known as The Night Watchman’s Journal, this is a particularly direct premise match among dramas similar to The East Palace.

Jung Il-woo plays Lee Rin, a prince with the ability to see ghosts. He joins forces with Do-ha, who can communicate with spirits, as supernatural threats become entangled with struggles for royal power.

MBC describes a palace where some people fight demons while others use them for their own purposes. That detail earns its place here. A supernatural creature becomes especially interesting when someone in authority sees an opportunity instead of a threat.

The appeal is the watchmen’s role: protecting people requires them to understand dangers that conventional guards cannot handle. If Gu-cheon’s unusual skill set was the part that grabbed you, this gives you another historical world where seeing the unseen becomes a dangerous responsibility.

I’d approach it as a supernatural adventure with court politics. Its demon-hunting premise is the reason to choose it; constant dread shouldn’t be the expectation.

Choose it if: you want ghost-seeing leads, an organised fight against supernatural threats, and scheming inside the royal court.

6. The Scholar Who Walks the Night — For a Monster Above the Throne

Lee Joon-gi returns to this list as Kim Sung-yeol, a scholar turned vampire who opposes Gwi, played by Lee Soo-hyuk. Lee Yu-bi plays Jo Yang-sun, a bookseller who disguises herself as a man.

Gwi is the reason this belongs among palace horror kdramas. His influence reaches above the king: he intervenes in the royal succession. The monster isn’t merely trespassing in the palace. He has a stake in who gets to rule it.

That is a nasty little premise, and the strongest reason to watch. Political authority offers no reliable protection when the person controlling it is a supernatural predator.

The drama also makes its hero a vampire, creating a conflict between beings who share a condition but make different choices. Add the central romance and you have a gothic melodrama with a court conspiracy running through it.

Don’t mistake its vampires for a direct adaptation of traditional Korean ghost lore. Its closest connection is the supernatural grip on royalty.

Choose it if: you want a dangerous palace antagonist, vampire conflict, and a much stronger romantic emphasis.

7. Revenant — For Folklore That Follows You Home

Revenant is the deliberate exception: it takes place in the modern world. If you want historical costumes and palace corridors above everything else, move this down your queue.

If you want unsettling folklore, move it up.

Kim Tae-ri plays Gu San-yeong, who becomes possessed after receiving an object belonging to her late father. Oh Jung-se plays Yeom Hae-sang, a folklorist who can see spirits. Together, they investigate deaths connected to the supernatural.

Its strongest connection to The East Palace is the need to interpret what a haunting means. Identifying the spirit and understanding its history are practical necessities. Old objects, photographs, and the secrets of a village become clues rather than background decoration.

That’s the appeal for me: knowledge gives the investigation direction, but it doesn’t make the people involved safe. By episode three, even the shadow of a tree becomes something the characters need to investigate.

Among these kdramas like The East Palace, this is my pick for viewers who would happily give up the palace to stay with the occult mystery.

Choose it if: possession and folklore investigation matter more than romance or a historical setting.

Which One Should You Start Tonight?

My first pick remains The Haunted Palace. It has the closest combination of royal danger, Korean spirits, supernatural abilities, and a central partnership you can invest in.

Choose Kingdom if you want the threat to feel larger and bloodier. Choose Arang and the Magistrate if the ghosts’ unfinished stories are what keep you watching. Choose Revenant if your main requirement is a mystery rooted in folklore, whatever century it takes place in.

That’s how I’d narrow down kdramas like The East Palace: decide what you’re reluctant to leave behind, then follow that ingredient.

What are you chasing next—the palace’s secrets, the spirits’ backstories, or a drama that makes you hesitate before turning the lights off?