In 2026 alone, several K-dramas have joined the list of “Best K-Dramas of All Time.” From titles like We Are All Trying Here and The Scarecrow, to the genre-bending The Legend of Kitchen Soldier, these are series that quickly won over fans, told compelling and compelling stories and, of course, put Korean talent on full display. Among them is Netflix’s action-packed series The WONDERfools, which premiered on the streaming platform on May 15, 2026, and flips the superhero genre on its head,
After its release, the eight-episode series, created by Kang Eun-kyung, was an immediate hit. According to Netflix, the series immediately joined the Top 10 non-English shows in the week of its premiere, garnering 2.7 million views and 25.3 million hours viewed. Plus, with a 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes from critics, the series has solidified as a must-watch on the platform.
What Is ‘The WONDERfools’ About?
Taking place in the final weeks of 1999, when Y2K anxiety was at its peak, The WONDERfools tells the story of three unlikely heroes. Set in the tiny fictional town of Haeseong City, South Korea, the series starts off with a mystery townspeople can’t explain. People are disappearing without a trace, and a creepy church is beginning to take hold, with vintage, long-buried secrets threatening to rot their way back to the surface. In the meantime, the three protagonists accidentally stumble into superhuman abilities when a plan of theirs goes awry, leaving them with abilities they can’t control, let alone fully understand.
Among them is Park Eun-bin as Chae-ni, a 27-year-old town “trainwreck” with a congenital heart condition who gains the uncontrollable power to teleport anywhere in the world. Her best friend Ro-bin (Im Seong-jae) also gets a super power, super strength, while their older-brother-like friend, Mr. Son (Choi Dae-hoon), becomes sticky and stuck to things and people. The trio becomes the worst superhero team imaginable, led by the mysterious “Wunderkind,” Un-jeong (Cha Eun-woo), who has the power of telekinesis. And as the gloomy forces begin to threaten everything around them, the misfits have no choice but to hone in their powers, pull themselves together, and try to save the day.
Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Personality Quiz Which Sci-Fi Hero Are You Most Like? Paul Atreides · Captain Kirk · Princess Leia · Ellen Ripley · Max Rockatansky
Five iconic heroes. Five completely different ways of facing an impossible universe. One of them shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of refusing to back down. Eight questions will tell you which one.
🏜️Paul Atreides
🖖Capt. Kirk
✊Princess Leia
🔦Ellen Ripley
🔥Max Rockatansky
01
How do you lead when the stakes couldn’t be higher? The way you lead under pressure is the most straightforward thing about you.
02
What is your greatest strength in a crisis? The quality that keeps you alive when everything else fails.
03
What is the thing you’d sacrifice everything else for? Your deepest motivation is your truest compass.
04
How do you relate to the people around you? Who you are to others under pressure is who you really are.
05
You’re facing a threat that no one else believes is real. What do you do? How you respond when you’re the only one who sees it defines everything.
06
What has your heroism cost you personally? Every hero pays. The question is what — and whether they’d pay it again.
07
How do you feel about the rules of the world you’re in? Every hero has a relationship with the system. What’s yours?
08
When everything is on the line, what keeps you going? The answer is the most straightforward thing about you.
Your Hero Has Been Identified Your Sci-Fi Hero Is…
Your answers point to the iconic sci-fi hero who shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of facing the impossible.
Arrakis · Dune
Paul Atreides
You carry a weight most people would crumble under — the knowledge of what you’re capable of, and the burden of what you might have to become.
You see further ahead than others and you plan accordingly, even when the vision frightens you.
You are driven by loyalty to your people and a sense of destiny you didn’t ask for but can’t escape.
Paul Atreides is not simply a hero — he is someone who understands the cost of power and chooses to bear it anyway.
That gravity, that willingness to carry what others won’t, is exactly you.
USS Enterprise · Star Trek
Captain Kirk
You lead with instinct, warmth, and an absolute refusal to accept a no-win scenario — because you’ve always believed there’s a third option nobody else has thought of yet.
You take the mission seriously without ever taking yourself too seriously.
Your crew would follow you anywhere, not because you demand it, but because you’ve earned it.
Kirk’s genius isn’t tactical — it’s human. He reads people, bends rules with purpose, and wills outcomes into existence through sheer conviction.
That combination of warmth, audacity, and relentless optimism is unmistakably yours.
The Rebellion · Star Wars
Princess Leia
You are the kind of person who holds the line when everyone else is losing faith — not because you’re fearless, but because giving up simply isn’t something you’re capable of.
You lead through conviction. Your voice carries because your belief is unshakeable.
You gave up everything ordinary the moment you chose the cause, and you’ve never looked back.
Leia is not a supporting character in her own story — she is the moral centre of the entire rebellion.
That same fierce, principled, unbreakable core is what defines you.
The Nostromo · Alien
Ellen Ripley
You are not reckless, not grandiose, and not particularly interested in being anyone’s hero — you just refuse to stop when it matters.
You see threats clearly, you document the truth even when no one listens, and when the time comes you handle it yourself.
Ripley’s heroism is earned, not performed. She doesn’t have a speech — she has a flamethrower and a plan.
You share her composure under the worst possible pressure, and her refusal to pretend the monster isn’t there.
When it counts, you don’t flinch. That’s everything.
The Wasteland · Mad Max
Max Rockatansky
You have been through fire that would break most people — and what came out the other side is something the world underestimates at its peril.
You don’t ask for facilitate, don’t need validation, and don’t wait for anyone to tell you the rules no longer apply.
Your loyalty, when it finally arrives, is absolute — but it’s earned in silence and tested in action, not in words.
Max is not a nihilist. He is someone who lost everything and found, against his will, that he still has something worth protecting.
That bruised, stubborn, ultimately human core is exactly yours.
‘The WONDERfools’ Made a Major Impact in 2026
According to FlixPatrol, The WONDERfools didn’t just make an impact on Netflix right after its release. In fact, the series garnered major numbers in the first six months of 2026. From January 1, 2026, to June 30, 2026, The WONDERfools had 20 million views and 188.4 million hours viewed. Breaking it down by the show’s first five weeks, the second week of the series alone had 7.9 million views and 74.8 million hours. As for its popularity, FlixPatrol claims the series is the 23rd most popular TV show on Netflix worldwide, right in between Elite Force and Little House on the Prairie.
With that said, while the superhero genre is surely everywhere these days, with Spider-Man: Brand New Day currently in theaters, The WONDERfools brings a up-to-date perspective and tone to the genre. Instead of piercing, impressive action sequences, the series is all about unlikely heroes gaining impressive powers and having to do their best to save their tiny town. It’s a treat for superhero and K-drama fans alike, and it’s one of Netflix’s top shows of 2026.
