Lee Sung-kyung Dramas: From Kim Bok-joo to Call It Love

Pick a Lee Sung-kyung drama by its energy: campus warmth, hospital pressure, celebrity-office comedy or a quiet revenge romance. Four roles, without plot endings.

Lee Sung-kyung at Incheon International Airport, 22 September 2022. Photo: K-POPIT 케이팝잇 (TV10) / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0. Video still; resized. Original source.

Lee Sung-kyung: choose the energy before the genre

Start here: Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-joo for an affectionate introduction built around friends, training and first love. Choose Shooting Stars when you want a quicker workplace-comedy rhythm. Call It Love offers the strongest change of pace: the same actor, with the emotional volume turned down.

The settings supply useful clues, but the decisive difference is how each character moves through uncertainty. An athlete can be sure of her strength and unsure of herself. A surgeon can know the theory and struggle in the room. These four television roles make confidence something that has to be negotiated.

Find the pace that suits your evening

Series	Role	Choose it for
Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-joo	Kim Bok-joo	Campus friendships, sport and an openhearted romance
Dr. Romantic 2, then 3	Cha Eun-jae	Learning to act under professional pressure
Shooting Stars / Sh**ting Stars	Oh Han-byeol	A publicity professional managing celebrity chaos
Call It Love	Woo-joo	A restrained romance that complicates a revenge plan

Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-joo: strength is only one part of her

Kim Bok-joo is a college weightlifter pursuing athletic success while encountering new romantic feelings. MBC's official catalogue identifies Lee's role and places her among students in weightlifting, swimming and rhythmic gymnastics.

Watch it when you want a life larger than the central couple. Training, friendships and family give Bok-joo's decisions their context. The contrast between physical capability and emotional uncertainty makes her an inviting first introduction to Lee's work. Enjoy the campus rhythms as well as the romantic scenes; supporting somebody's ambition can be as revealing as a declaration of love. If the sports setting appeals, our Kim Tae-ri watchlist offers another route into stories about youth and aspiration.

Dr. Romantic: confidence has to survive the operating room

Lee plays Cha Eun-jae in seasons two and three of Dr. Romantic. Start with season two to follow her introduction. SBS's early season-two clip establishes the difficulty she experiences in an operating room; the broadcaster's cast listing also confirms her return in season three.

This is a different kind of growth story from Bok-joo's. Eun-jae has professional knowledge, yet being able to use it under pressure is another task. Choose the hospital series for teamwork, mentorship and practical decisions with immediate consequences. The continuing Doldam ensemble matters, so watching season two before three makes the progression easier to follow. These are seasons of one medical franchise, rather than two unrelated entries.

Shooting Stars: the person who keeps the star shining

Oh Han-byeol leads a publicity team in an entertainment company. tvN's official programme page introduces the people working behind celebrity careers and presents Lee as the publicity-team lead opposite Kim Young-dae's star character.

Choose this for a protagonist who has to react quickly. The work asks her to manage appearances, interruptions and other people's expectations, while personal feelings make the task less straightforward. Its office energy provides a useful contrast to a campus story: competence here means keeping several moving problems in the air. Treat the entertainment company as a fictional workplace, rather than a documentary about the actors who play its staff.

Call It Love: anger meets somebody unexpected

Woo-joo loses her home after her estranged father's death and sets out to retaliate. The man she regards as her enemy, Dong-jin, complicates that intention. Disney+'s official synopsis establishes the premise and lists Lee alongside Kim Young-kwang.

Save this for a patient mood. The interesting question is how a fixed idea about another person responds to actual contact. Its quieter atmosphere gives small changes in attention and behavior more room. For further adult romances that value emotional hesitation, explore our Jung Hae-in watchlist.

Two quick decisions

Which title is the warmest first stop? Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-joo is the pick here for campus friendship and an approachable coming-of-age romance. Call It Love asks for a more reflective mood.

Is Shooting Stars different from Sh**ting Stars? Those English spellings refer to the same Lee Sung-kyung and Kim Young-dae series here. It is separate from the continuing Dr. Romantic seasons.

Explore more actors and viewing moods in our K-drama Watchlist Finder.

Role and premise sources checked on 28 October 2026. Streaming access can vary by country.