9 Kdramas Like The Judge from Hell, Scored on 4 Traits

The Judge from Hell opened at 6.8% on SBS in September 2024 and reached 13.6% by its eighth episode, going by the Nielsen Korea figures in the drama's ratings table. It ran 14 episodes, and Season 2 isn't due until 2027. Most lists of kdramas like The Judge from Hell sort by genre tag and stop there. This one scores nine dramas against the four things the show actually does. The result surprised me: none of the nine does all four, and none gets past two. Only one is on Hulu, where the original streams in the US, and three can be watched free with ads.

The four traits behind the scores

Strip the show down and four things are left. One: the lead isn't human. Justitia is a demon judge from Hell, exiled to Earth in the body of Judge Kang Bit-na, played by Park Shin-hye. Two: the punishment happens outside the law. Her mission is to kill criminals and send them to Hell within a year, ten at first and later twenty. Three: the story moves case by case. Four: there's a romance with a cop, Detective Han Da-on, played by Kim Jae-young. The ticks below are my call, read off each drama's premise.

Nine kdramas like The Judge from Hell, scored

Drama	Year	Episodes	Traits shared	Which ones	Where it streams (US)	Free?
The Devil Judge	2021	16	2 of 4	Outside the law, case by case	Viki, Roku Channel, Tubi	Yes, with ads
Taxi Driver	2021–2026	48 (3 seasons of 16)	2 of 4	Outside the law, case by case	Viki, Kocowa, OnDemandKorea	Yes, on Viki with ads
Vigilante	2023	8	2 of 4	Outside the law, case by case	Hulu	No
Black	2017	18	2 of 4	Non-human lead, cop romance	Roku Channel, Tubi, OnDemandKorea	Yes, with ads
Tomorrow	2022	16	2 of 4	Non-human lead, case by case	Netflix	No
Bad and Crazy	2021–2022	12	2 of 4	Outside the law, cop romance	Prime Video	No
The Uncanny Counter	2020–2023	28 (16 + 12)	2 of 4	Outside the law, case by case	Netflix	No
My Demon	2023–2024	16	1 of 4	Non-human lead	Netflix	No
Juvenile Justice	2022	10	1 of 4	Case by case	Netflix	No

The count behind the table: seven picks share two traits and two share one. Five keep the punishment outside the law, six run case by case, three have a non-human lead and two have the cop romance. No drama here pairs a non-human lead with punishment outside the law, and that pairing is the whole premise of the original. To cover all four traits you need two shows. The Devil Judge plus Black does it in 34 episodes, about 43 hours at their listed runtimes, and both are free with ads. Streaming comes from our drama records and JustWatch's US listings, checked on October 2, 2026. Licences move monthly, and where to watch K-dramas legally explains each service and its free tier.

The Judge from Hell vs The Devil Judge

The titles invite the mix-up, so here's the difference. The Devil Judge aired on tvN in 2021, ran 16 episodes of 70 minutes and has no demon in it. Ji Sung plays Kang Yo-han, a chief judge in a dystopian South Korea where trials are held as a live TV show. The devil is a reputation, not a species. What it shares with The Judge from Hell is a judge who has decided the system isn't enough, and a fresh trial to drive each stretch of episodes. What it lacks is the supernatural and the central romance. There is a cop, Lieutenant Yoon Soo-hyun, but her crush is on the associate judge Kim Ga-on, played by Park Jin-young, not on the lead.

Ji Sung went back to the bench in 2026 with The Judge Returns on MBC, as a corrupt judge who dies and wakes up ten years in the past. It's in our best K-dramas of 2026 so far. I left it out of the scoring because its premise alone doesn't tell me how it handles punishment.

Pick by the part you liked

The punishment. Taxi Driver is the obvious one. Lee Je-hoon plays Kim Do-gi, a former special forces soldier who drives for Rainbow Taxi, a secret vigilante group that takes calls from victims who want revenge. It aired on SBS, the same network as the original. Vigilante is the short one: eight episodes of 40 to 50 minutes, with Nam Joo-hyuk as a police university student who spends his nights going after criminals who got lenient sentences. That's the grievance of The Judge from Hell with the fantasy removed. In Bad and Crazy, Lee Dong-wook is a competent but corrupt detective whose life is taken over by K, a justice-obsessed figure played by Wi Ha-joon. His ex-girlfriend is a drug squad detective. The Uncanny Counter is already covered in our Korean horror dramas ranking.

The lead from the other side. Black, an OCN drama with 18 episodes of 80 minutes, puts a grim reaper inside a detective's body. Song Seung-heon plays him, and Go Ara plays a woman who can see death coming. It flips the original: here the non-human half of the couple is the cop. Tomorrow has Kim Hee-sun as Koo Ryeon, a grim reaper leading a crisis team that saves people who are contemplating suicide, so it has the case structure with rescue instead of punishment. Take the subject matter as a warning. My Demon, with Song Kang as a 200-year-old demon and Kim You-jung as an heiress in a contract marriage, is a romance first.

The courtroom. Juvenile Justice has ten episodes and Kim Hye-soo as a stern juvenile court judge. It has no fantasy at all and everything happens inside the law.

What is confirmed about Season 2

Very little, and it's worth being exact. According to Soompi, the CEO of Studio S said at an SBS drama media day in Seoul on June 1, 2026 that Park Shin-hye will return next year with Season 2. That gives a year, 2027, and a lead. The report names no premiere date, no episode count and no other cast.

Mina's Take

I'd start with The Devil Judge. It's free, it's 16 episodes, and it's the closest in anger even without a single demon. Then Black, for the half that The Devil Judge can't give you. The one I'd drop from this queue is My Demon. It shares a demon and nothing else, and if the punishments were what kept you watching, it'll feel like a different genre. The gap in the table is the real finding. Nobody else here put a non-human lead together with off-the-books sentencing, which is why a second season matters more for this show than it would for most. My guess, and it's only a guess: Season 2 keeps the case-by-case shape. If it turns into one long conspiracy, it becomes The Devil Judge with horns.

The Judge from Hell FAQ

Is The Judge from Hell getting a season 2?

Yes. According to Soompi, the CEO of Studio S said on June 1, 2026 that Park Shin-hye will return with Season 2 in 2027. No premiere date has been announced.

Is The Judge from Hell the same as The Devil Judge?

No. The Devil Judge is a 2021 tvN drama with Ji Sung as a human judge who runs televised trials. The Judge from Hell is a 2024 SBS fantasy with Park Shin-hye as a demon in a judge's body.

Is The Judge from Hell a romance?

Not first. Wikipedia lists it as dark fantasy, action and legal thriller. The judge and Detective Han Da-on do fall for each other, and the two actors won Best Couple at the 2024 SBS Drama Awards.

Does The Judge from Hell have a happy ending?

Spoiler ahead. Mostly yes. According to LeisureByte's finale recap, the angel Gabriel saves Bit-na and sends her back to Earth, where she asks for three more years. Whether she becomes human is left open.

Is The Judge from Hell on Netflix?

Not in the US. It streams on Hulu there, per JustWatch on October 2, 2026, and on Disney+ in selected regions.

How many episodes does The Judge from Hell have?

Fourteen. It aired on SBS from September 21 to November 2, 2024, and episodes run 60 to 73 minutes.

What should I watch after The Judge from Hell?

The Devil Judge for the punishment, then Black for the supernatural lead and the detective romance. Both were free with ads in the US in early October 2026.