Picture: Queen of Tears – Studio Dragon
After an incredibly successful season and becoming the highest-rated K-drama in TVN history, Queen of Tears won’t return for a second season on Netflix. Here’s why.
Queen of Tears is a South Korean romantic drama series that is internationally licensed on Netflix. It was written by Park Ji Eun and directed by Kim Hee Won and Jang Young Woo. Studio Dragon produced the series, which was broadcast on the South Korean cable network TVN.
Queen of Tears Season 2 Netflix Renewal Status
Official Renewal Status: Pending (Last Updated: 30/04/2024)
At the time of writing, Queen of Tears hasn’t been renewed for a second season. It’s also highly likely it won’t be renewed. A lack of renewal won’t have anything to do with quality or viewership; it’s typically the case that most K-dramas work like a limited series.
Often, we learn beforehand if a second season is planned for a K-drama. As there has been no such announcement for Queen of Tears, we’re making a safe assumption that a second season won’t be happening anytime soon.
Picture: Kim Ji Won as Hong Hae-in – Studio Dragon
How has the series performed?
In South Korea, Queen of Tears will be challenging to unseat as the best K-drama of 2024. The K-drama’s finale reached a nationwide rating of 24.850%. This wasn’t enough to unseat The World of the Married or Reborn Rich, but it was enough to be the third highest-rated cable television drama in South Korea.
As for its performance on Netflix, its viewing hours have increased steadily every week, and as of April 21st, the K-drama has amassed 287.6 million hours viewed, which equates to 26.6 million Netflix views/complete viewing equivalents.
Picture: The Queen of Tears has been in the Netflix top 10 for seven weeks straight.
This means Queen of Tears has been a massive success on Netflix and South Korea.
Does the story need a second season?
While many fans would like to see a second season, it would drastically diminish at the end of the first season.
Despite starting the series as a married but loveless couple, they are back together and head over heels for each other by the end. All the adversity they experienced, between Hae-in’s cancer, her surgery, losing some of her memories, their divorce, and life-threatening situations, couldn’t stop the pair from falling in love.
However, in the end, we learn that Hae-in and Hyun-woo had spent the rest of their lives together, eventually remarrying and having a daughter. We’re treated to scenes of Hae-in and Hyun-woo visiting Sanssouci, a place of great significance as the couple spent their first honeymoon in Germany.
Picture: Kim Soo Hyun as Baek Hyun-woo (left) and Kim Ji Won as Hong Hae-in (right) – Studio Dragon
From visiting the Sanssouci as a family in the summer and transitioning to winter, we saw Hyun-woo as an old man alone, symbolizing that his dearly beloved Hae-in had passed away at some point. It’s heavily symbolized that Hyun-woo dies after visiting Hae-in’s grave for the last time, where he lays down lavender, only to be greeted by Hae-in dressed in white with an outstretched hand. In death, the couple can begin their next journey together.
Picture: Kim Ji Won as Hong Hae-in – Studio Dragon
A second season could ruin the epilogue for Hae-in and Hyun-woo’s relationship. While fans would have loved to have seen more of their relationship develop, they can be happy knowing that in the end, Hae-in and Hyun-woo lived the rest of their lives deeply in love.
Would you like to see a second season of Queen of Tears? Let us know in the comments below!