Sweet Homereleased its third and final season on July 23, 2025, but there is another K-drama,Happiness, starring Park Hyung-sik and Han Hyo-joo that is perfect for anyone missing the horror K-drama. WithSweet Home’s castled by Song Kang, Lee Do-hyun, and Lee Jin-wook, the show sees its characters fight against a monster outbreak that begins in an apartment complex called Green Home. The show’s meteoric success was an inspiration for other horror K-dramas, but very few have achievedSweet Home’s level of popularity.
While there are otherK-dramas about zombie outbreaks,Happinessis the one that would resonate more with fans ofSweet Homebecause of how similar the premises for the shows are. LikeSweet Home,Happinessalso sees its characters get infected by a zombie virus and attempt to find a cure.Happinessperfectly combines action, mystery, romance, and science in a way that audiences who are fans of storylines that involve the undead creatures would enjoy.
Happiness’ Premise Is Almost Identical To Sweet Home’s
Happiness And Sweet Home’s Main Characters Have Similar Stories
The zombie trope is something that has been usedin popular K-dramassuch asAll of Us AreDead,Zombie Detective, andDark Hole. While several aspects of that particular trope intersect, the similarities betweenSweet HomeandHappiness’ premise are too obvious to miss. For instance,Sweet Home’s plotline involves neighbors in an apartment complex who band together and fight against zombiesin order to protect their building from the undead.Happiness’ premise involves a zombie outbreak that begins in an apartment complex and the residents have to ensure that they keep the number of infected people to a minimum.
This Zombie K-Drama From 3 Years Ago Is A Must-Watch If You Were Disappointed With Sweet Home’s Final 2 Seasons
Sweet Home’s final two seasons failed to capture the same critical acclaim as its first, but another zombie K-drama fixes these glaring issues.
Sweet Home’s main character, Cha Hyun-su, had close interaction with a zombie, and so he too began to have the symptoms that would turn him into a monster. InHappiness, Yoon Sea-bom got scratched by a trainee who was infected with the zombie virus, but like Hyun-su, she didn’t become a zombie. It was later discovered that her blood contained antibodies that could cure the Mad Person Disease. Further, the main characters in both shows discover what was behind the zombie outbreak that nearly destroyed the world.
Happiness Is More Of A Love Story Than A Horror One
Sweet Home Didn’t Really Focus On Other Subplots
One of the key differences betweenSweet HomeandHappinessis that the latter is heavily focused on horror and doesn’t leave much room for a romantic subplot. While there were hints thatHyun-soo and Eun-yu’s relationship inSweet Homewould have become romantic, nothing actually resulted from that storyline.Sweet Homelargely stuck to its monster attack plot and didn’t focus too much on a love story.
UnlikeSweet Home,Happinessdoes a good job of ensuring that there is a great love story in the series. From its very first episode,Happinessshowed that the two lead characters in the series,Seo-bom and Yi-hyun, were meant to have a platonic relationship that would eventually develop into something more. The zombie outbreak is, of course, the main storyline inHappiness, but the inclusion of Seo-bom and Yi-hun’s love story makes the show even more interesting because it makes it easier to get invested when there is something to root for.
Why Happiness Was Not As Big As Sweet Home And All Of Us Are Dead
Happiness Didn’t Have A Global Audience
DespiteHappinessbeing released at a time when zombie K-dramas were seeing a rise in popularity, the show wasn’t as big as other series in the genre.Sweet HomeandAll of Us Are Deadare Netflix originals, so they were available to stream on the platform the day they were released. Netflix original shows have the advantage of having a global audience which plays a huge role in helping a series become popular.
IfHappinesswas released on a popular streaming platform like Netflix, it would have had a better chance of becoming a global sensation in the same way thatSweet HomeandAll of Us Are Deadare.
On the other hand,Happinesswas released on tvN, a South Korean broadcast channel. This significantly lowered the number of people who knew about the show. Further,the K-drama wasn’t available for streaming until December 2024, and even then it’s only available in certain regions. In the US, which is one of the biggest consumers of K-dramas,Happinessis only available for streaming on Viki. IfHappinesswas released on a popular streaming platform like Netflix when it premiered, it would have had a better chance of becoming a global sensation in the same way thatSweet HomeandAll of Us Are Deadare.
Happiness
Cast
Happiness (2021) is a South Korean drama series directed by Ahn Gil-ho. Set in a post-apocalyptic world plagued by a deadly virus, the plot centers around a group of people quarantined in an apartment complex as they navigate survival and psychological challenges. Park Hyung-sik and Han Hyo-joo lead the cast, portraying characters who face moral dilemmas and societal breakdowns while striving to maintain their humanity.
Sweet Home
Sweet Home follows the story of Hyun-soo, a reclusive high school student who moves into the Green Home apartment complex after losing his family. When a mysterious epidemic turns people into monstrous creatures, Hyun-soo and the residents of Green Home must band together to survive, confronting their inner demons and the horrifying threats outside.
