Vincenzo Cassano is back as promised. Song Joong Ki’s Mafia consigliere walked back on to mainstream ratings success with great panache on the Sunday Queen of Tears Episode 8. The South Korean star’s much-celebrated cameo stepped in amid Kim Soo Hyun and Kim Ji Won’s characters’ divorce, as the latter’s attorney. The onscreen besties have also shared the screen in Descendants of the Sun and Arthdal Chronicles in bygone days.

As a Studio Dragon production, it was no surprise that the latest ongoing series packed in heavy K-drama references. The series has already had Oh Jung Se over as a psychiatrist coming to Baek Hyun Woo’s (Kim Soo Hyun) rescue. The acting duo previously banded together for the 2020 show It’s Okay to Not Be Okay – another creation of the same production company.

With Park Ji Eun penning the K-drama, some more meta references were bound to seep in. On of her previous engagements involve writing for the iconic series Crash Landing On You. Several, direct or indirect, mentions of the fan-favourite title and its characters bled in Queen of Tears since its inception earlier this month.

Song Joong Ki’s comeback as Vincenzo Cassano from the 2021 global hit series, yet another Studio Dragon enterprise, broke the internet on March 31. The episode also lightly summed up the actor’s filmography by shooting insinuating verbal allusions to his other characters from shows/movies including Space Sweepers, Reborn Rich, Descendants of the Sun and A Werewolf Boy. As a result, the already sky-high viewership ratings of the show soared to even greater heights.

Korean actors Ko Kyu Pil and Im Chul Soo, French actor Sebastian Roché and German actor Dieter Hallervorden have also featured as special cameos so far.

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Kdrama Crossover Cameos like Song Joong Ki’s Vincenzo in Queen of Tears

Song Joong Ki’s Little Women cameo

Although the 38-year-old actor’s Vincenzo cameo in the Kim Go Eun-led K-drama wasn’t as on the nose as his Queen of Tears’ feature, it still boasted enough implications reminding viewers of his celebrated character. Appearing in Episode 2, he’s spotted as an Italian shoe store’s employee.

This was most definitely the beloved ‘corn salad’ in an alternate universe, especially since his Little Women character’s name, Park Joo Hyung is Vincenzo’s Korean name. And guess who we have in common in all three Kdramas – Vincenzo, Little Women and Queen of Tears? Of course, director Kim Hee Won and Studio Dragon.

Namkoong Min in Taxi Driver 2

Much like Vincenzo lending his legal authority to QOT’s Hong Hae In, another eccentric lawyer, i.e. the One Dollar Lawyer, offered his expertise in a crossover Kdrama cameo. After concluding his 2022 legal drama comedy, Nam Koong Min provided his services to Kim Do Gi (Lee Je Hoon) in Taxi Driver 2 as his old character.

This was essentially a triple crossover event, especially with Je Hoon coming in as a special guest in One Dollar Lawyer previously, as well as Min’s 2019-20 sports series, Hot Stove League.

Extraordinary You x True Beauty crossovers

When it comes to ranking cameos, this mind-blowing event takes the cake for ultimate crossing of paths in the K-drama universe. The 2020 Cha Eun Woo series True Beauty left viewers’ mouths agape when it crossed over into the Extraordinary You webtoon world.

Eunwoo’s Lee Su Ho mistakes Kim Hye Yoon’s Dan Oh for Lim Joo Kyung (Moon Ga Young), while out with none other than her Extraordinary You partner Baek Kyung (Lee Jae Wook). Not only are the actors worked into the scene, the ostensible concept of the 2019 series with the characters being trapped inside a fictional story is also stitched in. Breaking free from the trance as soon as the all-too-familiar page-turning ‘click’ is heard, Dan Oh bursts out looking for Haru, leaving Baek Kyung.

That isn’t all. A total of five cameos of the Extraordinary cast seeped into True Beauty – it isn’t called the queen of crossovers for no reason. Kim Young Dae, Jung Gun Joo and Lee Tae Ri also showed up in their separate cameos, all thanks to the dramas sharing the same director, Kim Sang Hyeop.

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Suzy in My Love From the Star

Queen of Tears’ screenwriter Park Ji Eun is a long-time collaborator with Kim Soo Hyun. Before embarking on the latest tvN series train, they worked together on My Love From the Star and The Producers. For the former 2013 series, she wrote Soo Hyun’s ex onscreen flame from the Dream High Kdrama, Suzy, into the show.

In the perfectly captured throwback, Bae Suzy reprised her old Dream High role and introduced herself as Go Hye Mi. It doesn’t end there. The cheeky crossover has her gush over Kim Soo Hyun’s Do Min Joon, as she claims he resembles her ex-boyfriend Song Sam Dong (aka Soo Hyun from Dream High).

Doctors x While You Were Sleeping crossover

This is yet another case of a triple crossover. Here’s another surprise scenario that viewers didn’t see coming – Lee Jong Suk in Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo in 2016. Some fans were further awestruck when they caught another easter egg – the soundtrack from Jong Suk’s W series playing when the later-released Lee Sung Kyung rom-com featured him.

Later, she returned the favour to her celeb pal in his 2017 series While You Were Sleeping, also starring Suzy. Lee Sung Kyung reprised her role from her former 2016 series, and shared the screen with her Doctors co-star Yoon Kyun Sang.