Hwarang: The Poet Warrior Youth (Korean: 화랑) is a South Korean television series starring Park Seo-joon, Go A-ra, and Park Hyung-sik. It revolves around an elite group of young men called Hwarang, who discover their passion, friendship, and love in the turmoil of the Silla Kingdom (57 BC–AD 935). The series aired every Monday and Tuesday at 22:00 (KST) on KBS2, from December 19, 2016, to February 21, 2017. The show was noted for its star-studded cast but received criticism for its distractive storytelling and undeveloped plot. At the 31st KBS Drama Awards, Choi Won-young won the "Best Supporting Actor" and Park Seo-Joon received a nomination for the prestigious "Top Excellence Award".

Synopsis: Queen Jiso as regent, has been the ruler of Silla since the death of her father, King Beopheung while keeping her son, Sammaekjong, hidden from enemies and assassins. As the young King comes of age, citizens, officials, and Sammaekjong have all grown impatient for her to cede power. However, the powerful nobles that tried to usurp the power continue to eye the throne, and Jiso fears the consequences of her ceding it. In order to break the power of the nobles, who have grown accustomed to their privileges under the bone rank system, Jiso plans to create a new elite group, the Hwarang, that will cut across the existing power factions, and bind them to protect her son and the throne. As this new elite group of male youths bond and grow, they are unaware that within their number are their King, Sammaekjong, and Kim Sun-woo, a commoner with a secret even he is not aware of.