Red Swan Ending Explained

As K-dramas continue to find audiences worldwide thanks to platforms like Hulu, one of this year’s biggest South Korean series is the romantic thriller Red Swan. With the first season having concluded in July 2024, here’s the Red Swan ending explained.

How Does Red Swan End?

Red Swan follows Oh Wan-soo (Kim Ha-Neul), a woman who grew up in a low-income household before attaining fame as a professional golfer and eventually marrying Kim Yong-guk (Jung Gyu-woon), the head of a major South Korean corporation. Though Wan-soo tries to make her marriage to Yong-guk work, she becomes aware of the infidelities he has over their years together. After Wan-soo is saved from a violent incident in Manila by Seo Do-yoon (Rain), who becomes her bodyguard, leading the two to gradually fall in love with each other.

It is revealed that the attempt on Wan-soo’s life is all part of a greater conspiracy by Han Sang-il (Yoon Je-moon), a close colleague of Yong-guk. Sang-il learned that Yong-guk’s late father left Wan-soo a massive inheritance and is determined to seize the money for himself while doctoring ledgers to discredit Wan-soo and oust his colleague and former lover Park Mi-ran (Seo Yi-rook). Meanwhile, Do-yoon begins working with Wan-soo’s brother, Hyeon-su (Kim Young-pil), to recover the ledgers and expose Sang-il’s schemes.

As part of the ending of Red Swan, Sang-il has Hyeon-su killed and follows through on his plot to have Mi-ran ousted with the ledgers. Sang-il and Mi-ran’s illegitimate son, Kim Yong-min (Go Yoon), turns out to be the man who killed Yong-guk’s father and murders Yong-guk himself before Wan-soo. Though Sang-il tries to pin the murders on Wan-soo, Yong-min is arrested, while Sang-il is similarly convicted of falsifying the ledgers and embezzling funds.

Related: Will There Be Red Swan Season 2?

Do Wan-soo & Do-yoon End Up Together?

Fortunately, despite all the corporate intrigue and murder, Wan-soo and Do-yoon do get their happy ending together. With her name cleared and no longer having anyone trying to kill her, Wan-soo donates the inheritance to charitable causes to help those less fortunate than her. Believing his duty fulfilled, Do-yoon leaves her service as her bodyguard, but this isn’t the couple’s last meeting.

As Wan-soo resumes her focus on her philanthropies around the world, she is preparing for a flight out of the country when she is joined by Do-yoon, with the reunited couple ready to continue their journey together in the final scene of Red Swan.

And that’s the Red Swan ending explained.

Red Swan is streaming on Hulu.