Though the Olympics are over, there’s still plenty of action ongoing over in television land…
- 🔥 Congrats to Zhang Wanyi and Wang Churan for hitting 26k on Tencent’s heat index for Are You the One. Zhang Wanyi was just on our screens for Lost You Forever S2, but this time he’s been upgraded to a first billing position in this historical drama.
- 🍿 We’re having fun placing bets on whether iQIYI will achieve another summer hit this year after Strange Tales of Tang Dynasty II. It looks like Zhang Yi and Qin Lan’s new crime drama, For the Young Ones, might have a chance to do so (it passed 9k on the heat index in its first few days).
- 📉 Neo Hou’s Dashing Youth ended this past week. Though it had a strong start, it wasn’t able to sustain its popularity and concluded with a declining heat index. Since then, it’s debuted on Douban with a rating of 6.2.
And a few casting melons 🍉 …
- 🔁 Big news for Ni Ni fans: her drama, Night Wanderer, might re-shoot the male lead role after Deng Lun’s tax evasion scandal led to his industry ban. If they do re-shoot, they’d be following in the footsteps of Yang Zi’s The Golden Hairpin, which replaced former male lead Kris Wu with Peng Guanying.
- 🐟 Peng Guanying and Zhao Lusi might be leads for a new modern romance drama, 流鱼 (Liu Yu). The director attached to the project is allegedly Deng Ke, who directed this year’s Legend of Shen Li.
- 💕 Say hello again to…Gu Man, whose novel, Blazing Sunlight, is rumored to be greenlit for a drama adaptation. Li Xian is the name we’re hearing for the male lead role, while potential female leads include Tian Xiwei and Meng Ziyi. Gu Man’s drama adaptations have been extremely successful—Yang Yang in particular thanks her for Love O2O and You Are My Glory—so lots of eyes will likely be on this one.
- 🔍 Zhang Xincheng and Ryan Ding are rumored as leads for a Republican-era mystery drama named Southern Files. It would be a new genre for Ryan Ding, who has yet to film a Republican drama.
In preparation for the golden month of September, Chinese actors and actresses have also been busy with magazine photoshoots and sponsorship announcements…
- 🪙 We now have confirmation of Dilraba’s September issue cover for Harper’s Bazaar China! She’s looking golden in the previews here.
- 🗞️ In non-September issue magazine news, Yang Zi is on the Madame Figaro China August cover (teaser here). Song Weilong landed the August cover of Esquire China and Chen Zheyuan unlocked L’Officiel Hommes China, his first Top Five Men’s magazine.
- 👗 Not only was Zhao Lusi named Jorya’s first global spokesperson last week, but it also seems like they’ll be cooking up a big advertising campaign with Harper’s Bazaar China. This coincides with rumors that she’ll land her first Harper’s Bazaar China cover (also her first Big Five Magazine cover) in November…
- 🔺 Tan Jianci got a nice title upgrade from Michael Kors brand spokesperson to Asia-Pacific brand spokesperson. Maybe he and Bai Lu (Michael Kors Greater China Region spokesperson) will have an opportunity to collaborate on some ads.
- 👑 Dilraba has picked up two sponsorships in the last couple weeks, starting off with Global Brand Spokesperson for Chinese hair care company Roye. Most recently, she became Liby Laundry Detergent Global Spokesperson.
And as always, a few changes to the C-Drama Airing Schedule this week…
- 🔜 Melody of Golden Age (Chang Le Qu) is entering promo phase as the historical mystery drama prepares to air August 22. Lead stars Ryan Ding and Deng Enxi were on the cover of OK Magazine China and the MV for the ending theme song also dropped recently—check it out here.
- 🔀 Joseph Zeng and Zhang Wanyi have some fun parallels over the next few months. They both have dramas currently airing, with a new historical drama expected to air around October. Joseph Zeng has Snowy Night: Timeless Love with Li Qin and Wang Hongyi (Zhang Wanyi’s costar in Lost You Forever 2). Zhang Wanyi will be back on our screens with Ren Min in The Rise of Ning.
- ⌛ Filming has wrapped for Wang Ziqi and Lu Yuxiao’s historical drama, Serendipity. We’re really excited to see Lu Yuxiao getting her flowers as the main role in a drama, after a lot of scene-stealing moments as a supporting character in other people’s shows. The show coincidentally also features Wang Hongyi, who seems to be everyone’s supporting character after Lost You Forever.
