Upcoming C-drama The Swordsman Changes the Big Bad to a Female Character

I’m sure slick and soulless mega-producer Yu Zheng was just savoring all the slings and arrows shot his way during the filming of The Swordsman last year, when he cast actress Chen Qiao En to play the male Big Bad character of Dong Fang Bu Bai and gave the character a love line with hero Ling Hu Chong, who was coincidentally played by Chen Qiao En’s ex-boyfriend Wallace Huo. Of course the chemistry between them was there and still burning hot years after they broke up on good terms, which left us fans of the novel just pulling our hairs out in frustration. Even worse was seeing gorgeous Chen Qiao En versus the supposed leading lady Ren Ying Ying played by far less on the pretty meter Yuan Shan Shan. The drama premieres on February 5th and the cast attended their first media event this week to whip up the excitement. Forgot Wallace’s ridiculous blond hair for a moment, the biggest gaspworthy reveal at the press conference turned out to be a doozy – he changed Dong Fang Bu Bai’s character to a full blown woman from the get go, hence the reason he cast Chen Qiao En. Er, can a woman practice the Kue Hua Bao Dian martial arts skills? I doubt even author Louis Cha knows the answer. This now puts everything into context, and regardless of how uncanon it is, I am now shipping Linghu Chong with Dong Fang Bu Bai. Chen Qiao En and Wallace are going to burn up the screen together, mark my words, so why not just succumb now regardless of how crazy that makes the entire story. Though having a power hungry female big bad does add a different context to all the mad fighting for superiority. Yu Zheng revealed that the end product is 75% Louis Cha’s novel, 25% Yu Zheng’s own changes. I have now adjusted my expectations accordingly and will highly anticipate the completely ridiculous wuxia drama to come, which does look very pretty with all the bright colors and loads of whooshing CGI. Check out the latest trailer below complete with English subs.

Trailer for The Swordsman (English subs):


Comments

Upcoming C-drama The Swordsman Changes the Big Bad to a Female Character — 31 Comments

  1. I have to ask: why the magical wolves in the middle of that trailer?

    Otherwise, this looks deliciously non-sensical. I await the fandom’s blood-curdling shrieks on baidu. xD

    • If Yu Zheng can turn DFBB into a GIRL, the appearance of magically enormous wolves in this drama doesn’t even raise my eyebrow.

      Fandom has already been driven insane with all the promos. Now we just have some really listless and speaking gibberish remnants of fandom who actually are still alive enough to watch this when it premieres next week.

      • Aww, poor babies. I remember when the Chinese Hanadan came out and someone lovingly wrote a huge 50-point list of why it was a smoking pile of dreck and dross drenched up from the depths of a brain on monkey crack, in the most florid Chinese prose ever. It was a thing of beauty. Wonder if we’ll get that this time around.

        It’s too bad Yu Zheng can’t execute anything worthwhile – the premise of DFBB as a girl in itself is super fascinating and an interesting reversal, but this is totally going to end in flames. (Flaaaaaaames on the side of my face.)

        I just wonder if he’s going to include werewolves into his canon, it would – nope, it would still not explain an iota.

      • I read that Chinese Hanadan list. That was….epic. E.P.I.C.

        Anyhoo, YZ is really a hack on top of being a slimeball. I agree that the concept of making DFBB a girl is really delicious and fascinating, heck, the movie The Swordsman II already kinda went there when it cast bombshell Bridgette Lin in that role, but there she played a he still.

        I always wonder what else upcoming adaptations of Louis Cha can screw with his canon.

        This might make you spit blood, but word on the street is that PD Lai’s upcoming Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils remake is whitewashing Ah Zi, and she might end up with Xiao Feng. To give him a happy ending. Imma go spit up more blood now. BRB.

      • I would like to read that Chinese Hanadan list if anyone Is wiling to share the link or tell me what to search for on Baidu. =3
        Because I heard it was a hit and I tried to watch it but couldn’t get through an episode. All of its prior versions are much better.

        Yuan Shan Shan’s face is freakin me out. In fact, a lot of chinese actressws are eerily similar. Like, they are following some formula.

  2. I watched the trailer a few days back and JESUS Qiao En and Wallace look absolutely gorgeous, alone or together. Seriously, I’m shipping them so hard it’s no joke. And honestly I think the show’s gonna be 50-50 or 25-75 in terms of following the original novel, with the 75 percent going to yu zheng. I wonder what Louis cha thinks of this…

  3. You know you sound crazy right? lol. In any case, I might have to join the crazy ship if things continue on this way. Oh well, we all need a little madness in our lives. I’m just afraid it’s going to be a ton of madness impossible to recover from. eeek. XD ?

    • I just watched the trailer… seeing jin yong’s name suddenly explode in big font on this threw me off. For some reason, I expected it be hidden in a corner or something. Oh boy, I’m soooooo nor ready for this.

  4. Oh, and I forgot to write this because I blanked out, but during the press conference above CQE gave away the ending – apparently DFBB poisons RYY before her wedding to LHC, which was done because of honor and blah blah blah and LHC really loves DFBB. And then DFBB feels bad and ends up dying but donating her heart to the very sick RYY. And so at the end of the drama, LHC ends up with RYY but inside is DFBB’s heart. I DID NOT MAKE THIS UP.

    • EH? I am not planning to watch this. But this is worthy of a comment.Ms Koala you are a woman with varied tastes. You never fail to amaze me with some of the trailers you even watch? LOL.

    • really.??????? i will skip this for sure, i love ryy character, cant stand to watch one of my fave story from chin yung git butchered.

    • Don’t get me wrong. I love the idea of Wallace ending up with QE’s “soul” but that has got to be the most ridiculous ending I’ve ever seen. How is that even possible? Is he seriously going to make LHC so fickle to the point that he actually falls in love with ALL 3 women? And isn’t the one woman he loves the most in the end is suppose to be RYY?

    • I thought it was way back in the day when they did an SETTV drama together in TW, before Wallace moved on to do only c-dramas (2004? 2003? It has to be a long time already). I don’t really follow all the personal stuff but that’s what I thought.

      • 100% Senorita?

        HOLY CRAP I DID NOT KNOW THEY DATED! …. I see Joe Chen as this kind of awkward girl like her characters so .. they seem like an odd pairing. Besides, he and Penny Lin were so cute in that drama. I’m mindblown.

  5. OH GOD I LOVE WALLACE HUO’S BLONDE HAIR <33333333

    What also kinda sucks is that the least pretty actress is playing the one Wallace is going to end up with…Still gonna watch it anyways though there's a whole lotta pretty going on and as long as it's not boring, I'm gonna try stick to it lols

  6. I’m so confused… isnt Dong Fang Bu Bai suppose to be a male or a castrated male…….???? so did the writer changed the storyline…. ???

  7. Wow really unexpected. I was gonna try it out anyway since I like Wallace in period/wuxia dramas an I also generally like Chen qiao en though I still need to watch one good period drama of her. But making dfbb a girl makes me actually very happy. I mean he messed up the novel anyway alread. Doesn’t hurt to at least letting drama watchers shipping one real couple and not a hero + castrated bastard who likes to crossdress. Looking forward to the 5th February. And it’s actually really cool to have the big female antagonist, so not typically wuxia story.

  8. Here’s a big question? Why is Wallace standing next to QE instead of his leading lady? I thought they usually promote leading hero and heroine together?

  9. I’m really looking forward to this because I really wanna see CQE and Wallace together, but if the ending is really going to be like CQE said, then I’m really going to be mad. I’ll still watch it for their sake, but I feel like it’s going to be a bit disappointing. I’m glad that she is a GIRL though, because compare to all the other actresses, CQE is much prettier, and I love her acting.

  10. CQE doesn’t immediately strike me as having that type of dark, frightening charisma for this evil character. It will be a nice surprise if she can pull this off.

  11. Watched the first 6 episodes and CQE and Wallace are awesome together. In my opinion their screen time is more fun snd ejoyable to watch. Even though she’s the big baddie and we know how she will end, I’m still rooting for her and LHC!

  12. Please..
    Make another drama WHO wallace n qiao en are paired..
    I Think they supposed To be real pair of Love..
    I wanna see their chemistry about Love n their Joke..
    Please make New drama of Them..

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