The Kai Ko contrition sabbatical has officially come to an end, with over a year out of the public limelight after flaming out at the height of his then flashy acting career. Kai has been cast as the male lead in acclaimed Chinese-Myanmar director Midi Z‘s new movie called Road to Mandalay. His leading lady is Wu Ke Xi and the movie just wrapped filming, hence the press conference to gradually start promoting it. I’d say the presence of Kai in the movie has gotten what sounds a lot like an indie flick a lot more mainstream attention. The story is about two adults who smuggle into Thailand to work part time jobs there illegally and experience the culture.

In the movie Kai’s character is even a drug user, totally not shying away from an immediate connection with his fall from grace last year due to being arrested by the Chinese authorities in a pot sting. He tested positive for marijuana and spent two weeks in administrative detention before being deported back to Taiwan. I’m curious how the public will react to Kai’s comeback but the blot on his stardom for this infraction doesn’t merit a permanent blacklisting. Maybe he’ll be an even better actor now with real life struggle and failure under his belt.