The drama adaptation of Nirvana in Fire was such a smashing critical and popular success it’s a no brainer to make a sequel, lesser received dramas have spawn follow ups but this one comes with heavy expectations that will be hard to match. The exact same production team is back for Nirvana in Fire 2 (Wind Rises From Chang Lin) but the cast from the original isn’t back for narrative reasons and because they’ve all moved on to bigger better things. So Nirvana in Fire 2 is set 30 years after the time period of the original and will be split into 2 stories of 24-episodes each. The first will have Huang Xiaoming and Tong Li Ya as the leads, the former as the General of the famed Chang Lin army, and his story will then be followed by young actor Liu Hao Ran playing his younger brother with his own narrative and love line with Zhang Hui Wen. I’ll keep my hopes measured but as long as the production team keeps the quality the same high level and the director imparts the same restraint then it’ll be a drama worth watching come this November even with a new cast.
I may be biased. But I believe season 2 won’t be up to par with season 1, for the main reason that the leading man isn’t the same. Having watched dramas of both actors, Huang Xiaoming is just not Hu Ge.
I’m currently rewatching Nirvana in Fire a second time and it’s still so good. It’s funny I keep feeling like Huang Xiao Ming’s royal robe looks like Yu Wang’s from the first season haha Please don’t tell me it’s recycled costume. However knowing it’s the same production team makes me feel alot more at ease. I wonder if anyone knows whether the original novelist is the scriptwriter for this new season?
It might not be recycled since the production pay alot of attention to their costume accuracy. Yu Wang’s costumes were long sleeved (not suitable for fighting) since he was a pampered prince. While HXM character is a general thus his outer robe is of shorter sleeve, more suitable for fighting and his belt is that for a general.
Very low expectation due to Huang Xiaoming’s acting not same par as Hu Ge and the materials of the original novel is so rich and so good.
Wish the drama, the cast and the drama all the best. May check the show when it is aired but definitely not on the “must- watch” list like the 1st one ?
Nirvana in fire is still in my top drama list alongside signal and secret forest from korea. I like the cast but i never finish anything with Huang Xiao Ming except for Summer’s desire. So, pretty pretty please team NIF2, just be good. Ode to joy 2 is an example of the successful sequel. I need to rerun NIF.
I love Nirvana in Fire so much. As a fan of the original novel, it was such a great adaptation. My main man is Hu Ge and his performance (along with everyone else in the cast) was amazing.
I may check out Nirvana in Fire 2 to see how they decided to play out the story. Huang Xiaoming is quite hit or miss with his acting though; he tends to overact and needs to tone down his really strong gaze when it’s not needed, but there are times when he does a pretty good job. (He really surprised me with his acting with his brief role in Longmen Express.) I’m confident that both Tong Liya and Liu Haoran will be great playing their roles. As for Zhang Huiwen, I’ve never seen her acting, but I’ve heard it’s quite lacking. There are extremely high expectations for this sequel and it’s likely that they won’t be completely met, but I hope that it won’t be a complete letdown.