So this possible pairing is currently in the ideation stage and nowhere close to fruition but it still tickles my fancy. Liu Shi Shi is back in full time acting after having a baby three years ago and her currently airing A Journey to Love is a hit and she has Fox Spirit Matchmaker second season the Zhu Ye chapter up next. Now C-insiders are saying that she’s producing a wuxia drama next and the first choice of male lead is Dylan Wang. I could totally see Dylan in a classic wuxia and I don’t think his next drama Guardians of the Dafeng is that classic wuxia and more like a fusion but still he’s got the right mixture of looks and onscreen charisma. The offer is out to Dylan but he’s got a bajillion offers so we shall see if this happens. I do also find the rising young actor Chang Hua Sen (playing Shi Shi’s disciple the Marquis of Chang Qing) that iQyiyi is trying to make happen giving me young Dylan vibes but not quite as impressive right off the bat that Dylan was in Meteor Garden.
Love Shi Shi. I’m glad she’s back. I’m not really feeling Dylan Wang. I feel like he needs to improve a lot to be on her level.
Would love to see her pair with Alan Fang. His acting seems natural
I am always glad to watch Dylan, but given how much younger he is, I am afraid Liu Shishi will have to deal with a lot of cyberbullying regarding her age, which is absolutely unfair because she’s a real goddess. So hopefully they will cast an older actor (and not even that kid from AJTL who is absolutely fine but also very young). Unless the script dies not involve a romance, then I am absolutely fine with either one of them boys.
Yeah, just look at the gross comments on this site when an older woman, god forbid, is paired with a LEGALLY ADULT younger man (looking at you, commenter Rina). These people act like it’s the end of the world or something 🙄
Sad thing is, it’s mostly women complaining. The internalized misogyny and ageism these women have is insane
If this is true, then I’ll be looking forward to it. I’ve never got to finish any drama of Dylan Wang. But that’s mostly thanks to other reasons, e.g., scripts and FLs. I do think Dylan has acting talent although needs to hone his skills (such as lines) to go with different genres.
As to CHS, he is impressive in A Journey to Love. But his styling isn’t up my street. LOL. I’d be interested in his drama as a ML. A Journey to Love has a talented main cast, each of whom did good a good job on their roles. But I also attribute that success partially to the writer and perhaps the director that made each character unique and the whole composition of the cast is so colorful. I can’t help comparing AJtL to The Longest Promise on the casting aspect. TLP, on the other hand, pales in casting compared to AJtL. Enough whining about the FL, Ren Min. She doesn’t help much. Besides the FL, other supporting actors such as those royal court squad including currently popular actors like Wang Churan, Lu Yuxiao, and Wang Ziqi etc. were pretty lame! The only supporting actor who was seen really doing his job is Alen Fang. I do think TLP’s script and directing has more depth, more substance, and creative artistry than AJtL. But unfortunately the overall cast of TLP wasn’t quite right. Wang Churan, in particular, was bad at acting and her role was not in the original book. Not sure why she was given that role and I think adding her character to the story was part of my disappointment at TLP.
The Longest Promise was centered on the leads and was a typical, uninspired, drama with a cliché ending. None of the supporting characters had significant screen time,therefore, those actors never had a chance to show their talents. If the drama had a decent script, perhaps it wouldn’t be so forgettable.
That’s not true. Actually Xiao Zhan got very limited screen time, much less than Ren Min. It was based upon a female centric novel anyway. He took the project to fulfill his duty as the spokesperson for Tencent. Tencent just used him to carry the drama to popularity but mainly to promote those rookie actors back then, specifically Wang Churan. WC was actually given a lot of screen time and her story arcs were all fabricated from scratch that nothing came from the novel I read. Still, she couldn’t act and looked pretty lukewarm about her role as she did all the same for her past dramas as a supporting role.
I personally consider there were quite a few pretty creative arcs, lines, and settings in TLP demonstrating interesting Chinese artistry and philosophy. I still remember those scenes vividly and love to watch clips of those scenes from fan made videos. The romance in TLP isn’t strong but I personally also dislike intimate scenes and love lines overkill that is the case of A Journey to Love. LOL. So the romance in TLP is fine to me although I think Ren Ming was a bit awkward doing those scenes, like she was pretty nervous. LOL.
I read Zhu Yan in Chinese. I agree the novel isn’t the best anyway. But the novel has more interesting 2nd half after Shi Yin was resurrected. The script writer, however, changed that part largely. She had no choice but change that part due to the addition of arcs for extra 2nd FL WCR and also the arcs of the supporting role, royal prince (Shi Yin’s bro). Even obviously WCR’s screen time was reasonably much less than Ren Min and Xiao Zhan, her insertion into the plot forced the storyline to deviate from the main track of the original novel. That’s the main weakness of this adaptation from my perspective.
As to screen time for the OTP, it’s fair for me to say RM got way more screen time than XZ. Other than the first few and the last few eps, XZ mostly disappeared in the plot development but the focus was obviously on RM. I don’t have complaints about that since the novel is even more heavily female centric. The adaptation actually increased the arcs about Shi Yin as you described. But fair and square, I stand by my opinion about TLP and what is the strength vs weakness of this drama.
Interesting discussions anyway!
I can’t direct reply below. The original novel was called “Zhu Yan” and is a female centric story. Both leads had significant screen time, but it isn’t surprising if the FL had a bit more because that’s the original IP. And that’s a big if, because until someone shows me the time stamps, I still felt like ML had plenty of scenes.
ML had his childhood fleshed out, scenes with his father, his master, his brother, his bird, the other characters, on top of the scenes with FL and the rivalry with 2ML. He came in to save the day countless times. We watched his childhood, his development to becoming priest, his leading the competition, his relationship with FL, his numerous struggles, his leading the fight, every moment was on screen.
In comparison, besides the leads, everyone else, wasn’t even a fifth of the story. There were stretches of episodes where the other characters were missing or just trotted out for a couple of minutes. The leads share the responsibility of how this drama did. There are plenty of significant issues but, this drama’s biggest problem is the script and how none of the other characters had decent development. A good story is collaborative.
Fans fighting because one lead has more screen time than the other aren’t watching the story anymore. Either the story is boring and they have nothing better to do than pick a fight or they never really cared about it in the first place and just want to see their fave.
Just because someone is billed first or has a bigger fan base doesn’t mean they have more screentime. Story always comes first.
But to be fair to this drama, the original book wasn’t good. I don’t blame the writers for trying new characters to flesh it out. Otherwise, they may have to show pubescent Zhu Yan crying to ML that she has her period and doesn’t know why she is bleeding.
Nonsense. Again there are 0 rumors about this,I really don’t know where Koala gets her news but there’s 0 chance Liu Shishi will team up with Dylan Wang due to both of them wanting 1st billing and having demanding fandoms that will riot if they are 2nd billed. Both are liuliangs and will star with less popular actors since they have the fanbase to be first billed and have a drama that revolves around their character. It rarely ends well if both the ML and FL want the story to revolve around themselves.
Liu Shishi will find a same aged or younger actor willing to be her 二番 especially after the success of AJTL which confirms her comeback popularity. Guys like Jing Boran, Li Xian, Ou Hao, Kenny Lin. Even Chen Xiao may not accept 2nd billing opposite her although I wish they’d pair up. Popular actors with proven viewership like Zhang Ruoyun, Johnny Huang, Leo Luo, Xiaozhan etc will do Male POV dramas where they are 1st-billed and the story revolves around the hero, similar to how LSS, Yangmi, Dilreba Crystal Liu do Female POV dramas that revolve around the heroine.
Dylan is still very popular after LBFAD and is currently filming a Male POV drama that looks high quality since it’s by New Classics Media, if that gets good viewership he will never be an 二番 to more popular older actresses again and will pair with less popular or new actresses e.g. Tian Xiwei, Zhang Ruonan, Hu Lianxin, literally any post 00s newbie.
In C-Ent the ability to be 一番 first billed AND guarantee viewership isn’t common so they ask for a lot of wages and production firms will have most projects to be headlined by 1 ML/FL with liuliang or viewership guaranteeing ability (even if they can’t act lol) and pair them with someone who has lesser popularity and asks for less wages/screentime. In some rare cases you have 2 liuliangs like Dilreba & Yangyang agree to be equal billing but it’s very rare.
She shines in Wuxia AJTL so I’m all for another if it’s interesting. When she’s so fierce and bad ass, she gives me a bit of the great Brigitte Lin vibes.
Never watch Dylan but he seems too young and may be overshadowed.
This doesn’t seem set in stone yet so they could still cast a more age appropriate actor.
I bet every young male lead will jump at the change to lead with her… Regardless she did well in this new drama or not. Lol.
😂 I can see this too.
Why did I think I saw melons that Dylan could be cast opposite Liu Yifei for Chang Ling? For Chang Ling I think the age gap between male and female lead is supposed to be 10 years so it would be an accurate age gap.
Ahahahahahaha
Come on, be real here. Do you have any idea what Liu Yifei standards are?! And you think he passes them?!
Better him than the other rumoured choices of Zhang Ling He and Chen Zheyuan. Actually, Dylan or Chen Zhe Yuan wouldn’t be too bad, they at least have some acting ability even if they could improve more. Casting bug-eyed over-actor Zhang Ling He opposite THE Liu Yifei would be the real disaster, he couldn’t even handle himself opposite Bai Lu (who is a good actress, but not the same level as LYF as is).
I don’t get why you need to be condescending in your response. I was merely getting at the fact that maybe there’s a mix up with the melons with him vs Liu Yifei vs Liu Shishi. I also commented on the age gap because I don’t want rabid fans to potentially attack the actress for playing a younger than her age role like there have been in the past.
And to answer your question, no I don’t think he’s a good actor. Only for Love exposes all his weaknesses. I’m also bitter about Ever Night 2 because I love Ever Night 1. He’s fine is certain roles and when he is dubbed. But do investors typically care when someone is currently popular?
@Soph
Liu Yifei is truly something. She has immense power and she likes it that way. She is open about wanting to be in absolute control of her works and she decides everything. Chen Xiao didn’t disappear in the second half of Dream of Splendor for any other reason except she wanted it that way. That is why I laughed. There is no way she would ever deign to even look at WHD. She would think it is beneath her. It is actually pretty well known who she would say yes to and only on her terms.
Dylan is currently the top male star of class 95. Xiao Zhan the top male star of class 90 and Jackson Yee that top male star of class 00. Why would Liu Yifei look down on the top star of class 95?
WHD is currently the top male star of class 95. To give perspective of what that mean. XZ is the top male star of class 90 and Jackson Yee the top male star of 00 class. Wang Yibo is class 95 star. I bet Liu Yifei won’t look down on WHD. Acting is subjective. Millions of fans love WHD acting. There’s melon last year that WHD turn this project down because he want a first bill project.
I’m so glad for her. She’s on a role if this is confirmed! Her Zhu Ye looks good too. I just wished they had given her a better ML, but hopefully Leon Zhang proves me wrong. I was thinking that having a family and kid might set her back, but she’s doing wonderful. I know it’ll be impossible to star Xiao Zhan, but he actually looks good standing next to her. Both of them are signed with the brand TODS so they went to that event together and it was nice seeing them stand next to eachother. Dylan is usually a hit or miss depending on the character.
Never going to happen. XZ is a big male lead, plus he already has two CCTV dramas pulling his sleeves, both huge productions and several movie offers.
That’s why I said impossible, but visually I think he’s a better fit with LSS than Dylan.
What movie offers? Curious.
@Somebody
At least one from an international director and two from big Chinese names.
@And probably more
I’d be interested in his collab with an international director. Who’s been rumored in the talk? Do you know? Thanks.
I do think XZ and LSS exude similar aura in some ways. They do look very compatible in TODS. I’d be thrilled to pieces if they can pair together in a drama. Age-wise, they are not that far apart as XZ vs. Bai Baihe or Dylan Wang vs. LSS.
Liu Shishi really suits the wuxia genre. Rather than focusing on who her next male lead will be, I’m more interested to know her next wuxia drama’s production company, I think that matters more for the drama’s quality.
I would love it if she did something with the Nirvana in Fire team. Nirvana in Fire 3? She would make a great female general.
I read that Dylan with Liu Yufei. wow, boy is on fireeee. He’s everywhere. I wish to see Liu Shishi in modern drama with a senior actor. China has plenty of popular senior actors like Hu Ge, Wang Kai, Wallace Chung, Wallace Huo etc… but these ladies nowadays end up with the junior ones.
But yeah, depending on the story and character. I enjoy watching A Journey To Love. All the actors in this drama did great.
Dylan is a miss or a hit, havent finished anything with him, but i like him in variety show.
LSS has played with Wallace Huo twice before and interchange of 2nd leads with Hu Ge.
I’ve only ever finished Dylan’s drama Miss The Dragon and in there I didn’t even care for his couple. It’s funny because his character was only interesting when he was with the 2nd lead couple, but other than that his character was mellow all the time.
AJTL is a hit mostly because of a good story and all the characters, not just LSS. It is unfortunate for older women, but the fact is the camera does not lie. LSS looks significantly older than everyone else. She makes Liu Yuning look 25 and will make Dylan look even younger. Not a good pairing.
To me, LYN looks the oldest among all the cast in AJTL. Surely the camera does not lie. LOL. I was surprised to find out he’s only 33 yrs old.
When are we going to get leads that match each other in status, age, and talent? Tired of these dramas where the established female lead has to carry the acting of these younger, mediocre actors. LSS is too big of a star and too talented to be acting with Dylan, sorry.
I would like to see a more age appropriate actor opposite her too.
Thinking about it, if they could woo Eddie Peng back to drama land, that’s a reunion I would love to see. They were smoking in Sound of the Desert.