First Look at Country Boy Wu Lei in Concept Teaser for Wuxia Period C-drama The One
So the Tencent period C-drama The One (Chinese title Jian Lai 剑来 which means Sword Comes) has been filming since the end of 2025 and is reportedly close to wrapping production within the month. I didn’t even realize that even though I’m looking forward to this drama since it stars Wu Lei as the male lead and is his first drama filmed in close to three years. This drama story and arc is absolutely the class wuxia tale of an ordinary boy with a great fate and his growth to becoming a swordsman fighting injustice. The concept teaser released hammers home the ordinary boy aspect, showing Wu Lei fishing in a creek looking as country boy as possible. The teaser does have some AI vibes but it’s just a first look and I’m really curious what the drama will look like in terms of full costuming and color grading.
Concept teaser for The One:
It will be interesting to see Wu Lei and Vanda Margraf acting alongside Chang Chen, given that the latter is such a fine actor. He has been solid since his youth, as seen in A Brighter Summer Day.
Wu and Margraf are so-so.
So-so and all but they’re more important than your Qin Tian Yu or your Xu Lu. There’s nothing good about both of them being good actors if they only receive mediocre scripts. I don’t get the point of criticizing anodyne or bad performances if that’s not what puts food on their table. In this industry, they do what they can to keep going, whether they have good looks or strong connections. We have to see the world as it is.
The answer is simple: they exist precisely to make comparisons and point out just how flooded with untalented folks the industry is. LOL. They should thank their backers day and night.
i see user @ningen still has the habit of attacking the lack of popularity/visibility of other actors when the acting of those she likes is criticized lol i missed this place
@Shayeli, do you think this is the same cockroach crawling back constantly with QTY complex? LOL. Thanks to her obsession to stalk you, I had to google QTY and was reminded of his brilliant acting in Fated Heart. lol. I hope to see him in leading roles.
@Somebody. Yep, she must have been stalking me for a long time since she used to grumble about Zhou Yiran because I appreciated him in a role, and now, Qin Tian Yu is her new target. LOL. He already has lead roles in two short length series that I haven’t checked yet. Although I’m excited about the idea of him having a breakthrough, he’s 32 y/o and the industry favors actors who are in their 20s. He doesn’t seem to have connections, I see it as difficult. Sadly.
Oh great! Bring back the wuxia swordsman journey from nothing to greatness. I miss those types of shows. Tired of everything involving court politics.
In my experience, “nothing to greatness” is sometimes nothing more than a story featuring a Gary Stu protagonist. LOL. Most donghuas I’ve seen feature this archetype, just like the original source material for this drama, Sword of Coming. Generic villains and allies, a predictable plot that boils down to good versus evil…
agree with everything except for the mention of Gary Stu protagonists because they common in other genres as well. but i’ve appreciated political court dramas a lot more and found them to offer wider variety. i’ve never finished any “skill-up” donghuas let alone their adaptations.
I thought Wu Lei was going to grow into a much better actor but I suppose it wasn’t meant to be. He still has a type he can do decently enough so he should stick to those dramas and just enjoy life.
She is a major capital hire and push. Nothing there is about talent.
In my opinion, he has a knack when playing characters with military ranks. Or maybe I just liked his portrayal in LLTG. Lol.
Yes, agreed. He can do that intense focus well. I watched that drama mostly for his character. But he needs to be careful what he chooses. He had that same type of acting in that Snowstorm drama and there it was a disaster. He looked like a creepy predator, I had to quit that. That’s what I said he should stick to what passes. Warrior roles are good for him because he can project that intensity. He should stick to that.
Wu Lei seems all right in the right roles, but does give off a “trying too hard” vibe. The trailer looks too bright and filtered, and not very country-like.
The source novel is very long, and I don’t know if they’re going to film it all. Chang Chen’s character, iirc, is only in the first arc of the story.
It’s easier to pigeonhole yourself than to take initiative and self-discipline to learn properly acting skills lol. But it’s better this way so they don’t go around ruining complex characters and turning them into a blank slate.
The wuxia I was hoping to enjoy was Generation to Generation since I like the novel (by Guan Xin Ze Luan, author behind Love Like the Galaxy). The trailer gave the impression that it was going to have enough elements to work as a source of entertainment, but unfortunately, both direction and script are redundant and lack a solid rhythm. It feels underdeveloped.🥲
Yes so much waste of visuals and potential but I still like it
Agree! GTG had everything I usually love: epic stakes, layered wuxia politics, and forbidden romances. The opening episodes are gripping: the younger generation caught in the unresolved conflicts of the past, secrets simmering just below the surface, and emotional stakes that immediately pull you in. You can feel the drama itching to be entertaining.
And then… it starts losing its footing. The script and adaptation are messy: plot threads appear and vanish, pacing jumps around, and the structure feels fragmented. Scenes are rushed or abruptly cut, leaving motivations unclear, emotional transitions clunky.
The direction and editing are arguably the biggest problem. Moments that should feel powerful or heartbreaking often fizzle out because the show rarely lets them breathe. Subplots feel more like interruptions than explorations.
Not even the cool visuals could cool me down lol.
I forgot I was watching this drama lol.
But I remember the acting was decent.
Maybe I’ll pick it up again in 2x.
I dropped GtG soon after I tuned in ep 1. LOL. I didn’t even bother to wonder why. lol. I was just not drawn to FL’s acting.