Sun Qian and Cheng Lei Tapped for Tencent Modern Romance and Thriller C-drama The Queen of Brilliance
It’s a round 2 for the casting of big budget Tencent modern C-drama The Queen of Brilliance. Earlier it was a project pushing for the reunion of Crystal Liu and Chen Xiao and scheduled to film and air in 2026, but the year came and went the the drama didn’t get off the ground. Now Tencent is reportedly moving forward for sure with it for 2027 and the leads in discussion are Sun Qian and Cheng Lei, with the production team of Love’s Ambition coming together for this drama. Both Sun Qian and Cheng Lei are coming off recent dramas that did/are doing well, her with The Early Spring and him with The Lament of Autumn, and TBH having them paired together feels like a weird musical chairs from those two red flag heavy male lead character dramas. He does do intense staring well and she’s got the deer in headlights innocent vibe down pat so I’m game for these two to have a go at it.
🤣 Quick! grab her whilst she is hot from the Press!!
Loving seeing Cheng Lei getting more popular and more roles.
He’s a resource-backed actor. He’s under iQiyi-affiliated agency. It’s about who has stronger connection/better resources.
So what? LOL.
she really looks like a less glamorous version of Jun Ji hyun
I really don’t see Sun Qian for this role. She’s very 东北大妞 and blur, not exactly glamorous.
I find her neither pretty nor glamorous. She gives me abit of a derpy vibe n look, probably one of the most average looking cdrama actresses ive seen in awhile. Actung is so bland too. She wishes she were jun ji hyun pls.
Both of them have no charisma as actors lol. They are lucky to be pushed so hard.
Cheng Lei, the capital darling. They will continue to push him even with his practically non existent success. Sigh.
I don’t get all the disdain for Cheng lei. I like him as an actor. Regardless if he is favored or not. I think most actors suit certain genres and may not get it right in choosing scripts. But for me he is doing well enough. I can’t hate on him like so many seem to do on here. 🤷🏻♀️
I don’t get it too. I first saw him in a short/mini cdrama, A Familiar Stranger (by pre-Blossom and Pursuit of Jade director). It exploded in popularity and I think that’s how he ended up in mainstream dramas.
And initially, it was as a second lead like in My Journey to You (starring Esther Yu and Zhang Ling He).
Now a few years after, yes, it seems like investors trust him enough to bet on him as male lead. But these backers weren’t there from the get-go.
If he gets his backer after working so hard in short drama and second lead, I don’t see the hate. It means that at least his acting is good enough to get a sponsor approval. Not like certain actors who have backer even from the debut and get to be a lead all the time
You need to learn what hate is. He is a capital backed actor who gets his roles based on that, the capital pushing him. He has no major successes, he is not popular, he is there for one reason and one reason only – the capital backer trying to make him happen.
Guess what? There are plenty of people sick of that thing in cent, whether it is him, Zhou Ye or some other capital puppet.
How does that work? Like how is it determined who is backed by capital? I’ve heard some popular stars are said to be backed by capital as well. Confusing.
Doesn’t that mean someone is sponsoring them to succeed? Some may have more than others? How is this wrong when almost every celebrity has someone in some capacity like this. Some may have a bit more than others but that is the person who invests and their freedom to do so no? Hollywood is no different and probably much worse. That does not stop me from watching someone like him unless he abuses people? Does he? Some are more fortunate than others and filming needs such investors to keep things running. I don’t see this ever ending. Nor am I saying it is fair. But those with money or capital are the ones we should question then? Why put so much blame on the actors. Should they reject the help then? I don’t see this industry as fair no matter what. But I still like this actor. I guess me being American can’t understand this fully. To each their own.
@Rero
Why do you think cent is dying? It’s because capital has completely taken over and roles aren’t being awarded based on talent and popularity but based on who is backing them.
Take Zhou Ye. She has ruined numerous dramas by now, some highly anticipated. She will continue to do that because of who is behind her. But the audience just doesn’t want to bother any more. Then add dozen more Zhou Ye cases and suddenly everyone is crying about low ratings and a cold market. New and smaller actors are almost out of work these days. They just aren’t getting opportunities. Investors aren’t actually investing. Fewer dramas than ever are being filmed.
Some big directors have talked about this openly. Not being allowed to pick who they think is best for a role and the consequences but nobody is listening. When the market really hits rock bottom I hope you aren’t all going to pretend to shocked and surprised why that happened. It’s going to be too late then.
Can’t wait to see sun qian shine again
Aww I like Sun Qian. I think she doesn’t have the striking beauty but I think she is pretty. As for Cheng Lei, I think he’s got screen presence and not bad looking.
Let’s get real! Every single actor is backed by capital – including your absolute favorite. lol. If they weren’t, they wouldn’t be booking a single project, period. Without massive capital investment, you wouldn’t even have basic drugstore Vaseline, let alone luxury La Mer. Acting like capital backing is some kind of shameful disgrace and inferiority is completely delusional, full of arrogant ignorance. lol. It is literally just how the economy works. An actor gets capital backing for one simple reason: there is a market for them. People actually want to watch them. Period.
But people are not watching, though. Isn’t that the problem? Have you seen the Yunhe viewership metrics for this year? According to your opinion, these actors are backed soley because of their grand star power, but who is tuning in to watch the ‘undeniable charm’ these actors supposedly exude? The general public in China has completely lost interest this self-indulgent, delusional market. There is such a thing as capital-controlled market distortion and this manipulation is obviously negatively impacting the C-drama industry. Are you completely denying this?
Some even have to inflated numbers out of sheer desperation.
Subsequently, capital continued to penetrate the booming short-form drama market, which initially offered another opportunity for those without connection or resources. By the end of 2025, capital had destroyed this market by aggressively promoting AI-generated short dramas. These dramas flooded the market, and by 2026, 95% of short dramas have been AI-produced. Capital did this not only to reduce production costs but also to prevent the emergence of newcomers that would have been the Zhang Chis, Chen Tianxiang or Ke Chun of 2026. Indeed, in 2024-2025, the focus shifted dramatically, and short-form drama actors began to enhance their own value, proving that success was possible even without capitalist support. This is precisely why they had to vigorously promote AI-generated production. My personal opinion after observing what the evolution of things.
The saddest thing about capital in Chinese entertainment is their poor taste. They persist in promoting mediocre actors, to the point that the traditional industry is going through a deep crisis. Then, when the short-form drama market started to take off last year, offering a real alternative for aspiring actors without networks or resources, the capitalists rushed in and massively promoted AI-produced short-form dramas.