"Secret of the Three Kingdoms" Presscon and Trailer

Secret of the Three Kingdoms Presscon Ma Tianyu

Tangren’s upcoming drama Secret of the Three Kingdoms 三国机密 held a presscon last week, and in the absence of leading lady Wan Qian, they placed a cardboard cutout of her next to Ma Tianyu. It’s kind of funny but it works, and yet I’m too busy staring at the visual goodness of having Ma Tianyu and Elvis Han on the same stage. The two will be playing friends who are likely going to turn into enemies when history runs its course.

The show has dropped a ten-minute-long trailer that gives a lot away (I mean it’s so long). In this fictional take on history, the man who’s assumed the role of the Emperor of Han (Ma Tianyu) is not really the emperor but an imposter. Nonetheless, he tries his best to advocate peace which brings him at odds with his queen (Wan Qian) who believes that blood must be shed to win the war. Both are aligned in their intention to save the Han Dynasty, but their opposing ideals make for a lot of intense shouting and dramatic crying.

The Emperor comes off rather one-dimensional from the trailer, which brings my attention to the rest of the cast that seem more complex and intriguing. I’m most interested to see Cao Cao (Tse Kwan Ho) and Si Ma Yi (Elvis Han) as both were integral characters during the Three Kingdoms Era. The Han Emperor was a puppet ruler for most of his life being a pawn of Dong Zhuo and later Cao Cao, but it seems like he will be depicted in a very different light here.