Revenge (刺棠) has finally announced its cast with the fan protests ultimately amounting to nothing as the leads remain unchanged. Zhang Linghe and Lu Yuxiao who are both under the agency Star Times are confirmed as the new onscreen couple for the upcoming Tencent S+ drama, also produced by Linmon Pictures. The actress has top-billing in accordance with industry rules based on their surnames.
The Fan Wars Aren’t Going Anywhere
And here we go again. The bad blood between their fans continues, with comments saying that “there will be consequences for pushing the actress as the female lead.” They also made it clear that they won’t blindly support the drama and will freely express their opinions about it. Both leads appeared at the booting ceremony today, September 12, with filming expected to last four months. Some also took issue with his posters being announced over 30 minutes before Lu Yuxiao’s. It’s no wonder we don’t see the usual fanfare organized by fans for such events.
A Revenge Story With Plenty of Angst
Adapted from a novel of the same name by Wu Yuan, it tells the story of Crown Prince Song Ling who dies after being assassinated. Su Luowei, his childhood sweetheart, marries his younger brother and becomes empress in order to seek revenge for him. She secretly plans to make use of Ye Tingyan, a court official who has recently returned without knowing that he is actually the crown prince who had faked his death and believes he was betrayed.
So that’s an angst-filled drama to add to the ongoing drama outside of filming. If it can pull off a repeat of Pursuit of Jade, which also had plenty of fighting before filming even began, then everyone’s a winner. In Revenge, Zhang Linghe goes from a gentle crown prince to a scheming official driven by vengeance. His all-black outfit is already a lot like his previous role as Xie Zheng. Lu Yuxiao plays an ice queen type character with a commanding presence.
Ci Tang Full Cast
It’s kind of hard to see who’s playing a prominent role with the cast list always ordered by surnames, so here goes. Wang Hongyi plays the role of Song Ning while other special stars include Sun Ning, Sun Zhenni, Liu Mengrui, Li Qing, Tong Mengshi, He Landou, Gao Hanyu and Liang Jie. Other cast include Ding Jiawen, Sun Zeyuan, An Yuexi, Zhang Fan, Chen Bohao, Gala Zhang Yao, Zhang Lei, Huang Mengying and Zeng Kelang. It is directed by Guo Hu (Mysterious Lotus Casebook).
Honestly, this new pairing is simply chef’s kiss for some of us and there’s quite the cast with many familiar faces like Liang Jie, also a leading lady in her own right, who trended for taking the supporting role but wasn’t present at the booting ceremony.
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