Updated: December 3, 2023
We will update this post because most of the titles here have already been aired in the last quarter of this year. So let's which titles have not yet been released.
=================================================================
Original post:
It's October! We are approaching the final stretch of 2023, and with a few more C-dramas waiting to be aired this year, it's time to start checking the most exciting series expected for release in 2024.
We are hoping that Romance on the Farm, Derailment, Only For Love, and Love is Panacea will be broadcast this year, so we will not be including these titles in our list for next year's highly-anticipated series.
Update: Romance on The Farm, Only For Love, and Love is Panacea have done airing in November. While Derailment seems to be coming soon on Youku before the year ends.
We arranged the titles in this list in alphabetical order in the spirit of fairness. 🤗
1. A Journey To Love (iQIYI) - Genre: Costume/Action Adventure/Wuxia. Starring Liu Shishi, Liu Yuning, Fang Yilun, He Lan Dou, Chen Hao Yu, and Chang Hua Sen. Update: Premiered on November 30, 2023 on iQIYI.
This is Liu Shishi's first costume drama in six years so this is a bit exciting knowing how Liu Shishi always wisely picks her type of character.
A Journey To Love is a reunion drama of Liu Yuning and Fang Yilun who both appeared in The Long Ballad (2021) as Hao Du and Wei Shuyu respectively.
2. A Lonely Hero's Journey (iQIYI) - Been waiting for this drama to air because the plot is super interesting. I always love spy dramas and this one is top-billed by Joseph Zeng which makes it more exciting!
 |
| Joseph Zeng in A Lonely Hero's Journey |
It's a totally different acting role for Joseph who has been portraying roles with a sense of humor in costume dramas. In this drama, he will portray a spy agent. Also starring Zhang Songwen, Chen Duling, and Wang Yuwen. Genre: Spy-Thriller/Republican
3. Another Kind of Blue (Hunan TV/Mango TV). Genre: Modern Romance/Rural/Healing. English title: Reblooming Blue. It stars Victoria Song and Vic Chou who will make a C-Drama comeback after a couple of years. The last drama in mainland China he did was Palace of Devotion (2021) with Liu Tao.
 |
| Victoria Song and Vic Chou |
This drama talks about healing after a stressful life in the city and a surge of unemployment, the girl goes home to the province. Vic Chou plays the role of Ke Yan, the boss of Victoria Song's character.
4. A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality (Youku) Genre: Costume/Fantasy. This is a xianxia drama and it stars Yang Yang and Jin Chen who last played as ex-lovers in the 2021 romance series, You Are My Glory. Update: The new title is The Immortal Ascension.
5. A Moment But Forever (iQIYI). Genre: Costume/Xianxia and starring Tiffany Tang and Liu Xue Yi. This is Tiffany Tang's comeback costume drama after The Legend of Xiao Chou in 2020.
 |
| Tiffany Tang and Liu Xueyi |
It tells the story of Goddess Wushuang (Tiffany Tang) who goes down to the mortal realm to assassinate Yuan Zhong (Liu Xueyi), the high priest of the fox clan, to retrieve the power of “god's left hand.” She witnesses how he's isolated and wronged by his own clan and decides to protect him.
6. Angel Falls Sometimes (Tencent). This sounds like a tragic romance drama as the main male character has an illness and the female lead will accompany him in his journey to acceptance. Starring Lin Yi and Li Landi. Genre: Modern Romance
7. Amidst A Snowstorm of Love (Tencent). So after Wu Lei portrayed the role of a badminton-turned-tennis pro player in Nothing But You, here comes another athletic Wu Lei as he will play the role of a billiard player.
 |
| Wu Lei and Zhao Jinmai |
And of course, he will fall in love with someone in the same sports. Zhao Jinmai co-stars with him. Excited to watch this drama because half of the filming was done in Finland! Genre: Modern Romance/Sports
8. As Beautiful As You (Tencent). This is another urban romance drama in the office setting, but hopefully, Xu Kai and Tan Songyun's rapport will give a tastier flavor to this mundane theme. Tan Songyun will be playing the role of a start-up entrepreneur while Xu Kai will be the company CEO who will build a business partnership with her. And later, well, what else, fall in love. 😄
9. Bright Road (iQIYI). This seems to be another propaganda drama from the communist party of China. But with Wang Yibo and Li Qin, plus Wang Yang as main leads, expect another engrossing drama to watch. Wang Yibo seems playing an underground spy here?
 |
| Bright Road |
10. Burning Flames (iQiyi). Genre: Costume/Martial Arts/Adventure. This drama has multiple characters in the main roles. Ren Jialun, Xing Fei, Merxat Yalkun, Yang Yikuan, and Bambi Xu. According to those who have already read the manhua, this drama has plenty of violence but of course that will be censored heavily so let's see what is the finished output.
11. Dawn of the Book of Heaven (Youku). Genre: Costume/Mystery/Investigation. It stars Li Hong Yi and Su Xiaotong. Li Hong Yi will play the role of someone who is interested in medicine but becomes entangled in a murder case. He will lead an investigation to clear his name.
12. Deep Lurk (Jiangsu TV). Speaking of a spy drama. Deep Lurk is another highly-anticipated drama that's been on my list like forever!
 |
| Cheng Yi as a spy in Deep Lurk |
You see, this drama finished filming in May 2020 at the height of the pandemic but still no news when it will be released. It stars Cheng Yi and Ying Er (the wife of Cheng Yi's co-star in South Wind Knows, Fu Xinbo). Genre: Spy-Thriller/Republican. Cheng Yi will play a spy here as he tries to trace his father's murderer.
13. Drunk Spring Breeze (Youku). An update regarding the English title of this drama has yet to be made, all we know is that this is a prequel to The Blood of Youth and the genre is costume martial arts. It stars Neo Hou, He Yu, Hu Lian Xin, and Xia Zhiguang.
14. Everlasting Longing (Tencent). Genre: Costume/Action. It stars Angelababy and Song Wei Long.
 |
| Angelababy and Song Weilong |
This sounds like a female-centric drama with Angelababy as the female protagonist and Song Wei Long playing the role of a grassland hero or her abductor? The plot sounds good so hopefully, Angelababy will deliver a great performance.
15. Falling in Love (Youku). This is an exciting pairing because Lin Yi and Zhou Ye are two of the good-looking actors in C-entertainment today. And this sounds like an e-sports romance drama.
 |
| Zhou Ye and Lin Yi |
16. Follow Your Heart (iQIYI). A costume/mystery drama. I am not a fan of Song Yi and Luo Yunxi but this costume drama sounds interesting because it is trickled with mystery.
17. Fox Spirit Matchmaker: Yue Hong (iQIYI). This is the first chapter of the Fox Spirit Matchmaker series and it stars Yang Mi and Gong Jun. Genre: Costume/Xianxia.
 |
| Gong Jun and Yang Mi |
Not into Gong Jun dramas but I always love the visual of Yang Mi when she is xianxia. This is a story of a mortal falling in love with a spirit and how their opposite worlds collide.
The Yue Hong chapter is the first adaptation of the popular manhua, Fox Spirit Matchmaker, and mainly tells the story of a human warrior and the fox spirit who fall in love and promise to meet in the next life. Which set the stage for two other drama adaptations: Zhu Ye and Wang Quan and how the main characters are inter-related.
18. Fox Spirit Matchmaker: Zhu Ye (iQIYI). Genre: Costume/Xianxia. The second chapter of the Fox Spirit Matchmaker drama series.
The main characters Dongfang Huaizhi and Wangquan Baye (Liu Shishi and Leon Zhang) are the parents of Wangquan Fugui, the reincarnation of Wang Fuigi, the main character in the Wang Quan arc to be played by Cheng Yi.
Huaizhi's sister, Dongfang Qinlan (played by Shen Yue) is also the mother of Dongfang Yuechu, the main male protagonist in the Yuehong chapter played by Gong Jun.
19. Guardians of the Dafeng (Tencent). Starring Dylan Wang, Tian Xi Wei, and Liu Yi Jun. Genre: Costume/Xianxia. We heard this is a time travel theme. Plot: Xu Qian (Dylan Wang) who graduated from the police academy woke up quietly and found himself in prison. He was exiled to the border three days later.
20. Harbin 1944 (iQIYI). Starring Yang Mi and Qin Hao. This is a republican spy drama and Qin Hao will play a dual role as twins. One of the twins has a past relationship with Yang Mi's character. It's an interesting drama if you like spy stories and political unrest.
21. Hero Legends (Tencent/CCTV). Starring Cheng Yi, Li Yitong, Xiao Shunyao, and many more. This is based on the martial arts book, Hero Chronicles.
 |
| Cheng Yi |
22. Hidden Charm (Tencent). Genre: Costume, and starring Zhang Wanyi and Wang Churan. The story seems to tell us that the female protagonist is escaping from her arranged marriage and along the way she loses her memory and will be rescued by the male protagonist who is a bandit.
23. Joy of Life (iQIYI). This is season 2 of Joy of Life (2019) and will pick up where the first season ended. This is another costume/mystery/investigative drama and is loaded with a cast who are popular female leads such as Li Qin, Song Yi, Wang Churan, Mao Xiaotong, and Jin Chen. The male lead is Zhang Rouyun.
24. Legend of Rosy Clouds (iQIYI). Joseph Zeng seems to be an exclusive contract star of iQIYI. All his dramas are streamed on iQiyi. He will play the role of an enigmatic king in this drama, a bit weak, but actually a wise king.
 |
| Li Yitong, Joseph Zeng, Deng Wei, Riley Wang |
This drama has an ensemble cast whose popularity exploded this year. Joseph Zeng, Deng Wei, and Riley Wang. In addition to Li Yitong as the female lead.
25. Legend of Shen Li (Tencent) - A costume xianxia drama. This is a highly-anticipated reunion drama of the Princess Agents leads Zhao Liying and Lin Gengxin.
This has been rumored to air this year but it's already December and Tencent is not hinting anything about the release date of this drama, so we are assuming this will be released next year to compete with Yang Mi's Fox Spirit Matchmaker of iQIYI. So expect another iQIYI-Tencent viewership rivalry in 2023.
26. Lost You Forever Part 2 (Tencent) - The highly anticipated part 2 of Lost You Forever. So naturally they will just continue the story as filming has already been completed.
27. Nirvana in Fire (iQIYI). The third season of Nirvana in Fire remains a great mystery to all of us. We don't know if they already started filming as everything has been held in close-guarded secrecy by iQIYI and Daylight Production. No final casting was announced, no booting ceremony, no photo was released other than the poster.
28. Reset Season 2 (TBA). It has been confirmed that the hit time-loop drama, Reset, will have season 2. However, it's not clear if the main leads of season 1, Bai Jingting and Zhao Jinmai will return for season 2.
Reset was a huge hit in 2022, I even watched it twice, due to its highly entertaining value and surprising twists. So hopefully, season 2 will also offer the same level of mystery and excitement and for sure that's a time-loop theme so it's gonna be another interesting C-Drama to watch.
29. Story of Joy (Tencent). Starring Xu Kai and Yang Zi. This is a modern romance set in the hotel industry theme. A normal formula story of romantic dramas in the modern world. A boy-meets-girl type of thing then they will fall in love. What makes this different from other mundane romance dramas is how Yang Zi's character navigates through life's ups and downs.
30. Seven Heart Slips (Youku). Starring Song Weilong, Liu Hao Cun, and Ao Ruipeng. Two handsome in one drama OMG! Enough to get us excited! This is somewhat of a science-fiction drama. Whatever the real story, we know this is an exciting one.
 |
| Song Weilong and Ao Ruipeng |
31. Smile Code (Tencent/Mango TV). This is a rom-com series starring Shen Yue and Lin Yi. And with the sweet charisma of these two actors, surely this will be an interesting watch.
 |
| Lin Yi and Shen Yue |
Love their height combo! 😍 Shen Yue will play a stand-up comedian in this drama while Lin Yi plays an emotionless person who can't express himself because he is suffering from alexithymia.
32. Sword Rose (Tencent). This is a police investigation drama and Dilraba Dilmurat will play the role of a policewoman for the first time. She will star opposite Jin Shi Jia. Both of them starred in the 2015 costume comedy-drama, Cosmetology High.
 |
| Dilraba Dilmurat and Jin Sijia |
33. There is a Lover in My Home Town (Tencent/Hunan TV). Li Xian starred this year in Meet Yourself, a highly-rated rural theme drama. It looks like he will star again in another healing/rural theme drama.
Li Xian will play the role of a funeral makeup artist in his hometown. He will meet his schoolmate who is now a disabled woman (due to a car accident/played by Zhou Yutong) who returns to their hometown for some emotional and physical healing.
34. The Rise of Ning (Tencent). Genre: Costume. Leads: Zhang Wanyi and Ren Min. Based on the title, this drama sounds like a female-centric story. Hopefully, this is an exciting one. Saw the photos of Zhang Wanyi and Ren Min during the filming. They looked interesting.
35. The Story of Mystics (iQIYI) - Starring Neo Hou and Chen Duling. According to Douban, this drama is a strip from the "The Classic of Mountains and Seas" legend where humans and demons collide. So this is a xianxia drama.
36. The Shadow (Tencent). Genre: Vengo Gao and Taiwanese actress Ouyang Nana. I'm a bit disturbed by the huge age gap of the leads, almost 17 years apart! But well, this is a story of a vampire and a human so perhaps that's how they come up with this casting with a big age difference.
I couldn't remember if there's a C-Drama ever produced from mainland China that used a Vampire myth in the story as this legend is from the West and not from China. So good luck if this will be approved for release.
37. The Tale of Rose (Tencent). A romance drama starring Liu Yifei. She has several A-list leading men in this drama, including Tong Da Wei, Wallace Hou, Peng Guan Ying, and Lin Gengxin. Lin Yi is also part of the supporting cast.
 |
| Wallace Huo and Liu Yifei |
38. Tibetan Sea Opera (Youku) - Genre: Adventure fantasy. Starring Xiao Zhan. He will be playing the role of Wang Zanghai. It's being rumored that his female lead is Zhang Jingyi and the final title is "The Legend of the Hidden Sea".
39. Under The Skin season 2 (Tencent/iQIYI) Genre: Crime/Thriller. Under the Skin season 1 was one of the biggest hits in 2022 in the crime-thriller genre. So this season 2 offering excites many fans who have watched the season 1.
Shen Yi (played by Tan Jianci), the portraitist of the Public Security Bureau, and Interpol Captain Du Cheng (played by Jin Shijia) will continue their partnership to solve crime cases using Shen Yi's talent in painting the suspects.
 |
| Under The Skin season 2 |
The plot summary of Under The Skin season 1: The young painter Shen Yi (played by Tan Jianci) resigned from the Academy of Fine Arts and entered Haicheng Public Security Bureau mysteriously. Interpol Captain Du Cheng(played by Jin Shijia) was furious and said that he would never accept those who caused his comrade to be killed in the police force.
Five years ago, Shen Yi, who was still a student, was sketching on the street. One day, she was approached by a woman who brought a picture of a child and asked him to draw what the child would look like as an adult.
This painting caused Haicheng detective Lei Yi Fei to be exposed as an undercover agent, and he was killed. Lei Yi Fei happened to be Du Cheng's long-time friend and confidant.
Shen Yi was haunted by the said crime. The strange thing is that no matter how hard Shen Yi tried to recall the face of the woman who approached him, he couldn't draw her face.
As the guilt became heavier, and in order to find the truth, Shen Yi joined the Public Security Bureau and became a portraitist of the Interpol Team. Under the bureau's recommendation, Du Cheng had to accept Shen Yi as his colleague.
On the way to find out the truth of Lei Yi Fei's life and death, the two people who were pursuing alone, gradually untied their knots and relied on each other.
 |
| Liang Jie and Guo Junchen |
40. Zong Ran (Mango TV). Genre: Romance/Mystery/Time Travel. Starring Liang Jie, Guo Junchen, and Jiang Guan Nan.
This time-loop romance drama sounds similar to the Korean drama, Signal (2016). The two protagonists will communicate across time and space and will try to figure out how they will meet in the present time.
Posts
0 Comments