16 Costume C-Drama That Are Currently Filming. Which One Are You Most Excited About?

For everyone who likes drama in the costume genre, below are the projects that are currently filming or in the pre-production period. We did not include titles that are not yet confirmed or drama that has not yet started filming.

Which among these highly-anticipated series are you most excited about? Check the below titles and the corresponding brief storyline. We arranged the titles in alphabetical order:

1. A Female Assassin of the Song Dynasty

Sub-genre: Action/Historical
Main Leads: Wang Churan and Li Hongyi
Broadcast network: Youku

Wang Churan and Li Hongyi

This drama began with a heated exchange of words between Li Hongyi and Wang Churan's fans over billing issues, which is nothing new in the Chinese drama fandom as fans often fight over the billing positions of the stars.

A Female Assassin of the Song Dynasty is female-centric and a story of rebirth (based on the original source novel). This is an action drama rather than pure wuxia. You can read the plot summary HERE

2. Carefree/Xiao Yao

Sub-genre: Fantasy/Xianxia
Main Leads: Tan Songyun and Neo Hou
Broadcast network: Youku

Neo Hou and Tan Songyun at the booting ceremony

The story is about a carefree girl from the human race who accidentally steps into the demon realm and inadvertently creates chaos, unsealing the soul of the demon realm lord.

However, they had a grim connection in their past lives that could threaten their budding romance. It's been three years since Tan Songyun appeared in a costume drama (the last time was in The Sword and the Brocade) so fans are excited about her comeback to the ancient costume genre.

3. Flourished Peony

Sub-genre: Historical/Business
Main Leads: Yang Zi and Li Xian
Broadcast network: Hunan TV/Mango TV

Li Xian and Yang Zi

This is the second time that Yang Zi and Li Xian will collaborate in the drama after their hit series in 2019, Go Go Squid, so fans are excited.

This is a romance story set in ancient times under the backdrop of business. Yang Zi will play He Weifang, whose childhood name is Mu Dan. She is married to a noble family but it was unsatisfying so the union ended in divorce.

Weifang then set up a barren garden and started cultivating rare peonies, creating her own planting industry, and gaining fame in the capital. Along her journey to a prosperous business career, she will meet Jiang Changyang (Li Xian).

4. Fox Spirit Matchmaker: Wang Quan Chapter

Sub-genre: Fantasy/Xianxia
Main Leads: Cheng Yi and Li Yitong
Broadcast network: iQIYI

Cheng Yi

This is the drama adaptation of the popular manhua/donghua, Fox Spirit Matchmaker. It talks about the romance between a human Taoist, Wang Fugui, and a spider spirit named Qingtong.

As a human, Wang Fugui does not remember his past life and past love, so Qingtong will seek the help of the Fox Spirit Matchmakers to remind Wang Fugui of his past and their pledge of love.

Cheng Yi will once again showcase his impressive talent in swordplay here since his character is known to be a high-skilled sword man and a demon slayer who has a powerful weapon named Wangquan Golden Life Blade.

The Wang Quan chapter is the third drama adaptation of the Fox Spirit Matchmaker animation after the Yuehong and Zhu Ye chapters. You can read HERE the synopsis of each adaptation.

5. Kill Me, Love Me

Sub-genre: Historical/War
Main Leads: Wu Jinyan and Liu Xueyi
Broadcast network: Youku

Wu Jinyan and Liu Xueyi

Liu Xueyi is very talented in acting and deserves to be recognized in the industry. We're hoping that through this drama he will have a rise in stardom soon and join the list of A-celebrities.

Kill Me Love Me follows the prince of Dayan, Murong Jinghe (Liu Xueyi) who led the Weibei Army as a general to regain the lost territory of Qingzhou.

After the army entered Qingzhou, a fire broke. Rumors spread that Murong Jinghe hated the people of Qingzhou for betraying Dayan, so he issued the order to burn the city and massacre the people.

The rumors painted him as a ruthless general who loathed the city. In return, everyone in Qingzhou vowed to kill him. One of the persons who wanted him to be killed was Mei Lin (Wu Jinyan), a girl from Qingzhou who lost her loved ones in the fire.

Mei Lin entered the secret organization to become a soldier and plan her revenge against Murong Jinghe. After eight years of brutal training, she received her first assassination mission to kill Murong Jinghe.

Under the arrangement of the secret organization, Mei Lin disguised as a bride and traveled to Xiyan to get married. There, she waited for an opportunity to assassinate Murong Jinghe.

But what Mei Lin didn't know is that the master of the secret organization she joined and the one who gave her the assassination mission was none other than Murong Jinghe himself!

Ohhhh! Intriguing isn't it?

6. Legend of the Female General

Sub-genre: Historical/War
Main Leads: Zhou Ye and Cheng Lei
Broadcast network: Youku

Cheng Lei and Zhou Ye

This is another female-centric costume drama and follows He Yan was born to be a Star General. There's no available plot summary shared by the production yet but based on the source novel, "Rebirth of a Star General", He Yan enters the army to replace her brother who was sick.

After her brother recovered, she left the army and got married, but her husband abandoned her. She suffered a rare eye illness and she started losing her eyesight.

A great general of her time, He Yan died pitifully in the hands of those shameless women, who only knew to fight for a man’s favor.

But to He Yan's surprise, she woke up to find herself on the battlefield as a soldier again with a stoic commander, Xue Jue (Cheng Lei).

So this is another story of rebirth. How the screenplay of the drama was written is a matter of future discovery. 😂

7. Legend of the Hidden Sea

Sub-genre: Historical/Action
Main Leads: Xiao Zhan and Zhang Jingyi
Broadcast network: Youku

booting ceremony of Legend of the Hidden Sea

The story follows Wang Zanghai (Xiao Zhan), who, after the demise of his family, decides to rise up in the ranks of the imperial court to seek revenge against those who wronged him.

Zhanghai is originally named Zhi Nu, the son of Kuai Duo, an Imperial Astronomer. However, his entire family was murdered. Zhi Nu hid his anger and began learning architecture and political strategy to get back at his family's murderers.

Ten years later, he returned to the capital changing his name to Zang Hai. To gain the trust of his family's enemy, Marquis Ping Jin, Zang Hai solved many complex problems in the kingdom including the joint burial of the emperor and empress.

Zang Hai then entered the court service and became the new Imperial Astronomer. He made careful preparations to bring Marquis Ping Jin, and all the others who were involved in the murder of his family, to justice.

8. Moonlight Mystique

Sub-genre: Fantasy/Xianxia
Main Leads: Bai Lu and Ao Ruipeng
Broadcast Network: iQiyi

Ao Ruipeng and Bai Lu

Note: This drama currently wrapped up filming.

The story follows Bai Shuo (Bai Lu), the youngest daughter of the General’s Mansion, who made a vow to cultivate immortality as a way to repay a favor.

While on her journey to seek immortality, she unexpectedly saved the powerful demon god, Fan Yue (Ao Ruipeng). Initially strangers, they gradually went from mutual manipulation to mutual affection, and eventually, fell in love.

9. Moonlit Reunion

Sub-genre: Fantasy/Supernatural
Main Leads: Xu Kai and Tian Xiwei
Broadcast Network: Tencent

Tian Xiwei and Xu Kai

It follows Wu Zhen (Tian Xiwei), the playful daughter of the Duke of Henan. She has been pampered since childhood and has a carefree personality .

She became known as the famous dandy in Chang'an, but she has a unique supernatural ability. She can see spirits at a very young age.

When she was young, she accidentally fell from a building and was rescued by her former cat master. She inherited his demon power and became the new cat master, secretly in charge of the Chang'an Demon City.

Mei Zhu Yu (Xu Kai) is the nephew of a noble concubine. Like Wu Zhen, he can also see spirits. When he was still a child, he was sent to a Taoist temple to train and later on, he possessed spiritual power.

Mei Zhu Yu and Wu Zhen later met and married. Moonlit Reunion tells the story of husband and wife with supernatural powers who find solace in their celestial connection.

10. Offering Fish

Sub-genre: Fantasy/Xianxia
Main Leads: Arthur Chen and Wang Yinglu
Broadcast Network: Youku

Offering Fish booting ceremony

This is Arthur Chen's drama comeback since Lighter and Princess in 2022, and his first costume drama since Legend of Awakening in 2020. Arthur rarely makes web series, His acting concentration is in movies, mostly directed by his father, Chen Kaige.

This drama has no English title yet so let's just call it Offering Fish taken from the novel source title, Offering Salted Fish to Master. Apparently, in the Chinese language, Offering salted fish means someone who just intends to do nothing while he is a demonic master.

Plot Summary from Douban:

After being sealed in the mountains for 500 years, Sima Jiao (Chen Feiyu), the founder of the Gengchen Immortal Mansion, met Liao Tingyan (Wang Yinglu), who accidentally came to the world of immortality, and was overcome by her "salted fish" instinct of wanting nothing.

From then on, Liao Tingyan began to guide Sima Jiao to be good step by step and became the person who changed him. In the process, they fell in love and experienced a love-hate entanglement spanning three lives in the fairy palace, the demon realm, and the human world.

11. Perfect Match

Sub-genre: Family Romance
Main Leads: multiple leads including Wang Xing Yue, Lu Yuxiao, and Wu Xuanyi
Broadcast Network: Hunan TV/Mango TV

The Liu Family in Perfect Match

This drama is a somewhat romantic comedy theme with five sets of young couples. Mrs. Liu, a wealthy family from Luoyang, has five daughters, one is already married, one is a widow, and three are still singles.

She moved her family to a prosperous city of the Northern Song Dynasty to find each of them an upright and wealthy husband. The journey to finding a suitable match for her daughters becomes a hilarious moment in the story.

12. Phoenix Stage

Sub-genre: Wuxia
Main Leads: Ren Jialun and Peng Xiaoran
Broadcast Network: Youku

Peng Xiaoran and Ren Jialun at the booting ceremony

Ling Cang Cang (Peng Xiaoran), relied on her heroic courage and surprising martial arts skills to establish Fenglai Pavilion, a sect that supports justice in the world.

Xiao Huan (Ren Jialun), the young emperor of the Nanqi Dynasty, devoted himself to serving the people. However, the chief and assistant ministers united with Jianghu forces to control the government.

To save the people from suffering, Xiao Huan changed his name to "Bai Chi Fan" and traveled around the world in private. He met Ling Cang Cang and the two of them fought together to save the world and cherish each other.

13. The Golden Age

Sub-genre: Political/Historical
Main Leads: Darren Chen and Huang Yi
Broadcast network: Tencent

Darren Chen and Huang Yi in the center during the booting ceremony

Fans are hoping this drama will duplicate the success of "An Ancient Love Song", the highest-rated costume drama in Douban in 2023, which, despite having main leads who don't have large traffic, was able to achieve popularity.

The Golden Age is directed by the same director of An Ancient Love Song, Zhizhu. It is historical and palace intrigues as it tells the story of Wu Zetian, the only empress regnant in Chinese history, during the Tang Dynasty.

14. The Legend of Jewelry

Sub-genre: Historical/Business/Romance
Main Leads: Zhao Lusi and Liu Yuning
Broadcast network: Youku

Liu Yuning and Zhao Lusi

For months, several names of actors were dragged into this drama without any confirmation. Only Zhao Lusi was confirmed to star at first. Near the start of filming, the name of the male lead was revealed to be Liu Yuning.

The Legend of Jewelry follows Duan Wu (Zhao Lusi), a slave of the pearl farm, who is determined to change her destiny. She escapes her situation and travels to the city. Along the way, she meets the ruthless businessman Yan Zijing (Liu Yuning), changing the course of her destiny.

15. Thousand Fragrances

Sub-genre: Fantasy
Main Leads: Ju Jingyi and Song Weilong
Broadcast Network: Youku

Song Weilong as Lei Xiu Yuan in Thousand Fragrances

This is the second drama collaboration of Song Weilong and Ju Jingyi after "In a Class of Her Own" (2020). This is produced by H&R Century Pictures (the agency of Ren Jialun and Cheng Yi) and, surprisingly, the company did not tap their own contract stars to lead this series except, Liu Ming Rui, who gained attention with her role as Princess Qing'Er in Mysterious Lotus Casebook (the love interest of Fang Doubing).

Thousand Fragrances drama follows Xiao Bang Chui (Ju Jingyi), an orphan from Qingqiu, who enrolled in the Young Phoenix Academy to study.

There, she befriended students from the academy and together they formed a tight bond. But over time, the group went their separate ways and only the sly and clever young Lei Xiu Yuan (Song Weilong) stayed by her side.

Five years later, Xiao Bang Chui, now known as Jiang Li Fei, had transformed into a woman of otherworldly beauty.

As everyone pursued the secrets of the deities, she met her former classmates in the Young Phoenix Academy and journeyed together to fight evil forces.

16. Water Dragon Ballad

Sub-genre: Fantasy/Wuxia
Main Leads: Luo Yunxi and Lin Yun
Broadcast Network: Youku

Ao Ziyi, Luo Yunxi, and Xiao Shunyao in the Water Dragon Ballad

The leader of the Cult of Eternal Paradise, the enemy of the martial arts world was slain by a group of martial arts heroes. But ten years later, evil forces are still present undermining peace in the martial arts community.

Originally a recluse, Tang Li Ci (Luo Yunxi) becomes involved in a murder case and is entangled in a deadly conspiracy aimed at destroying the martial arts community.

Did we miss a drama that is currently filming? Please inform us by posting your comments. Thank you!