Same time period, same characters, different take – screenwriter Chang Jiang (The Advisors Alliance) is reinterpreting the life of the last Eastern Han Dynasty emperor Liu Xie, played by Ma Tianyu, for upcoming drama Secret of the Three Kingdoms, and the first teaser looks solid. Wan Qian, Dong Jie, and Tan Jianci use their own voices in the show.
We know from Ma Boyong’s original novel that Liu Xie will have a twin brother Liu Ping, also played by Ma, who acts as a stand-in for Liu Xie once the former passes away. He will be helped by Liu Xie’s wife Fu Shou (Wan Qian) and Sima Yi (Han Dongjun) in the quest to defeat warlord Cao Cao’s (Tse Kwanho). Dong Jie, Dong Xuan, Sunny Wang and Tan Jianci costar.
The 40 episode drama is aiming to premiere some time next year.
This show is like Three Kingdoms cougartown. Three of the four main couples have the female being older than the male, and three are widows at the time of falling in love (the fourth is married), but they portray each relationship as totally normal, which is pretty rare for dramas and I kind of respect.
I’ve always considered female-older-than-male to be the natural order of things, personally.