I am sad to report the latest update:
Chen Dao Ming (actor who plays the emperor/king) will not be appearing in JOL 2/3. A fan recently asked Chen Dao Ming‘s personal assistant about this and the assistant replied back he will not be starring in JOL.
Although the reason for this is not clear, there is speculation that due to Chen Dao Ming‘s age (he is 67) and the fact spoiler alert he is one of the four martial grandmasters and actually the strongest one amongst all of them he might not be able to take on the fighting/action scenes (due to his age and where he is at physically that might be one of the reasons he may not take on this role. We will really never know for sure unless he comes out and explains it.
On a happier note, our JOL ML has just wrapped up filming Wu Long Shao Nian today so hopefully after he rests for a bit and celebrates the New Year/lunar New Year filming will soon begin shortly thereafter.
On this note I have something else I want to say. The below words come from different JOL fans but express so much what I want to say so I’ll paraphrase it.
I want to take this time to thank our ML actor ZRY. He is the only one who has committed to fulfilling the wishes of fans of JOL watchers and without this commitment JOL will cease to exist in what it has been.
[My words: In China, when a film/drama becomes a hit and many actors and actresses’ popularity and reputation increases by default their expected pay rate will increase a lot and the types of roles they get offered will be greatly enhanced (i.e they might go from being side characters to being main leads, etc). As a result, very very few actors/actresses will be willing to take on supporting role characters and/or be in a sequel. ]
Only ZRY our ML has sacrificed his career advancement for JOL fans.
[My words: He signed on a 5 year contract in 2017 but as of this point the contract long has expired. ]
ZRY has fully lived up to and exceeded his duty to the production company, to his fans, and to this drama. No matter what happens at the end, ZRY should have no regrets and there is no reason for anyone to criticize him or yell at him.
Because of JOL, ZRY sacrificed so much. He kept his time/availability wide open and as a result did not take on any fil/drama projects. In the end of 2020, ZRY passed over a very good film/drama project…that project’s director came to talk with him personally (fan due to wanting to remain anonymous didn’t give any more details) but he passed it over because ZRY from the bottom of his heart wanted to finish what he started with…maybe others think he was naive/too “innocent” to do so but maybe it is because of this that he is a good actor.
Fans following ZRY have shared he passed on at least 6 to 7 offers and initially thought he would run for it but he didn’t. So when JOL2 concept poster came out he still worked hard to promote it.
We all know even after JOL2 comes out, the positive impact it will have on his career is minimal given he has already established himself and has already a great reputation. ZRY isn’t not smart (he know JOL2 won’t add much or lift him higher by much); he is just too genuine/honest/authentic.
And ZRY has been lied to time and time again. He has been told filming will begin so many times that he then shares it with fans and yet we all know filming hasn’t begun yet. JOL’s production company…who knows who from this company..has been giving him false info all this time and ZRY has been bashed by so many people and almost being the scapegoat for the production company who is really at fault for not being honest with ZRY about when filming will begin in order to deceive fans who have beeen waiting all this time and keep our hopes up.
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[I am back again]. Because of this, at this point I will just support ZRY in whatever projects he is in and will watch JOL2/3 as long as ZRY is in it.