It has been a while since I have been this excited for a new Chinese historical romance drama.
But, here we are, as Hou Ming Hao’s Key To The Phoenix Heart (aka Sparrow Bone) was announced as beginning filming today, and with an epic cast that includes not only the fabulous Hou Ming Hao (Fangs of Fortune), but also Love of the Divine Tree‘s Ai Mi as the female lead, while Riley Wang (A Dream Within a Dream) and Mi Re (My Sassy Princess) are the C-drama’s other male leads, and Ma Qiu Yuan (Heavenly Secrets Bureau) is its second FL.
Those five alone would have sold me on the drama before I even knew about various members of its supporting cast — Liu Ling Zi (The Princess’s Gambit), Zheng Fan Xing (The Untamed) and Peter Ho (The Legend of Heroes) — I’m talking to you.
Throw in we just got utterly luscious character visuals for Hou Ming Hao, who plays Xiao Wu Yi, and Ai Mi as Xie Jia Yu (see above and below), and Key To The Phoenix Heart may just be my most-anticipated Chinese drama of the next year.
Those visuals, by the way, came with a mysterious comment from iQIYI that said:
#Key To The Phoenix Heart Filming Begins# #CastAnnouncement#
“Bloodstains still fresh, edges still sharp.”
Xiao Wuyi (@侯明昊 — Neo Hou) – Beneath his battle-worn, shattered armor lies an unbroken spine.
Xie Jiayu (@演员艾米 — Ai Mi) – As her fingertips lightly touch, the twilight coats the blade with tenderness.
——Between smoke and dawn, it was never about salvation—but the answer found in standing side by side.
The Key To The Phoenix Heart plot, by the way, goes something like this:
This is a rebirth story about “growth,” “fate,” and “choice.”
A royal decree forces two ill-fated unions, where family loyalty and true feelings become bargaining chips.
Between feigned and genuine emotions, from a contractual marriage to lifelong partnership, every scheme and sincere affection is a lethal move—one wrong step, and all is lost.
Here’s the main cast at the booting ceremony earlier today, with filming taking place at Hengdian World Studios in Dongyang for the next three months.
Now aren’t you just as excited as me?
RELATED: Hou Ming Hao gets new character visual for 1st anniversary of Dashing Youth‘s premiere
About the Author
