When it comes to Chinese Dramas or C-Dramas, basically as compared to modern; period, or costume dramas are way more popular and are loved by a huge number of international viewers.
This could be due to several factors such as China’s rich culture, history, new language, complicated and intriguing stories, martial arts, fantasy elements, advanced CGI, music, and the list goes on… along with its dangerously good-looking male and female leads donned in exquisite costumes from different dynasties and timelines.
Though the scenario might be slightly or even completely different in the domestic market depending on the storyline, and content quality, as both categories seem equally embraced there.
Here in this article, we’ll be giving you short and brief info about 10 highly anticipated Chinese Male actors whose costume dramas are expected to premiere in 2024.
10. Highly-Anticipated Costume Male God – Gong Jun
After gaining wide popularity with ‘Word of Honor’ in 2021, Gong Jun became one of the high-traffic stars in the C-entertainment scene. Even though his recent years’ costume projects have not been that successful, his upcoming drama ‘Fox Spirit Matchmaker: Yuehong,’ starring alongside Yang Mi, is one of the highly anticipated costume dramas in 2024.
Aside from his good acting skills, Gong Jun is known for his good-looking idol appearance.
Fans are optimistic about the upcoming iQIYI’s big-budget S+ production ‘Fox Spirit Matchmaker: Yuehong’ and his chemistry with Yang Mi, making him one of the highly anticipated costumes male gods in 2024.
09. Highly-Anticipated Costume Male God – Dylan Wang Hedi
Dylan Wang Hedi broke out of the circle after his mega-hit series ‘Love Between Fairy and Devil,’ playing the role of Demon Moon Lord Dongfang Qingqang in 2022.
Initially, Dylan rose to fame with his debut drama ‘Meteor Garden (2018),’ where he captured everyone’s hearts through his handsome and cool character, Daoming Shi.
At the time, the character Daoming Shi, played by Dylan, was known to be the most attractive among all the live adaptations.
The 25-year-old actor is set to bring another costume drama, ‘The Guardian of Defang,’ in 2024, which wrapped up filming at the end of 2023. In the series, he will be sharing the screen with the post-’95 actress Tianxi Wei. Even before the drama’s release, netizens are in love with this pair.
08. Highly-Anticipated Costume Male God – Zhang Linghe
Zhang Linghe has appeared in several dramas in recent years and gained attention for playing a supporting male lead Chang Heng in ‘Love Between Fairy and Devil’ in 2022.
In 2023, Zhang further leveled up in terms of popularity and his foothold in the industry as an actor with his successful projects like ‘Story of Kunning Palace’ and ‘My Journey To You’ where he played the main male lead.
The 26-year-old actor has three upcoming costume dramas under his belt: The Princess Royal, where he stars opposite Zhao Jinmai, and ‘Reborn Love’ with Jing Tian. Also, he will be appearing in ‘Fox Spirit Matchmaker: Yue Hong’ in a guest role as the love interest of Chen Duling, forming a CP.
His other drama ‘Eternal Faith,’ a live adaptation of the popular BL novel ‘Heaven’s Official Blessing’ which completed filming in early 2022, has languished on the shelves due to strict regulations and repression on the particular genre.
07. Highly-Anticipated Costume Male God – Yang Yang
After ‘Who Rules the World’ in 2022, Yang Yang has taken on another costume drama, titled ‘The Immortal Ascension,’ which is adapted from the popular novel “Qie Shi Tian Xia 且试天下.”
In this Youku’s S+ male-centric production, Yang Yang is paired with Jin Chen. Huge numbers of fans are excited to watch this live-action because all other adaptations related to the original work, have been very popular in the domestic market.
The audiences are optimistic that this live adaptation will be no different and will be loved, especially when Yang Yang is the leading man. His visuals are top-notch, which will be an extra point and a feast for the eyes.
The 32-year-old actor rarely appears in costume dramas or takes on very few projects in a year, unlike other actors. So, this will be a special gift for his fans who have been eagerly awaiting his costume project.
06. Highly-Anticipated Costume Male God – Tan Jianci
In 2023, one of the hottest, coolest, yet complex characters, accompanied by Tan Jianci’s brilliant acting skills, is the Nine-headed Demon Xiang Liu in Lost You Forever Season 1, which simply blew away many viewers.
The 33-year-old actor-singer is set to move his audiences to tears with the continuation of Lost You Forever Season 2 in 2024, as most viewers who watched Season 1 already know what the series ending will be like.
Alongside Lost You Forever, Tan Jianci has another upcoming historical costume drama, Go East, in which he stars alongside actress Zhou Yi Ran, and the filming for this drama was completed at the end of 2023.
Besides these projects, he has also another fantasy costume drama, ‘Winner is King,’ on the waiting-to-be-aired list. This drama is adapted from the BL novel Shapolang by Priest. However, due to issues such as bromance/BL genre suppression in China, there’s no telling when the drama will be able to see the light.
05. Highly-Anticipated Costume Male God – Luo Yunxi
Many Chinese Drama enthusiasts came to know about Luo Yunxi and his potential as an actor in 2018 when he played Dragon Run Yu in Ashes of Love in the supporting male lead.
From then on, he has appeared in very few costume dramas like Princess Silver (2019), And The Winner is Love (2020), and Till The End Of The Moon (2023). The 35-year-old actor’s upcoming costume projects include: Shui Long Yin, Follow Your Heart, and Immortality.
As we are unsure, when we will be able to watch Immortality due to the restriction in the bromance genre, Follow Your Hear is expected to broadcast in 2024 or 2025, and the Shui Long Yin is currently being filmed.
04. Highly-Anticipated Costume Male God – Deng Wei
Deng Wei, best known for his performance in ‘Lost You Forever Season 1,’ as he gained massive fans-followers, and popularity after portraying the cute and innocent boyfriend Tu Shanjing in 2023.
Only three years after his debut, the 28-year-old actor was able to establish himself as a good actor in the industry. He has leveled up his acting career from playing supporting roles to landing his very first main male lead role in the upcoming costume drama ‘Love Of The Divine Tree,’ which is currently being filmed.
Also, From playing an upright and righteous character till now, we’ll be seeing Deng Wei in a contrasting character as a dangerously handsome villain in the upcoming costume drama ‘The Legend of Rosy Clouds,’ where Zeng Shunxi and Li Yitong star as the main leads.
Apart from that, viewers will be reuniting with Tu Shanjing in Lost You Forever Season 2 in 2024. Many netizens believe Deng Wei is suitable for playing costume roles as his visuals are very attractive and looks good in costumes.
03. Highly-Anticipated Costume Male God – Allen Ren Jialun
Ren Jialun best known for his costume dramas ‘One And Only (2021)’, ‘The Glory of Tang Dynasty (2017)’, ‘And under The Power (2019)’ has three costume dramas to be broadcast; the first one is a fantasy costume drama “Burning Flames,” aka “Wu Geng Ji,” where he will star opposite Xing Fei.
The second is “Love Of Nirvana,” set in the Tang Dynasty with Li Landi, and the third is a revenge-conspiracy-themed drama, “The Demon’s Hunter’s Romance,” with Song Zu Er.
It is hard to say, whether his drama ‘The Demon’s Hunter Romance’ with Song Zu Er will get released or not, as the actress was involved in a tax evasion issue and is currently in the investigation phase.
02. Highly-Anticipated Costume Male God – Zhang Ruoyun
The all-time second-highest-rated costume drama in C-Drama history, with over a whopping 1.2 million ratings on China’s most influential rating platform Douban, is ‘Joy of Life Season 1 (2019),’ starring Zhang Ruoyun as the main male lead.
Fans are delighted to know that season 2 of this classic hit is set to premiere in 2024. The second season will continue from the first season of the Joy of Life trilogy, following the story of Fan Xian as he gains a stronghold in the court.
After the second season wrapped up filming, the drama’s reservations on Tencent Video exceeded 10 million, making it the only drama with the highest number of reservations on the platform in a very short period.
Zhang Ruo Yun’s other upcoming costume project is; The Fated General with Mao Xiaotong. His previous popular works include; Sword Snow Stride (2021), My Heroic Husband (2021), Novoland: The Castle in the Sky (2016), etc.
01. Highly-Anticipated Costume Male God – Cheng Yi
After becoming the ultimate winner with 2023’s dark horse ‘Mysterious Lotus Casebook’, Cheng Yi is set to broadcast another male-centric wuxia drama, ‘Hero Legends,’ adapted from the martial arts novel written by Taiwanese author Sun Xiao in 2024.
Apart from this, Cheng Yi has recently started filming another fantasy costume drama, ‘Fox Spirit Matchmaker: Sword and Beloved,’ reuniting with Li Yitong in the series, as they also work together in ‘Hero Legends. Both of these are big-budget S+ costume dramas from major platforms Tencent Video and iQIYI.
Aside from these, Cheng Yi is best known for ‘Love And Redemption (2020)’, ‘Immortal Samsara (2022)’, The Promise of Chang’an (2022), etc.
