NEWS
Astro Originals Fight Back; Premium Chinese Series “Wolong: The Mastermind” Set For 6 September Release
29 May 2026
Malaysia’s Astro put its new Astro Originals’ Chinese drama series, “Wolong: The Mastermind”, on stage this week, gathering a cast from Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia for live appearances, and clearly doing its best to move beyond sports headlines that highlighted prime properties’ move to other platforms.
The 13-episode premium series premieres on 6 September in a 9.30pm Sunday slot on Astro AEC, with additional distribution on Astro GO, On Demand and streaming platform Sooka.
The new drama is directed by Zhang Shunyuan and stars Hong Kong’s Zhu Jianran in his first Malaysia series, Gong Cien and Singapore’s Chen Liping, along with Hong Kong’s Mimi Kung and Kevin Chu – all filming in Malaysia. Parts of the series were filmed at Hengdian World Studios in China.
The local cast includes Tong Binyu (aka Chris Tong), who also serves as producer, Karena Zhang, Ribbon Huang, Melvin Xie, Huang Qiming, Juztin Liu and April Zhou Xueting.
“Wolong” blends time travel, mythology, and modern business warfare, using the “military strategies of the Three Kingdoms” to explore the power struggles in a modern catering enterprise.
The story unfolds from an unexpected event during the Battle of Red Cliffs, where brilliant strategist Zhuge Liang (played by Zhu Jianran) unexpectedly travels to the modern era, possessing the body of a young man burdened with debt whose life is spiraling out of control.
From a despised gambler to accidentally entering a large catering group, he uses his wisdom from millennia-old military strategies to break through in workplace and business battles, simultaneously becoming embroiled in power and emotional struggles among the three sisters of the Lin family.
Astro says the location shoots –including real military camps, warships and thatched cottages – were combined with AI special effects to recreate the scale of the Three Kingdoms period.
Zhu Jianran said during the ceremony that the role’s biggest challenge was mai...
Malaysia’s Astro put its new Astro Originals’ Chinese drama series, “Wolong: The Mastermind”, on stage this week, gathering a cast from Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia for live appearances, and clearly doing its best to move beyond sports headlines that highlighted prime properties’ move to other platforms.
The 13-episode premium series premieres on 6 September in a 9.30pm Sunday slot on Astro AEC, with additional distribution on Astro GO, On Demand and streaming platform Sooka.
The new drama is directed by Zhang Shunyuan and stars Hong Kong’s Zhu Jianran in his first Malaysia series, Gong Cien and Singapore’s Chen Liping, along with Hong Kong’s Mimi Kung and Kevin Chu – all filming in Malaysia. Parts of the series were filmed at Hengdian World Studios in China.
The local cast includes Tong Binyu (aka Chris Tong), who also serves as producer, Karena Zhang, Ribbon Huang, Melvin Xie, Huang Qiming, Juztin Liu and April Zhou Xueting.
“Wolong” blends time travel, mythology, and modern business warfare, using the “military strategies of the Three Kingdoms” to explore the power struggles in a modern catering enterprise.
The story unfolds from an unexpected event during the Battle of Red Cliffs, where brilliant strategist Zhuge Liang (played by Zhu Jianran) unexpectedly travels to the modern era, possessing the body of a young man burdened with debt whose life is spiraling out of control.
From a despised gambler to accidentally entering a large catering group, he uses his wisdom from millennia-old military strategies to break through in workplace and business battles, simultaneously becoming embroiled in power and emotional struggles among the three sisters of the Lin family.
Astro says the location shoots –including real military camps, warships and thatched cottages – were combined with AI special effects to recreate the scale of the Three Kingdoms period.
Zhu Jianran said during the ceremony that the role’s biggest challenge was maintaining the speech speed and temperament of an ancient person in a modern setting.
“The character occasionally speaks classical Chinese and also mixes in some Malaysian-style Mandarin, which is a very special and interesting way of acting,” he said.
Tong Binyu plays Lin Ruoxi, the eldest daughter of the Lin family, with Gong Cien as the powerful chairwoman of the Lin Group. Huang Qiming plays her son.
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