Plot of the “The Confidant” Sequel Revealed
Although failing to win Best Drama at the TVB Anniversary Awards, The Confidant <大太監> garnered a legion of fans during the historical drama’s broadcast in the last two months. Today, it has been reported that TVB is moving forward with a sequel to the Li Lianying biopic.
“The sequel is where the epic stuff comes in,” an insider revealed.
The Confidant 2 will start off where The Confidant ended, beginning with the enthronement of Emperor Guangxu in 1875, and ending with the death of Empress Dowager Cixi and Guangxu in 1908. Li Lianying and Empress Dowager Cixi will suffer drastic changes in their characterization, and they will turn from being the story’s main heroes to the story’s main villains.
According to the source that disclosed the plot, the purpose of portraying Li Lianying and Cixi in a good light in the beginning was so the sequel could have a better platform to elaborate on their dramatic character development.
The insider also revealed, “The sequel will talk about the open strife and veiled struggle between Cixi and Guangxu. There will be an Eight-Nation Alliance, the Hundred Days’ Reform… the plot will be all about fighting for power. The sequel will not be as nice and heartwarming as the first one. Li Lianying will be in a very powerful position, and to protect himself and Cixi, he will do many ruthless things.”
Wayne Lai (黎耀祥), Michelle Yim (米雪), Power Chan (陳國邦), and Cheung Kwok Keung (張國強) are slated to return for the sequel. Raymond Wong (黃浩然), whose character leaves the palace in the finale of The Confidant, may also return.
There are also talks in reviving Nancy Wu’s (胡定欣) character. Her character was implied to have survived an assumed fatal assault in the alternate ending of The Confidant.
Wayne Lai, who plays Li Lianying, expressed that he has heard that sequel is in the making, but no one has approached him about the project. Cheung Kwok Keung, who plays Prince Gong, also said he was never approached, but exclaimed that he would definitely return for the sequel if given the chance, “I’ve never gotten a notice, but if it is true, I would have to wait until I complete Rosy Business 3 <巾幗梟雄之諜血長天> before I’m available. If they want me to return, I will definitely return, because I had a lot of fun working on The Confidant!”
Source: ihktv.com, kuangaitvb.com
This article is written by Addy for JayneStars.com.
oh! I really hope that Power Chan shines even more. I wasn’t a big fan of the Confidant’s plot. It really needed some revision.
Hope year 2013 Power Chan shines again & win TVB Best Supporting Actor 2013. Gosh am I too early predict ?
Yeah, I hope so, too. Hope Power Chan will win Best Supporting Actor in “The Confidant 2”. He surely deserved this award in “The Confidant”. Personally I think he was the best artiste in it.
I hope so too! 😀
It will never happen; as in LLY and Cixi becoming evil. Ruthless maybe but it will be because Guangxu deserved it.
I think TVB will make Guangxu evil and stupid, and LLY and Cixi become evil only to stop Guangxu. In the end LLY and Cixi are still heroic protagonists.
I wonder if they will portray Kang You Wei and Liang Qi Chao in a bad light too. Guangxu was involved in the 100 Day’s Reform spearheaded by Kang and Liang.
I don’t mind an evil Cixi, but I don’t want LLY to be evil!
I think LLY was evil as per history, so was Empress Dowager Cixi.
I read LLY’s wiki entry. He seems pretty nice.
I did commended here , TC-2 will touch on Cixi and Guangxu
Hopefully YVB will consider TC-3
TC-3 will be Puyi era, the fall of Qing Dynasty, how Li Lianying killed by Yuan Shikai, how all the eunuch adapt the new lfe in the era of the Republic of China
That’s folklore. Li Lianying died from dysentery. He did not die at the hands of Yuan Shikai. Nor was he assassinated.
I enjoyed TC so having a sequel would be nice. If there is a sequel, I do hope Li Lianying and Cixi would be more ruthless and corrupted.
Let the plots thicken, please let them be ruthless and vicious, but must be likable also.
This will be challenging and possible requires the main cast to bring out their best display.
I miss seeing Wayne in an evil role…
I think Wayne’s better at playing evil roles
Agree, supporting Power Chan all the way!
“According to the source that disclosed the plot, the purpose of portraying Li Lianying and Cixi in a good light in the beginning was so the sequel could have a better platform to elaborate on their dramatic character development.”
I think they just came up with this excuse after reading/hearing many complaints about Cixi being too nice and blameless.
If there’re no such complaints, I bet they will continue to make Cixi and Li Lian Ying good and blameless.
Agree. TVB did not do a good in “The Confidant”, and wants to make it up perhaps in the sequel.
i would like to see a sequel. Still want to see wayne do an old LLY. It will be much more interesting if there is indeed a change of characterization. I don’t want to see Nancy revived becasue that would make no sense at all but I can’t wait to see Power Chan. I still think he deserved best supporting actor more this year and hopefully he can clinch it next year. I have no problem with historical inaccuracies. It’s historical fiction and history is always open to interpretation. People need to understand the historical backdrop is used as the setting, TVB is not trying to give people a history lesson.
why are they making a sequel?! the series was duller than dull. i painfully withstood 22 episodes but i could no longer continue. waste of decent actors, scenery and costumes. power chan was brilliant, everything else pales in comparison.
i haven’t watched a tvb series since the horrible witness security, the confidant looked promising but alas, it was disappointing.
I always enjoy Cheung kwok keung acting.
Pity he is not appreciated.
Cheung Kwok Keung is really a great actor! I think he plays all his roles very well! It is a pity that he is not appreciated more.
Have always enjoy his acting!!!!
Part 2 better have a more scheming & cunning Li Lianying and Empress Dowager Cixi. Just didnt like the “self righteous” Li Lianying much….lol…
Would love to see a sequel for The Confidant. Hopefully, TVB will do some research this time and follow history more closely. More focus on the political side rather than the eunuch love stories.
Misc. Historical Facts in The Confidant: http://casualtvb.blogspot.ca/2012/12/miscellaneous-historical-facts-in.html