The Untamed (TV series)

''The Untamed '' () is a 2019 Chinese television series adapted from the danmei novel ''Mo Dao Zu Shi'' by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu, starring Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo. It follows the adventures of two soulmate cultivators who travel to solve a series of mysteries that link to a tragic event in the past.

The series aired in China on Tencent Video from 27 June to 20 August 2019 culminating with fifty episodes. A 20-episodes special edition of the drama aired on WeTV starting 25 December 2019. The brand and IP is belonging to NSMG (NewStyle Media Group).

''The Untamed'' was a critical and commercial success, both locally and internationally, with critics praising its strong plot, well-rounded characters, and elaborate clothing and makeup. While the original web novel depicted an explicit romance between the two main male characters, the adaptation was censored with homoerotic subtexts instead due to China's ban of LGBT portrayals in films. It became one of the highest-earning dramas of 2019.

According to the "Research Report on China's Internet Audiovisual Development" for 2019 and the beginning of 2020, "The Untamed" ranked first in terms of popularity index. Due to the series' success, two spin-off movies focusing on the supporting characters have been released: ''Fatal Journey'' (2019), and ''The Living Dead'' (2019). The series passed 9.5 billion views on Tencent Video in June 2021, a few days before the second anniversary of its airing date, making it one of the highest-viewed Chinese dramas on the platform. A mobile game based on the series is also set to be released by NetEase Games.

Premise

Wei Wuxian, a loathed cultivator of dark and demonic arts, is resurrected 16 years after his tragic death. His return to the world brings him to reunite with the people in his first life, including his soulmate, the honoured Lan Wangji. Wei Wuxian then begins to remember his time before his demise, from his beginnings as a young cultivator to his descent to dark magic.

The scheming behind his tragic death is slowly unraveled, along with the mysterious death of other people he knew in his past life.

Synopsis

16 years in the past when Wei Wuxian was a teenager and had visited the Gusu Lan Sect to take training, he met his soulmate Lan Wangji, the righteous, quiet natured man born of a noble family. Despite the two having different personalities, Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian became good friends after experiencing many adventures and trials together. Wei Wuxian returned to his home after finishing his training at the Gusu Lan Sect, and a series of disastrous events made him give away his spiritual power to save the life of his martial brother, Jiang Cheng. The spiritually weak Wei Wuxian was tortured and thrown into the Burial Mounds by Wen Chao of Qishan Wen Sect, from where he returned after three months but as a man practicing demonic cultivation, which was considered a dark art. Lan Wangji tried to persuade him to give up practicing demonic cultivation but all in vain. As a result of his insistence to practice demonic cultivation, Wei Wuxian lost his reputation and was ostracized. Only Lan Wangji stood by him, trying every possible measure to stop him from being consumed by evil. During the battle at Nightless City, Wei Wuxian killed and harmed many of the disciples of other sects, and was responsible for the death of his martial sister Jiang Yanli. Wei Wuxian committed suicide by jumping off a cliff, unable to be saved by Lan Wangji.

Back to the present time, Wei Wuxian was resurrected by Mo Xuanyu and was cursed to inhabit his body. Despite inhabiting the body of Mo Xuanyu, Lan Wangji was nevertheless able to recognize him. Both of them together solved mysteries that eventually led them to reveal what happened in the past.

Episodes

The series aired every Thursday and Friday (GMT +08:00) with two episodes each, and VIP members could have early access to two more. On the first day of its release, a total of six episodes were available to VIP members. On June 30, 2019, their official Weibo released a new schedule and shifted the release from Monday to Wednesday. The series ended on August 20, 2019 with the 50th episode. On July 29, 2019 during an official fanmeeting event, they announced that VIP members would be able to watch all the episodes on August 7.

Cast

Main

Supporting

Gusu Lan Sect

Lanling Jin Sect

Qinghe Nie Sect

Qishan Wen Sect

Yunmeng Jiang Sect

Yi City Arc

Others

Production

Pre-production and filming

Pre-production of the drama took two and a half years; including writing and modifying of the script, establishing the world view structure and art concept, as well as building of sets. The project was first announced in March 2018.

The series is co-directed by Zheng Weiwen and Chen Jialin; and the script written by a team consisting of Yang Xia, Deng Yaoyu, Ma Jing and Guo Guangyun. The main producers are credited to be Fang Feng, Yang Xia, Wang Chu and Liu Mingyi; while Yang Xia and Ji Peng serve as the art directors. The drama was filmed from April 2018 to August 2018 at Hengdian World Studios and Guizhou. Two weeks before filming, the cast gathered for script reading sessions and underwent martial arts and etiquette training.

Due to the censorship in China, all BL content is removed from the drama and changes are made to the overall plot. As the original novel was written in a "flashback" style, additional scenes had to be inserted to improve the flow of the story.
Two versions of the script were prepared; one is told in the chronological order of story development, and the other is a narrative trajectory that follows the original novel. Finally, on the basis of not breaking the core of the original story, and to fully develop and layer the storyline, the team decided to adopt a mixture of both styles. To better fuse the different storylines together, the team decided to forgo traditional styles of filming, and more suspense was used in the lens composition settings.

Despite being termed as "xianxia" drama, ''The Untamed'' includes many elements of traditional wuxia dramas, fused with a new style. Using traditional wuxia values such as "chivalry and courage", it allows the younger audience to better relate to the drama.

Casting

The casting director gave a special "character card" to each of the cast members; which includes detailed descriptions of the character such as the looks, height, clothing style and even specific details such as "Wei Wuxian has a natural smiling face".

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