Former EXO member Kris faces sexual crime allegations, dealing a severe blow to Taiwanese drama 'Qing Zhan Xing'... Production budget cut from 1.9 billion to 40 episodes reduced in length

After Kris, a former member of the group EXO, was arrested for sexual crimes against a minor, it was revealed that the Chinese historical drama ″Qing Zhan Xing,″ in which he starred, suffered massive damage. Local media such as Taiwan’s ETtoday reported on the 28th that the historical drama ″Qing Zhan Xing,″ based on the novel ″Zhan Zhong Lu,″ was severely impacted by Kris’s case. This blockbuster, with a massive production cost of 1.9 billion yuan (approximately 408.84 billion KRW), starred Kris and Yang Zi. However, after Kris was arrested on charges of sexually assaulting a minor, the direction of the drama’s production changed drastically. The production team made several attempts to find a male actor to replace Kris but faced difficulties, eventually bringing in Peng Guanying at a low fee. Despite her busy schedule, Yang Zi cleared 20 days to participate in reshoots without pay. As a result, the original 60-episode drama was reduced to 40 episodes, and the focus shifted to the female lead’s investigation storyline. Through this process, ″Qing Zhan Xing″ barely made it onto the broadcast waiting list. Recently, interest in the work increased as Yang Zi won the Best Actress award at the ″Bai Yulan Awards,″ but at the preview screening, critics noted obvious signs of editing and reshoots, as well as awkward story connections. There were also criticisms that costumes and props used from 2019 appeared outdated. Senior broadcasting officials who attended the preview showed little reaction, and a compensation plan of 400 million yuan (approximately 86.04 billion KRW) was reportedly under consideration. The main investor, Tencent, recorded an operating loss of 1.028 billion yuan (approximately 221.184 billion KRW) in the first half of the year, and whether it can bear an additional loss of 1.9 billion yuan is becoming a key factor in deciding whether the drama will be aired. Kris became embroiled in controversy in 2021 after Du Meizhu, a minor female influencer in China, exposed him. Du Meizhu claimed that Kris approached victims by using music video shoots, trainee, and rookie casting as bait, then intoxicated and sexually assaulted them. Kris’s side expressed intentions to countersue for defamation due to false information, but public opinion worsened as more than 20 women came forward with allegations. Subsequently, Kris was arrested on charges of raping a minor and was sentenced to 11 years and 6 months in prison for rape and 1 year and 10 months for group obscenity. After serving his sentence, he is expected to be deported to Canada. Additionally, Kris was fined a total of 600 million yuan (approximately 111.3 billion KRW) for tax evasion, including 95 million yuan (20.44 billion KRW) for hiding personal income and 84 million yuan (18.08 billion KRW) in unpaid taxes.