Taiwan drama 'A Time' unveiled, with a 2027 premiere set

Taiwanese director Tsao Jui-yuan has unveiled his new drama series, A Time, at the Taiwan Creative Content Fest, and it is scheduled to premiere in 2027. Variety reported the unveiling.

The series is rooted in Taiwan's campus folk music movement of the 1970s, when students picked up guitars and wrote songs about their own lives. Tsao spent eight years developing the project. The script is by Chi Hsi-lin.

The story follows five friends. Si Mao is injured diving into an empty swimming pool, and he lies in a coma for decades. The series moves between the younger friends and the older people they become.

The younger cast is led by Lucas Wong, a former member of the groups NCT and WayV. He makes his acting debut as the younger Si Mao. Wong is the first Hong Kong-born artist to debut with South Korea's SM Entertainment, and he learned diving, guitar and dancing for the part.

The rest of the younger ensemble is Suri Lin, Fandy Fan, Iain Lu and Joseph Huang. Lu plays the younger version of Ning Chang's character, and Huang plays the younger Mian Yang.

The older cast stars Ning Chang, Jerry Yan, Chen Yi-han, Wu Kang-ren and Liang Cheng-chun. Ning Chang also serves as an executive producer on the series for the first time.

What stands out is the casting structure. Each main character appears twice, once in the 1970s and once decades later, so two actors share one role. That approach asks the audience to see the same person at two stages of life, and it puts the older and younger casts side by side on screen.

For fans of the NCT and WayV alumni, the news is that Wong's first major acting role is now public, and the series has a firm target year. Until the 2027 premiere, the next details will come from the production team and its partners.