Taiwanese director Tsao Jui-yuan revealed his new drama series “A Time” at the Taiwan Creative Content Fest (TCCF). The project, which Tsao spent eight years developing, is rooted in the campus folk music movement of 1970s Taiwan and follows four decades of friendship, love, and personal transformation.
The series features two generations of actors portraying five friends at various life stages. The older ensemble includes “Meteor Garden” star Jerry Yan, Chen Yi-han, Golden Horse best actor winner Wu Kang-ren, and Liang Cheng-chun. Ning Chang, who is serving as an executive producer for the first time, also stars in the production.
The younger ensemble includes former NCT and WayV member Lucas Wong, Suri Lin, Fandy Fan, Iain Lu, and Joseph Huang. Wong, who was the first Hong Kong-born artist to debut with South Korea’s SM Entertainment, will make his acting debut as the younger Si Mao. Wong stated that working with such an outstanding cast on his first acting project taught him a great deal, adding that he learned diving, guitar, and dancing for the role and that the performance has been a very meaningful experience.
The plot, written by Chi Hsi-lin, follows the five friends after Si Mao is injured diving into an empty swimming pool. While Si Mao lies in a coma for decades, the others navigate love, guilt, and personal struggles, eventually reuniting as secrets from their youth surface. Tsao explained that the starting point for the project was his desire to come to terms with his own youth, noting his belief that campus folk music is one of the most important cultural IPs in contemporary Taiwan. He stated he wanted to tell a story about youth, from youthful recklessness to the different stages of life.
Tsao described casting the younger versions of the characters as searching for a needle in a haystack and praised the five newcomers for their commitment and performances. Iain Lu, who plays the younger version of Chang’s character, noted that the director emphasizes that actors must fully inhabit their characters, stating, “If we lose focus or get distracted, even for a moment, he notices.”
