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| Wang Anyu’s 2026 Drama Line-Up Looks Seriously Promising (Image: Weibo) |
Wang Anyu is stepping into 2026 with serious momentum, and honestly, it feels like his most defining year yet. After a solid run throughout 2025, the actor is clearly shifting gears, choosing projects that lean heavier, deeper, and far more layered than before. From youth healing stories to hard sci-fi and sweeping historical politics, his upcoming dramas don’t just look busy on paper — they signal growth, ambition, and confidence. For fans who’ve followed his journey from early roles to leading-man status, 2026 is shaping up to be a proper glow-up year.
Born on 3 February 1998 in Yuyao, Zhejiang Province, Wang Anyu graduated from the Communication University of China with a major in Broadcasting and Hosting. He first caught public attention in 2018 through the music variety show The Coming One, before officially stepping into acting with Dreaming Back to the Qing in 2019.
Known for frequently portraying athletic characters, he’s earned the nickname “entertainment athlete”, and industry recognition soon followed. In 2023, he picked up honours including Tencent Video Starlight Awards’ New Power Artist of the Year and Weibo Vision Conference’s Annual Anticipated Actor.
During 2025, Wang Anyu stayed fully booked, starring in Back for You, Such a Good Love, Be Passionately in Love, and The Miracles. All four dramas delivered stable buzz and solid audience response, further cementing his reliability as a leading actor. That consistency is exactly why expectations for his 2026 slate are running high.
Wang Anyu 2026 Drama Line-Up
A closer look at the three major dramas currently lined up for release in 2026, each showing a different side of Wang Anyu’s evolving screen presence.
Chasing the Light (左肩有你)
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Chasing the Light is a 24-episode youth drama directed by Niu Chao and produced as a Tencent Video original series, with a planned release around Q3 2026. Wang Anyu stars alongside Fan Chengcheng, Wang Shengdi, and Sun Yi in what is expected to be a grounded, emotionally driven story.
The drama centres on Jiang Cheng, a top student with a complicated past. Adopted as a child and later abandoned by his foster family, he’s forced to return to live with his biological father, a gambler struggling on the edges of society. Thrown into an unfamiliar environment, Jiang Cheng develops a sharp, rebellious exterior.
His life begins to shift when he meets Gu Fei, a street-smart and tough young man with scars of his own. Their friendship becomes the emotional core of the story, focusing on healing, growth, and learning how to move forward together.
What to expect here is a slower, character-focused narrative with strong emotional beats. For Wang Anyu, this role leans into restraint rather than flash, allowing him to explore vulnerability, emotional tension, and quiet resilience.
It’s adapted from the popular web novel Saye by Wu Zhe, which already has a strong reader base, adding to the anticipation.
Ball Lightning (球状闪电)
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Switching gears completely, Ball Lightning is a 30-episode mystery sci-fi drama directed by Dai Mo and produced as an iQIYI original series, currently scheduled for a late-2026 release. The cast includes Wang Anyu, Tong Yao, Eric Le Yang, and Stuart Forbes.
The story follows Chen, a man whose life is permanently altered after witnessing his parents die in a mysterious ball lightning incident.
Determined to uncover the truth, he dedicates himself to studying rare natural phenomena, leading him across storm-lashed mountaintops, secret military laboratories, and abandoned Soviet-era research stations.
As his research deepens, Chen realises that ball lightning is only the doorway to an entirely new realm of particle physics.
This drama blends scientific ambition with moral conflict, placing Wang Anyu in a role that demands intellectual intensity and emotional isolation.
Adapted from Liu Cixin’s novel Ball Lightning, the series is expected to lean into heavy concepts while maintaining human stakes. It’s a major step away from romance-led narratives and could easily become one of his most career-defining performances if executed well.
A Journey to Glow (一念江南)
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| iQIYI |
A Journey to Glow is a large-scale historical romance drama consisting of 40 episodes, directed by Hong Ling and produced as an iQIYI original. The drama is expected to air in late 2026 or possibly early 2027. Wang Anyu is confirmed as the male lead, while the female lead casting remains in flux following Esther Yu Shuxin’s withdrawal.
Set in a divided world ruled by Song, Su, Yue, and Tang, the story unfolds against political tension, economic decay, and buried legends. Jiangnan, once prosperous, has fallen into hardship due to heavy taxation and corruption.
Rumours of a hidden imperial treasure — said to restore both the nation and the people — draw together five unlikely individuals, each broken or pushed aside by fate.
These include a wandering female thief, a demoted minor official, a general searching for his lost master, a female official guarding a mausoleum, and a wealthy second-generation heir with famously poor luck.
Their paths converge in the small town of Yongxing, where they attempt to rebuild the local economy using the legendary treasure while navigating political danger and personal transformation.
For Wang Anyu, this project promises layered character development, political intrigue, and emotional depth. It’s not just about romance or power, but about rebuilding, responsibility, and change, making it one of the most anticipated historical dramas on the upcoming slate.
With youth healing, hard sci-fi, and grand historical storytelling all lined up, Wang Anyu’s 2026 projects feel carefully chosen rather than rushed. Each drama offers something different, both for him as an actor and for viewers who enjoy variety in storytelling.
More updates are expected as production progresses, and casting details may still shift — but one thing’s clear: his next chapter is worth watching closely.
Now it’s your turn to weigh in. Which of these dramas are you most curious about, and which role do you think will push Wang Anyu the furthest?