🎥 China to Produce First "Hybrid" Drama Featuring AI Actors
iQiyi, one of China's largest streaming platforms, has announced the production of Immortals Over Mortal Love—the first hybrid series featuring live-action actors performing alongside AI-generated digital characters.
The visual effects and graphics rendering will be handled by NadouPro, iQiyi’s proprietary AI platform.
The first season is scheduled to premiere in the fourth quarter of 2026. The project will consist of 16 episodes, each 20 minutes long, with the creators planning a total of three seasons.
Director Wei Zheng emphasized that integrating this technology does not mean abandoning traditional acting principles. During filming in Shanghai and at the Hengdian World Studios, the set was equipped with over 100 cameras to capture the live actors’ expressions and movements in precise detail. iQiyi noted that the experiment aims to expand the visual language of filmmaking rather than turn it into a soul-less assembly line.
The main point of interest surrounds whether audiences are willing to pay for longer-format content with significant AI involvement. In China, generative AI has already become an industry standard for the micro-drama market:
- Audience: Exceeded 800 million users;
- Market volume: Valued at over 100 billion yuan at the end of 2025;
- Scale: In the first eight months of 2026 alone, 430,000 micro-dramas were released (13 times more than in all of 2025);
- AI penetration: Over 90% of new short-form projects are created using generative algorithms.
The release of Immortals Over Mortal Love will serve as a crucial litmus test for an industry locked in debate over the potential displacement of actors and directors by AI, as well as the need to establish new ethical standards.
Source: Content Review
