Rogue Emperor is a 2016 Hong Kong pre-modern romantic-comedy television drama created and produced by TVB, starring Kenneth Ma, Niki Chow, Mandy Wong, Benjamin Yuen, :zh:古明華|Koo Ming Wah and Brian Tse as the main cast. Filming took place from April till June 2014. The drama was originally scheduled to broadcast after "Master of Destiny" on Hong Kong's TVB Jade and HD Jade channels on August 3, 2015 every Monday through Friday during its 8:30-9:30 pm timeslot with a total of 20 episodes. On July 8, 2015 the drama was shelved again with no scheduled date of when it will be broadcast. In November 2016, it was announced that the drama will finally have an air date of 12 December 2016, with the number of episodes decreasing to 17. Rogue Emperor is a remake of TVB's 1981 drama The Misadventure of Zoo, which starred Adam Cheng and Louise Lee as the leads.
Synopsis
Poor village boy Chu Gam Chun, lives with his step-mother Yau Yue Si, the village matchmaker and half-brother Chu Cheung Fun, a woodcutter that is jinxed with finding love. Gam Chun has been in-love with his childhood friend and next-door neighborYi Yung Yung since they were young, but her grandfather Yi Sang Kei :zh:李國麟 |Joseph Lee, a well-to-do merchant that owns the village pawn shop forbids them from associating with each other. When Gam Chun finds out his step-mother has match-made Yung Yung with an older rich villager, he sabotages it and then asks Yung Yung's grandfather for permission to marry her. Yung Yung's grandfather is highly against Gam Chun's proposal and demands a high dowry if he wants to marry Yung Yung. Determined to marry Yung Yung, Gam Chun takes on many odd jobs in order to earn the needed dowry money. His many odd jobs soon leads him on many adventures, from becoming the leader of mountain bandits to the Emperor of China.
Cast
Chu family
:zh:程可為|Rainbow Ching as Yau Yue Si
Kenneth Ma as Chu Gam Chun
Benjamin Yuen as Chu Cheung Fun
Yi family and household
:zh:李國麟 |Joseph Lee as Yi Suk Kung
Niki Chow as Yi Yung Yung
:zh:孫慧雪|Snow Suen as Siu Wan. She works for the Yi family and has a crush on Yi Suk Kung, hoping he would marry her into the family.
Ng family
:zh:古明華|Koo Ming Wah as Ng Do Ho, a somewhat educated man who takes care of the village temple. He is in the process of earning money to buy back his sister Ng Do Yu's "body contract" from the Dung family so that she can be free.
Mandy Wong as Ng Do Yu, the shy and demure younger sister of Ng Do Ho. She is sold to the Dung family to works as a maid. Her love interest is Dung Zan Bong.
Extended cast
Brian Tse as Ngau Yuk Gon, a physician and close friend of Gam Chun. His love interest is Ng Do-yu.
Luk Wing Kuen as Dung Zan Bong. He comes back after receiving education from abroad and is a forward-thinking individual. He joins an underground organization in hopes of bringing change and is ranked 99, later promoted to 98.
:zh:楊詩敏|Harriet Yeung as Lung Chuen Fung, the head of the mountain bandits.
:zh:鄭敬基|Joe Tay as Ngau Lik, friend of Chu Gam Chun. He becomes the "lord of Shanghai" and was set to marry Yung Yung, but is later murdered by Che Dai Pau.
Pal Sinn as Che Dai Pau.
Lau Kong as Ngau Baak Yip, father of Ngau Yuk Gon. He is an experienced physician.
:zh:魯振順|Henry Lo as Dung Geoi Jan. He is the village mayor and father of Dung Zan Bong.
:zh:林秀怡|Kirby Lam as Lung Lei. The third-in-command of the mountain bandits.
:zh:徐玟晴|Kimmi Tsui as Lung Sou. The second-in-command of the mountain bandits.
:zh:譚坤倫|Alan Tam Kwan-lun as Ying Seng Cung, one of Che Dai Pau's men.
:zh:葉 暐|Adam Ip as Syu Ming Hou. He is ranked 98 in the underground organization, and is later promoted to number 89.
:zh:張明偉|Aaryn Cheung as Fat Zai
:zh:周子揚|Hinson Chou as Shanghai singer
:zh:袁鎮業|Kelvin Yuen as Bou
:zh:何君誠|Quinn Ho as Biu
:zh:何傲兒|Lily Ho as Siu Yuk, Chu Cheung Fun's lover. They later break up as he failed to save her when she nearly died from drowning.
Tracy Chu as Fung Siu Yung, a volunteer who tries to help Chu Gam Chun move into a senior home.
Soundtrack
;Track listing
Development
Tavia Yeung was considered for the lead actress role by executive producer Catherine Tsang during early development of the drama.
Niki Chow was confirmed as the lead actress during the costume fitting ceremony held in March 2014.
The blessing and opening lens ceremony was held on April 15, 2014 at 12:30 pm Tseung Kwan O TVB City Ancient Street.
Filming of the drama took place from April till June 2014.
On June 26, 2014, a banquet was held at a restaurant in Tsim Sha Tsui to celebrate the completion of the filming of the drama.
A promo image ofRogue Emperor was featured in TVB's 2015 calendar for the month of March. Female lead Niki Chow was not featured on the image since she is not a contractual TVB artiste.
In early July 2015, Kenneth Ma and Niki Chow resumed their characters from the drama to film promotional clips when it was announced the drama would begin broadcast on August 3, 2015. On July 8, 2015 TVB shelved the drama to be air at a later unscheduled date in order to accommodate earlier broadcast of The Fixer on August 10, 2015 9:30 pm timeslot. With The Fixer taking over the 9:30 timeslot, Brick Slaves was then moved to the 8:30 timeslot, taking over Rogue Emperor's original broadcast position. The drama is now set to air from 12 December 2016, with 17 episodes.
