Drama pushes Chinese sci-fi frontiers

When the idea for the franchise emerged around 2015 or 2016, global tensions also shaped its themes. "We originally wanted to explore how people from different countries could unite and work together to confront a global crisis," Ruan explains.

Director Dong, also the cofounder of Wuhan-based YHKT Entertainment, says it took them four years to produce the second season. It aims to delve deeper into thought-provoking sci-fi themes — such as the limits of human potential and whether social systems trap us in patterns that are hard to escape.

A self-taught animator, Dong traces his passion back to a chance encounter in an internet cafe where he saw a middle-aged man creating animations on a computer. Fascinated, Dong bought nearly every animation book he could find and taught himself when he was in college.

Fueled by his interest in sci-fi — from classics by British novelist Arthur C. Clarke to works by Asia's first Hugo Award winner Liu Cixin, as well as Hollywood blockbusters like Canadian director Denis Villeneuve's Arrival (2016) — Dong says he aims to blend universal sci-fi themes with Chinese cultural elements, even weaving acupuncture into the story.