A Date with the Future

A Date with the Future (Chinese: 照亮你) is a Chinese television series starring William Chan and Zhang Ruonan. It is based on the novel 'Shi Guang Ru Yue' (时光如约) by Xiao Lu(筱露). The series started filming on November 19, 2021, at Shenzhen and finished in April 2022.^[1][2]

A Date with the Future
Promotional poster
Genre	Romance Drama
Based on	Shi Guang Ru Yue by Xiao Lu
Written by	Li Jie
Directed by	Jin Sha, Yu Bo
Starring	William Chan Zhang Ruonan
Country of origin	China
Original language	Mandarin
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	36
Production
Production location	Shenzhen
Production company	Tencent Penguin Pictures
Original release
Network	Tencent, Jiangsu TV
Release	June 2, 2023 (2023-06-02)

A Date with the Future
Simplified Chinese	照亮你
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Zhao Liang Ni

The series premiered on June 2, 2023 on Jiangsu TV and Tencent in mainland China. It was also aired on the same day on Viu, WeTV, Starhub, Astro, Viki and various other platforms in Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Japan, South Korea, Europe and USA.^[3]

Synopsis

During an earthquake rescue mission, firefighter Jin Shichuan (William Chan) made a 10-year promise to Xu Lai (Zhang Ruonan) in order to calm her down. Ten years later, Xu Lai returns as a journalist who is also a search dog trainer. Together with Jin Shichuan, who is now a fire station captain, they work together to fulfill that promise.

Cast

Actor	Character	Introduction
William Chan	Jin Shichuan	Fire station captain
Zhang Ruonan	Xu Lai	News journalist
Ren Hao	Lu Fangqi	Firefighter
Ci Sha	Huo Yanzong	Company CEO
Luo Qiuyun	Zang Qiu	Doctor
Jia Nai	Yu Shishi	Actress
Li Jianyi	Jin Xueyi	Jin Shichuan's grandfather
Jiang Hongpo	Lin Quan	Xu Lai's mother
Huo Qing	Xu Chengyun	Xu Lai's father
Zheng Xiaoning	Wen Qingguo	Fire station chief
Zhou Shuai	Liu Xu	Firefighter
Yuan Mingze	Zhang Yang	Firefighter
Wang Yuqin	Shi Lei	Firefighter
Zhao Rui	Tao Zi	Firefighter
Li Chengyu	Da Peng	Firefighter
Qiu Henan	Han Fang	Xu Lai and Huo Yanzong's friend
Mao Xuewen	Jiang Xin	News journalist
Li Junhao	Xiao Zhou	Intern journalist
Dai Xiangyu	Qin Ye	TV station news department team leader
Wang Zirui	Fang Huai	Firefighter, Jin Shichuan's friend
Xu Rongzhen	Ms Lu	TV station deputy head

Soundtrack

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Singer	Length
1.	"Illuminate (照亮)" (Opening theme song)	Zhang Ying	Shi Yang	Aska Yang	3:39
2.	"Came Searching for Light (寻光而来)" (Ending theme song)	Sun Aili	Sun Aili, Han Yunxin	Angela Hui	3:55
3.	"If You Also Love This World (如果你也深爱这世界)"	Ming Tian	Chen Xueran	Chen Xueran	4:22
4.	"Have You Let It Go (你放下了么)"	Zhang Pengpeng	Zheng Guofeng	Zhang Yuan	4:38
5.	"Day Dream"	Chen Xueran, Ming Tian	Chen Xueran	Mimi Lee, Chen Xueran	3:32

Production

Due to controversies surrounding 2 of the actors in this drama, their faces were digitally replaced using artificial intelligence during post production. Originally, the characters of Qin Ye and Fang Huai were played by actors Wang Qiang and Xu Kaicheng respectively.^[4]