Review: Mystic Nine (2026) 九门

Summary:

As turbulent times return once more to Changsha, Zhang Qishan (ft Chen Wei Ting) and Wu LaoGou (Ft Zeng ShunXi) join forces, teaming up with Huo Xian Gu (ft Chen Yao) and the rest of the Nine Gates to embark on a perilous new adventure. The mysterious disappearance of Unit 401 uncovers a century-old, earth-shaking secret buried in the past. Life-and-death choices, brotherhood, loyalty to one’s own faction, and duty to nation and family all intertwine. Together, the people of the Nine Gates use blood, sweat, and sacrifice to protect their home and see each other through the crisis ahead.

Platform: Youku

Episodes: 30

Airing Date: July 30, 2026

MAJOR WARNINGS – Gruesome, jump scares, bloody, mild gore.

Review: 6.8/10 – Mystic Nine is the summer’s biggest hit and is heavily carried by Chen Wei Ting (William Chan). It’s genuinely fun and heartfelt but suffers from an overstuffed mix of genres and sluggish back-half pacing. I was fine watching it without ever feeling the pull to chase it.

Overall Thoughts

10 Years after the airing of The Mystic Nine (老九门), Mystic Nine 九门 returns with William Chan (Chen Wei Ting) back as Zhang Qi Shan and it is a massive success. Mystic Nine dominated the charts from the moment it started airing, finally adding a splash to the very mediocre summer for Chinese dramas. It breached 10,200 on Youku’s popularity index, the highest of the year. Daily average viewership on YunHe reached highs of 50million views and this drama had close to 30% viewership market share making it THE most successful drama this summer. I would expect this drama to end up in the top 5 most viewed for the year.

This is a huge win for 40 year old William Chan who looks fantastic in this role and evidently hit the gym for the character Zhang Qi Shan. This WILL be one of his most iconic, if not MOST iconic roles of his career. As for Zeng Shun Xi, this is a welcomed win for him as even though he’s had several dramas air this year, they weren’t as well received as this one. Chen Yao gained some popularity earlier in the summer with her participation on Ride the Wind 2026 or 浪姐 but her last most iconic role was probably a decade ago. This is definitely the most successful she’s been in a drama in the 2020s.

As for the show itself, it’s likely not going to be everyone’s cup of tea despite the strong overall viewership. It’s set during the Republic of China, right before the Japanese invasion and this conflict is a key part to the story. This drama is gruesome, bloody, has jump scares and is for the most part set in very darkened sets. Sooo….for people who don’t like scary movies or shows, this is likely NOT going to be for you.

Additionally, I want to highlight that Mystic Nine is part of the broader universe of The Lost Tomb or (盗墓笔记). Mystic Nine is a prequel to what happens in The Lost Tomb despite being a sequel to The Mystic Nine. So, there is quite a bit of context that you might want to read up on in order to better follow the story. Is it absolutely necessary? No, but I found myself following social media for people to explain what was going on for the various “Gates” or “Men” 门 and their backstories.

I enjoyed it overall. It’s a fun popcorn drama where there’s a lot of action and a huge cast of characters that are unique but also with a lot of heart. I also thought the drama was decent in its casting and story changes to highlight those in this drama and not focus too much on the original where there were obvious cast changes. However, pacing could be improved as you’re stuck wandering the darkened halls for many episodes on end without the story moving materially forward. And while I thought Zeng Shun Xi and Chen Yao were fine, this drama was most definitely carried by Chen Wei Ting.

NOTE – I did NOT watch the original 老九门 or The Mystic Nine from 2016 so this will be a review purely from this drama.

What I Liked

群像剧 Group Cast and story – Even though the unequivocal lead of this show is Zhang Qi Shan, I absolutely loved the group cast and dynamics of the various characters. Each person had varying degrees of screen time, and some of that is due I’m assuming to how to how the original drama played out, but my favorite parts of this show are when the various “gates” or you could say “clans” worked together.

For example, Wu Lao Gou was in a dire situation and he thought that only Huo Xian Gu would rescue him only for the audience to realize that all members of Jiu Men did everything they could to save Wu Lao Gou. It’s like a large family of siblings. Yes there’s dysfunction but when it comes to saving each other and opposing a common enemy? They have an exceptionally strong bond. That made overcoming challenges and obstacles in the show all the more satisfying because it was a group effort rather than only one person saving the day with unparalleled prowess.

William Chan’s Gravitas – He has aged magnificently and I think him playing Zhang Qi Shan at his current age is even more effective than 10 years ago (at least from just the photos I’ve seen). The current Zhang Qi Shan has the gravitas such that when he walks into a room with either his soldiers or the rest of Jiu Men, you immediately accept him as the leader.

Of course, some credit goes to how the character is written. Zhang Qishan is naturally more even-keeled than someone like Wu Lao Gou. But William Chan brings this sense of this calm, steady authority (沉稳）to the role that I think would be very difficult to replace.

He also has a level of sharpness and intensity to his gaze now that makes Zhang Qishan feel like someone who has seen some things and doesn’t need to prove that he’s powerful. Often times I would criticize an actor/actress for their wooden gaze but that is definitely NOT the case with Chen Wei Ting’s Zhang Qi Shan.

(It also helps that William Chan is absolutely ripped and looks GREAT shirtless haha)

Martial Arts 武打戏 – While this is not a costume drama where there’s stereotypical sword fighting, there were plenty of action sequences in this show. Lots of chase scenes, parkouring and intense fights with various characters and creatures. These action sequences were such a treat because they felt more grounded and incredibly fast paced. I watched several behind the scenes clips on how the actors trained for the various scenes and was mightily impressed with how much work went into choreographing the scenes. It felt like there was significant care taken to making these action scenes and for me, it actually paid off.

What Could Have Been Better

Overstuffed with too many genres – The show is not a simple horror thriller where Zhang Qi Shan is trying to find what happened to his missing soldiers. Nor is this simply about the trials and tribulations of the members of Jiu Men. Instead, there’s romance, there’s fighting against the Japanese, there’s solving personal stories of Jiu Men members, there’s politicking to protect Jiu Men. ALL while trying to create as interesting a horror thriller as possible while the main cast are stuck in Ge Shi Lou or the Tower Between Worlds. While I appreciate that the other genres existed and helped round out the show, I found myself getting lost in the various threads and unable to balance out what was important vs not. What this meant was that when you got to the end, some big reveals lost a lot of meaning because there were so many other threads/genres that muddled the overall takeaway.

Like at the very end where we see 隔世老祖 again (Or the Elder Between Worlds), I was like “oh right, you exist. But why are you important again?”

Pacing Issues – This is somewhat a continuation of the above. This drama would often move at a breakneck pace where Zhang Qi Shan and company are doing everything they can to solve a hair raising mystery but then the scene swaps over to something different like a flashback or a scene of what’s happening with the rest of Jiu Men and the momentum completely dies. Or, alternatively, there’s a plot point and a voice over with fast paced scenes that go through a lot of actions from various characters to then bring you to the next big sequence. (This was the case with the grand auction scene). There doesn’t seem to be a strong streamline for the various genres which undercut the pacing of the show such that the last 5 episodes or so were actually quite a slog to get through.

I will admit that I might be too trained from other Chinese detective dramas that are case based and move at an incredibly fast pace with 3-5 episodes per case. This was not how this drama was structured so I felt like it did drag on at certain points.

I also think this movie might have been better served as a 2hr movie.

Review: Mystic Nine (2026) 九门