Singapore – HBO Asia’s first Chinese language original series, The Teenage Psychic (通靈少女), jointly developed with Taiwanese broadcaster, Public Television Service (PTS), and award-winning Singaporean production company, InFocus Asia (IFA), will premiere across Asia on Sunday, April 2, 2017 at 10pm on HBO. Subtitled in English and local language, the series will also be available on HBO On Demand and HBO Go.
New episodes will air every Sunday ending with a two-episode finale on April 30. Shot on location in Taiwan, the trailer and key art of the HBO Asia Original production was released along with more images from the series. All six hour-long episodes of the series is directed by 29-year-old rising Taiwanese writer-director, Chen Ho-Yu (陳和榆).
The entire Taiwanese cast include Kuo Shu Yau (郭書瑤) [Step Back To Glory (志氣); The Devil Game (劣人傳之詭計)], Kent Tsai (蔡凡熙) [Mon Mon Mon Monsters (報告老師!怪怪怪怪物!)], Chen Mu Yi (陳慕義) [Comes The Black Dog (黑狗來了)], Alina Cheng (鄭茵聲) [Love At Seventeen (我和我的十七歲)], Nana Lee (李千娜) [Youth Power (哇!陳怡君); One Million Star (超級星光大道)], Michael Huang (黃仲崑) [Wake Up (麻醉風暴)] and Sylvia Hsieh (謝翔雅) [You Light Up My Star (照亮我星球)].
The coming-of-age story revolves around Xiao Zhen (小真), played by Kuo Shu Yau (郭書瑤), a 16-year-old girl who just wants to lead a typical teenage high school life. Born with the ability to see spirits, her life will never be normal. Xiao Zhen must juggle the pressures of teenage life – first love, academic success and peer pressure – with the demands of the spirit world. As Xiao Zhen learns to use her abilities to help the living deal with their loved ones on the other side – spirits who are lost, forgotten, angry or just crying out for help – this teenager finds that fixing other people’s problems gives her the strength she needs to navigate high school and her first major romantic encounter. Xiao Zhen’s powers become a danger for her as others seek to use her abilities for their own greed.
The Teenage Psychic is HBO Asia’s second Original production this year after the second season of Halfworlds, the dark action fantasy drama series set in Bangkok which premiered in January. A brand-new comedy series, SENT, set in Singapore will premiere later this year.