Rising Actor Kicked Out Of Series Mid-Production, Replaced With AI

A rising actor has been removed from a series following multiple career-ending scandals and sentenced to six months in prison.

Li Ming De (also known as Marcus Li) is a Chinese actor who debuted in 2018. He played leading roles in several series, including When We Were Young, Lovely Us, and Who’s Your Daddy?. Originally slated to play the third male lead in the 2025 historical drama Legend of the Female General, Li was booted from the series mid-production.

Li’s troubles began long before Legend of the Female General started airing in August. In January, shortly after another series, The Triple Echo of Time, began filming, Li lashed out in an online post. He accused The Triple Echo of Time crew of poor treatment and showing favoritism towards senior actor Ma Tian Yu, whom Li accused of being a diva. Li’s agency cut ties with him, and he was removed from The Triple Echo of Time cast.

The crew disputed Li’s claims and flipped the script, alleging that Li had actually been the one to behave unprofessionally on set by damaging hotel property, failing to attend script readings, causing filming delays, and more. Li subsequently announced his retirement on January 9.

Then, on January 27, Li damaged director Yang Yang‘s Mercedes-Benz while under the influence of alcohol, eventually resulting in a fine and a six-month prison sentence that was handed down to him this summer. Since Chinese authorities have banned Li from working in entertainment, Legend of the Female General faced a dilemma: how could they erase Li without doing extensive reshoots?

Using AI face-swapping technology, the production staff replaced Li with actor Li Qing, who has taken over the role of Cheng Li Su.

The process, which reportedly cost 6 million yuan (about $835,625 USD) and took 72 hours, allowed production to continue without reshooting any of the disgraced actor’s scenes. However, some viewers have reportedly been put off by the AI use and its uncanny results.