Danger Zone (逆局)
Danger Zone (逆局) is a 2021 Taiwanese crime suspense television series produced by iQIYI International, adapted from the novel The Pursuer (追凶者, originally titled 命案現場) by the mainland Chinese mystery writer Qianyu Zhicheng (千羽之城), and starring Vic Chou (周渝民), Christopher Lee (李銘順), Chang Jung-ju (張榕容), and Chu Hsuan-yang (朱軒洋).1 It was the first original Taiwanese drama invested in by iQIYI International, made with a reported budget of NT$300 million, and was directed by Chuang Hsuan-wei (莊絢維) and Chen Kuan-chung (陳冠仲), the duo behind the mystery series Nowhere Man (誰是被害者).2
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Original title / English title | 逆局 / Danger Zone3 |
| Source material | Novel The Pursuer (追凶者) by Qianyu Zhicheng, winner of the first iQIYI Literature Award for best mystery1 |
| Format | 24 episodes in two seasons, about 45 minutes each4 |
| Budget | NT$300 million, at the time a record total production cost for a Taiwanese crime-type drama2 • 1 |
| Golden Bell Awards | At the 57th Golden Bell Awards (2022): Best Directing for a Drama Series (Chuang Hsuan-wei, Chen Kuan-chung) and Best Supporting Actor (Christopher Lee)5 • 6 |
| Setting | The fictional coastal city of Donglin (東林市)3 |
Spoilers
Premise
The story is set in Donglin, a coastal city mixing old and new districts, where a string of serial murders involving dismembered bodies has left the investigating Changrong Precinct (昌榕分局) without leads.3 While the case stalls, rookie detective Ren Fei (任非) is reassigned to a murder inside the prison, where he encounters Liang Yandong (梁炎東), a fallen lawyer jailed on charges of aggravated sexual assault.3 Liang, a former criminal police officer who became a defense lawyer for the weak after a shattering incident, is an expert in criminal profiling.3 He offers the police his help in solving the dismemberment murders outside the prison in exchange for their help exposing the hidden hand that framed him, and the resulting devil's bargain drives the plot.3
Cast and characters
The series assembles three generations of actors.7
- Vic Chou as Liang Yandong, a low-profile defense lawyer skilled in criminal profiling, a former criminal police officer detained at the Donglin Detention Center pending trial.3 It was Chou's first Taiwanese drama in nine years.2
- Christopher Lee as Tan Tsong-hui (譚崇輝), captain of the Changrong Precinct investigation squad, once nicknamed the "Northwest Cop" for his string of solved cases.3
- Chu Hsuan-yang as Ren Fei, an impulsive rookie detective with strong investigative instinct.3
- Chang Jung-ju as Yang Yu-lu (楊羽璐), the precinct's deputy chief, trained in criminal psychological profiling under Ji Qingguo and promoted rapidly after solving major cases.3
- Wu Hsing-kuo (吳興國) as Mu Hsueh-sung (穆雪松), executive chairman of the Lu Zhensheng Memorial Hospital, meticulous and ruthless with strong political and business connections.3
- Tseng Ching-hua (曾敬驊) as Lu Chi (陸齊), a reclusive figure at home in the dark web who carries a distinctive criminal signature.3
- Ji Pei-hui (紀培慧) as Chi Szu-chi (季思琪), an investigative reporter for Feng Weekly who stops at nothing for exclusives.3
Chou prepared for the profiler role through books, foreign series, and professional consultants, since criminal profiling as a profession does not exist in Taiwan; director Chuang said the profession was chosen because it adds layers of ambiguity and suspense to the character and his opponents.7
Production
The novel had accumulated over a million clicks on iQIYI's fiction site and won the first iQIYI Literature Award for best mystery; iQIYI's Beijing headquarters acquired the adaptation rights, and an internal team spent half a year developing the screenplay before producer Chen Liang-tsai (陳亮材) was brought on in April 2020.1 The violent source material, including dismemberment cases, made mainland production conditions unsuitable, so iQIYI International took on the project for a global paid audience.1
Scale and method. The 24-episode run was three times the length of the directors' previous series, and the production mobilized more than 2,000 people over 189 days of shooting, split into A and B units filming simultaneously.2 • 8 The two directors first shot together for 50 days to set the style and production design, then divided by location into a "prison unit" and a "police unit."2
The fictional city. Because the plot involves migrant workers from multiple countries and the casting of Singaporean actor Christopher Lee as the squad captain, the writers built a multi-ethnic setting. Chuang compared it to Gotham City's relationship with New York: "what we thought of was Bangkok," a fictional metropolis that gave the crew more creative freedom.2
Release and reception
The finale aired on November 12, 2021, and reached first place on iQIYI International's rankings in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, and Australia.9 On Douban the series holds an 8.7 rating.10
Reviewers noted the series' graphic, adult-rated content and dense multi-thread plotting as a step change for Taiwanese genre drama; the film-site review Kai-Box credited the streaming platforms' capital for making such dark, detail-heavy mystery productions viable in a market that had previously favored safer material.11 A News Lens commentary observed that its long two-season structure reads more like two Korean drama seasons than the typical Taiwanese format.12
Awards
At the 57th Golden Bell Awards in 2022, Danger Zone was nominated for Best Drama Series alongside Gold Leaf, Queens of the Moment (華燈初上), Seqalu, and The Magician on the Skywalk era contenders, with nominations also for Christopher Lee as Best Supporting Actor, Chuang Hsuan-wei and Chen Kuan-chung for Best Directing, and Jiang Zhi-wei (草爺) for Most Potential Newcomer.13 The series won two awards: Best Directing for a Drama Series, and Best Supporting Actor for Christopher Lee.5 • 6
International distribution
In Japan the series was released under the title Tsuigekisha: Gyakukyoku (追撃者～逆局～), with DVD releases from 2022 and a budget-priced box set in July 2023, followed by broadcasts on Japanese terrestrial stations including Gifu Broadcasting (2023), IBC Iwate (2023), TV Saitama (2024), Gunma TV (2024), Tochigi TV (2025), TV Kanagawa (2025), Nagano Broadcasting (2026), and Chiba TV (2026), plus a free catch-up stream on TVer from June 2026.14
References
- 愛奇藝3億拍《逆局》台灣團隊打造懸疑劇新高度, Mirror Media
- 逆局雙導演出擊挑戰新可能, Central News Agency
- 逆局, 台視官網
- Danger Zone, Chinese Record
- 金鐘57戲劇節目男配角獎 李銘順「逆局」獲得, Central News Agency
- 第57屆金鐘獎頒獎, 基督教論壇報
- 周渝民拍台劇《逆局》演心理剖繪師, TVBS
- 逆局演什麼？深度解析, UpToGo
- 台灣影視 Daily News, 美南日報 (2021-11-23)
- 「逆局」挑戰台劇新可能, 500輯
- 懸疑驚悚台劇《逆局》開箱, 電影神搜
- 從《逆局》看台日韓刑偵劇差異, The News Lens
- 金鐘獎第57屆入圍名單, Central News Agency
- 「追撃者～逆局～」ドラマ公式サイト
Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › International serial drama and telenovelas › East Asian drama series › Hong Kong and Taiwanese serial drama
Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026
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