General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

Derailment (脱轨)

Derailment (脱轨, alternate title 离心力) is a 2023 Chinese urban romance drama with light suspense elements, adapted from the novel Derailment by the author Priest on Jinjiang Literature City and broadcast exclusively on Youku from December 14, 2023¹^•². Directed by Shen Yang and starring Liu Haocun and Lin Yi, it follows a wealthy young woman whose identity is swapped, after a car accident, with that of a poor working girl of the same name in another time and place². It was Liu Haocun's first television drama after a career in film³.

Key fact	Detail
Original title	脱轨; alternate title 离心力 (Centrifugal Force); English title Derailment¹^•⁴
Source	Priest's novel Derailment on Jinjiang Literature City¹
Broadcast	December 14, 2023, 18:00, Youku exclusive; 30 episodes of about 45 minutes²^•⁵
Lead cast	Liu Haocun as Jiang Xiaoyuan; Lin Yi as Qi Lian¹
Production	Youku and Star River Studio; director Shen Yang; screenwriter Wang Jialu; chief producer Yan Bei¹^•⁵
Overseas reach	Viki with subtitles in English, Italian, French and 10 more languages; Netflix listing; Korean platforms Coupang and Watcha in April 2024⁶^•⁷
Performance	Youku in-platform heat surpassed 8600; each of three early-2024 dramas including it drew about 700 million or more TikTok views⁸^•⁹

Spoilers

Premise and story

The heroine Jiang Xiaoyuan (江晓媛), played by Liu Haocun, is a pampered heiress who, after a car accident, finds her identity inverted into that of a struggling worker with the same name². Stripped of wealth, family background and education, she must survive on her own, working jobs that range from internet-café cashier to hair-salon assistant before becoming a makeup stylist¹⁰. A mysterious childhood friend, Qi Lian (祁连), played by Lin Yi, appears claiming to know her, and the two search together for the truth behind the swap, building both a relationship and careers along the way²^•¹¹.

The series frames the swap as a possible journey between parallel universes, a "soft science fiction" premise that carries the suspense: whether the crossing was an accident, what happened to the original Jiang Xiaoyuan, and what Qi Lian is hiding³^•¹². In the finale, Jiang Xiaoyuan does not recover her former fortune; even her and Qi Lian's combined assets fall short of one house from her original world, and her studio has only just become established, while the virus plot line behind the swap is resolved².

Production and cast

The drama was produced by Youku together with Star River Studio (星河工作室), the Alibaba Digital Entertainment workshop behind it, with Yan Bei as chief producer⁵^•⁸. Shen Yang directed from a screenplay by Wang Jialu¹. The supporting cast includes Huang Shengchi as Jiang Bo, Fan Shiran as Feng Ruixue, Wang Chacha as Chen Fangzhou, Wanyan Luorong as Huo Boyu, Li Tiannuo as Xu Jingyang, and Liu Zi as Fan Xiaoxiao¹^•¹¹.

The theme song is "Only One", sung by Rainie Yang (杨丞琳), with insert songs including "Flow" by Allen Su (苏醒), "总有光来" by Xianzi (弦子), and "For U"⁷.

Release and reception

Interest before broadcast was high: reservations on Weibo and Youku exceeded 2.5 million, and hashtags about the leads topped trending lists after the December 6, 2023 scheduling announcement⁵. In late December 2023 the series ranked fifth on a third-party heat ranking of on-air web dramas¹³. From launch to its finale in early 2024, its Youku in-platform heat score broke 8600 and it appeared in more than 3,000 nationwide hot searches; viewers aged 18 to 23, mostly women, made up the largest audience segment at 30 percent⁸.

Critical response was more mixed than the pre-release buzz. A Wen Hui Bao review published December 26, 2023 criticized the writing as detached from reality, arguing that the heroine adapts to low-wage work too smoothly and without enough psychological grounding, which weakened the character's credibility¹³. Audience ratings varied by platform: Viki users gave it 8.8⁶, while Plex listed an audience score of 7.1 out of 10¹⁴.

Overseas distribution

The drama circulated internationally within months of its Chinese run. Rakuten Viki streams it free with subtitles in English, Italian, French, and ten other languages⁶. It appeared on Netflix under an NC16 rating (not available in Singapore at the time of that listing)¹⁵, and in South Korea on Coupang from April 22, 2024 and on Watcha and other platforms from April 30, 2024⁷. In the first quarter of 2024, its playback volume on TikTok, together with that of the dramas Will Love in Spring era titles 别对我动心 and 在暴雪时分, each exceeded roughly 700 million views, with comments in English, Vietnamese, Thai, and other languages⁹.

Adaptation context

Priest, the source novelist, is one of the most prominent writers on Jinjiang Literature City; other works of hers adapted for television include 天涯客 (filmed as Word of Honor), 镇魂 (filmed as the web drama Guardian), and 有匪 (filmed as Legend of Fei)¹². The screen adaptation retains the novel's premise of an identity swap across parallel worlds but arranges it as an inspirational story of work and self-reliance, ending with the heroine committed to the life she has built rather than restored to her old one²^•¹⁰.

References

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026