The crime suspense drama "Self-Defense", directed by Li Yunliang, written by Jia Dongyan and Wu Yao, and starring Gao Ye, Zhang Luyi, Bai Jingting, Zhang Xinyi, Zhang Baijia and Ye Qing, will be exclusively broadcast on iQiyi's Misty Theater from July 9th.
"Just Cause" poster
The drama tells the story of the prosecutor Duan Hongshan (played by Zhang Luyi) of the Municipal Procuratorate, who was handling a case of a woman who was abused by her husband and killed him, and the prosecutor Fang Lingyuan (played by Gao Ye) of the Provincial Procuratorate assisted in the case. During the investigation, it was discovered that the case was related to the excessive self-defense case on campus experienced by Li Mufeng (played by Bai Jingting), Mei Zheng (played by Zhang Baijia), and Jiang Ting (played by Ye Qing) that Duan Hongshan handled fourteen years ago. The two based their decisions on facts and the law, and finally gave an accurate characterization of the case.
Director Li Yunliang and screenwriters Jia Dongyan and Wu Yao have worked together on the TV series "The Sound of Wind" (Douban 8.0, 100,000 people rated it). Screenwriters Jia Dongyan and Wu Yao were also the main creators of the high-scoring suspense drama "Hunting Crime Picture Book". Gao Ye also left a deep impression in last year's film "Article 20" which focused on "self-defense" as a prosecutor.
Justifiable Defense was completed at the end of 2023. In April 2024, the drama appeared in the "2024-2025 iQiyi List" and released a trailer. It was later selected into the 2025 CCTV TV series list. There is no news about CCTV's broadcast schedule yet.
This year, the series that have been launched on iQiyi Misty Theater are:
"Bleach" (Douban score of 5.3, starring Guo Jingfei, Wang Qianyuan, and Zhao Jinmai), "Above the Clouds" (Douban score of 6.0, starring Sun Li and Luo Jin), "Borrowed Life" (Douban score of 6.5, starring Qin Hao, Han Geng, and Zhong Chuxi), and "Perfect Redemption" (not yet scored, starring Ou Hao, Wang Herun, Cheng Taishen, and Wang Ting).
According to Yunhe data, the average episode and average V30 of "Bleach" during its hot broadcast period exceeded 50 million, and the average V7 of each episode exceeded 30 million, ranking first in the effective broadcast ranking of average V30 of long-running online dramas in the first half of 2025. "Above the Clouds" ranked 12th, and "Living with Borrowed Life" ranked 19th.
