25/01/2022

Zespa Media is delighted to announce that filming for the Agatha Christie drama Checkmate completed today.

Checkmate, based on the legendary Hercule Poirot stories, is the first official Chinese language television adaptation of Agatha Christie's works.

Checkmate is jointly produced by China’s top streaming platform iQiyi and Shengjin Studio. As the exclusive agent of Agatha Christie Ltd in China, Zespa Media has been closely involved in all aspects of this landmark production both commercially and creatively. To make it possible, Zespa Media brought together a close collaboration between Agatha Christie Ltd, iQiyi and Shengjin Productions underpinned by alignment on key creative principles.

Checkmate started principal photography in October 2021. Now, after 100 days of filming by a 500-strong crew across two cities in China with huge sets being built from scratch, this phenomenal production is entering the post-production phase.

The main cast, Hu Yitian, Leon Zhang, and Viann Zhang, said their fond goodbyes to Series Producer Jia Zhiqi and Director Zhang Weike as well as the crew on set, saying the 100 days of filming had brought the cast and crew together into one big family. They look forward to seeing the drama released on screen as soon as possible and to seeing each other again.

Although Checkmate is still in production, the excitement and anticipation has been building on Chinese social media with millions of likes and comments showing early engagement. The official iQiyi online platform has received nearly 400,000 pre-bookings to watch the show.

iQiyi has put Checkmate as part of its top line-up with the premier scheduled for Autumn 2022.

You can watch the exclusive behind-the-scenes trailer for Checkmate here:
https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/701610645.html