Hi all - long time no see. I wanted to wait to get some news about JOL2 as there are way too many rumors and nothing has been officially announced about airing dates. So here I'll share what I do know:
- Numerous reports have shared that JOL2 has successfully gotten approval by China's Censorship board as of 4/30/2024 and as a result has obtained their distribution license. This looks to be true. Source: https://www.douban.com/group/topic/305273217/?_i=4545116djGQbls
- It's been rumored that JOL2 has a total of 30 or 36 episodes. This hasn't been officially announced so until confirmed is just a rumor at this point. (I'm leaning more on the side that it might be more true than not (36 episodes) because from reading updates from people who saw what was being filmed on set, I know how much JOL2 covers in terms of plot from the book. It's a bit less than I expected so I will not be surprised if it ends up being around 35/36ish episodes but will wait to get confirmation about this. I doubt it's 30 episodes because that was what was "planned" but typically production exceeds more than that (i.e. JOL1 also had 30 "planned" episodes but final count ended up being 46. I know 36 is less than the 46 episodes JOL1 had but it's because there's a new policy that says one can't exceed 40 episodes per "season" and I know Director was very strategic where he wanted to cut off JOL2 from JOL3 (this was shared by a few crew members on China's forums).
- There's an image (https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GMaLffFXIAAAekT?format=jpg&name=4096x4096) that's floating around online that states JOL2 has been confirmed that it will air on CCTV8 on May 16 (until June 5th). Please note these are NOT official announcements by the production company so can only be assumed are "tentative" and non-confirmed plans. And as most plans go, they could change.
- There ARE a series of activities happening to "promote" JOL2 so it does appear that JOL2 screening will happen this month (May 2024). Here are the activities that have been announced will take place (I've marked the most important ones in bold):
- JOL ML confirmed when asked that JOL2 is set to air in the month of May. However, he did not share what date. Yet, this does make it almost set in stone that JOL2 will air this month of May!! Here's a photo to get us excited: https://i.guancha.cn/bbs/2024/05/01/20240501141546321.jpg?imageView2/2/w/500/format/jpg
I'll be back after May 15th once I get more official news about JOL2's broadcast air dates. Looking forward to sharing what I find out. Will keep you all posted. For those of you who can read Chinese, I would pay attention to JOL's official weibo page for official announcements: https://weibo.com/u/6356014463. Stay tuned for more!!
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UPDATE 5/3/2024: I see that some of these source links aren't viewable for some of you so I uploaded all of them on the Photos section of JOL2 main page. You can go there to view.