Ever since the live drama adaptation of the highly popular BL novel, “Heaven Official’s Blessing” (天官赐福) aka “Tian Guan Cifu”, was announced last December, fans have been excited in the casting. Many fans have come up with their dream casting for their iconic male leads, “Xie Lian” and “Hua Cheng”. In recent weeks, the rumors have ramped up causing the series production team, Syndication, to issue a statement on May 27 urging people not to believe the rumors circulating online and to wait for the official announcements.
On June 8, rumors went viral that the cast was “finalized” after Douban was updated with a cast list that has been circulating online recently.
R1SE’s Zhai Xiaowen as “Xie Lian”
Zhang Linghe as “Hua Cheng”
Former “Youth With You 3” trainee Chang Huasen as “Feng Shi”
Former “Youth With You 2” trainee Liu Lingzhi as “Xuan Ji”
Fu Weilun as “Nan Feng”
Fan Shuaiqi as “Ling Wen”
Former “Youth With You 3” trainee Nemo (Xu Xinchi) as “Pei Ming”
Former “Youth With You” trainee Yao Chi as “Mu Qing”
Former “Idol Producer” trainee Luo Zheng as “Feng Xin”
Zhai Xiaowen as “Xie Lian” 
Zhang Linghe as “Hua Cheng” 
Chang Huasen as “Feng Shi” 
Liu Lingzhi as “Xuan Ji”
However, netizens pointed out the cast list in Douban can be updated by anyone. It’s also interesting to note that 6 of the rumored names are former contestants on survival shows. After the updated list went viral, Yao Chi’s studio was the first to shut down the rumors, saying, “Haven’t signed any contracts for costume dramas recently.”, essentially shutting down the validity of these rumors.
The earliest celebrities rumored to be starring in the series included Hu Yitian and Neo Hou Minghao, but their fan clubs both denied their involvement last December. TNT’s Ding Chengxin was rumored to have gone through a costume fitting for “Heaven’s Official Blessing” in Hengdian for the role of “Xie Lian” back in April. However, his official fan club contacted TF Entertainment and confirmed Ding Chengxin didn’t go for a costume fitting for a rumored online series and didn’t have plans to be filming a rumored online series.