“The Successor” series began with an aerial shot of a city.

Just like the aerial shots that appear in many superhero movies, a magnificent modern city was situated on the east coast, with several cruise ships floating on the vast ocean, while steel and concrete high-rises stood tall, presenting a prosperous scene.

The sky was already dark, somewhat overcast, with drizzling rain, casting a layer of gloom over the entire city.

The camera gradually descended, and from the shapes of the buildings and the details of the billboards on them, one could tell this was a city in a Western country.

The camera continued to lower, arriving at a wide and empty street.

Although this city was very prosperous, there were hardly any vehicles on this road in the rainy night, inexplicably giving people a sense of crisis.

A sports car sped by, with energetic music blaring from inside.

A handsome young man with a head of blonde hair and a tall figure was showing off his skill of driving a sports car with one hand, while his other hand was kneading the silk-stockinged plump thigh of the woman beside him.

This was obviously the protagonist, Phil.

The camera shot from the back seat toward the front, showing Phil’s handsome profile and his companion’s alluring yet coy expression.

The windshield wipers were swinging, visibility on the road ahead was poor, but clearly the empty road, the adrenaline-pumping music, and the feeling under his hand made Phil very excited. After stepping on the accelerator, the sports car roared, and the tachometer and speedometer began to swing wildly.

But just then, a burly man suddenly appeared in the middle of the road without warning, blocking Phil’s path!

Amidst the woman’s screams, Phil instinctively cursed while slamming on the brakes!

The tires screeched sharply against the rainy night road, but the sports car still hit the mountain-like giant of a man.

After a loud crash, the camera spun chaotically, the airbags deployed, and Phil fell into a semi-unconscious state.

However, immediately after, the car door was violently ripped open, and a thick arm dragged Phil out of the car.

Phil, grabbed by one hand, swung in front of the camera, his bright red tie fluttering back and forth, looking somewhat like the long tongue of a hanged ghost.

…

The content that followed was the plot that Meng Chang had already read in the original novel.

The burly man took Phil to the rooftop of a nearby building. Phil was terrified to tears, but fortunately, two superheroes arrived in time. The next day, Phil’s ugly photo—crying and with his image completely destroyed—made the front-page headlines.

Obviously, in terms of the plot, Director Zhu Xiaocai had highly respected the content of the original work during filming, but maximized the use of the camera to enhance the expressiveness of the entire story.

For example, in the opening segment, the camera first shot from above the city and then continuously lowered, finally showing Phil’s car accident through the perspective inside the car. Many details were hidden within the frames, directly entering the theme while implying rich information.

In terms of plot expressiveness, specific visuals and sounds were clearly much stronger than thin text.

And Phil’s soul-scattering fear when facing the villain was also fully displayed through the camera. Under the exquisite acting of this young actor, it even brought some slight discomfort to viewers.

After all, a protagonist who becomes so cowardly right from the start is rare.

The subsequent plot roughly followed the original work of “The Successor,” but made some changes in the specific narrative order. Director Zhu Xiaocai used cinematic techniques to slightly mix up the originally linear story, creating more suspense while making many classic scenes more infectious and expressive.

Moreover, the specific expression forms of the same plot segments differed between the novel and the TV series.

For example, there was a section in the text about Phil’s motivation for personally funding a superhero talent show.

The wealthy naturally had disadvantages in talent shows; audiences preferred civilian heroes who came from ordinary backgrounds, had tragic histories, and showed strong social responsibility.

If a wealthy person participated in a talent show and bribed the judges, they would easily face rejection from the audience, which was why Phil decided to create his own talent show, “The Successor.”

In the original text, Cui Geng’s description of this segment was just normal straightforward narration, told through Phil’s conversations with his father and Phil’s own thoughts.

This expression style wasn’t particularly excellent even in the novel, let alone in a TV series.

Therefore, Zhu Xiaocai changed the presentation style and arranged a scene where Phil went to observe other superhero talent shows in person.

This segment very specifically showed the different treatments audiences gave to wealthy individuals versus civilian heroes participating in talent shows. The entire plot became more smooth and natural, and more convincing to the audience.

In terms of specific details, changes also occurred compared to the original work.

When Cui Geng wrote the original story, although he also researched many related materials and planned the entire story background for a long time, one person’s efforts were inevitably limited.

Cui Geng had never lived or resided in America, so many details were not presented as accurately, and there were even omissions.

Director Zhu Xiaocai, along with the scriptwriting team from Fei Huang Studio, reorganized all the details of the story, and also exchanged ideas with American scriptwriters, filling in the gaps in these details.

…

Three hours passed quickly.

The lights in the meeting room were turned back on, and then Huang Sibo distributed the synopses of the subsequent episodes to everyone in the meeting room.

Meng Chang also received a copy and, after a quick look, found it matched the original plot he had read before.

According to the plan for “The Successor” series, there would be a total of 12 episodes, with the first three episodes representing about a quarter of the plot.

The content of the first three episodes mainly included: Phil being kidnapped and making headlines, raging in his mansion, breaking things, and even beating his maid and butler;

Proposing to his father about becoming a superhero and investigating other talent shows;

Starting to plan his own talent show, putting “The Successor” show on the agenda, beginning to plan auditions for promotion, and being met with ridicule online.

The next three segments of the plot were:

Episodes Four to Six: “The Successor” show’s ratings continue to rise, with new features constantly emerging, and Phil becoming completely at ease;

The Black member of Phil’s team performs excellently and takes second place, and Phil also changes everyone’s impression of him through “The Successor” talent show, but he doesn’t use this to become a superhero, instead lying low;

A kidnapping case occurs in Hope City, a wealthy businessman’s little daughter is harmed, and Phil begins to blast the three superheroes involved in the rescue online.

Episodes Seven to Nine: Phil orchestrates everything behind the scenes, pointing out issues from a god-like perspective and harvesting people’s trust, but still unwilling to become a superhero, only reluctantly agreeing to comment on related events on Twitter;

Phil’s Black apprentice falls into a coma while on a mission, and Phil finally decides to become a superhero using this opportunity, but is rejected by the Superhero Association;

Phil isn’t angry but rather very happy about this, and even begins preparing a superhero program, getting ready to participate in the superhero election.

The last three episodes: Phil chooses the right representative group, and the initial battle of the election is successful, but he soon faces fierce counterattacks from the superheroes. Both sides expose scandals about each other, but Phil has already firmly bound his fans to himself through information cocoons.

In the end, Phil successfully brings down the currently strongest superhero through a major public safety incident and takes his place, reaching the pinnacle of power.

Compared to Cui Geng’s original novel, the content of “The Successor” series only covered about half of it.

Because according to Cui Geng’s plan, Phil becoming the strongest superhero was only the first half of the story, which could be seen as “Phil’s dirty rise to power.”

In the second half of the plot, Phil would face more severe challenges as both traditional interest groups and emerging superheroes united against him.

But Phil would still suppress dissidents and oppress superheroes through various dirty means and the power in his hands, making them his vassals, deceiving the public with false crime data, and instead sitting stably on the supreme throne of superheroes.

The current 12 episodes of “The Successor” series only planned for the “Phil’s dirty rise to power” part.

On one hand, this was because the capacity of the series was limited and could only present this much content; on the other hand, it was because the second half of the plot wasn’t as exciting as the first half.

This wasn’t difficult to sense.

The second half was an intensification and supplement to the first half. Like many excellent series sequels, the plot could only be described as conventional, passable, but completely lacking the freshness that the first half brought when first seen.

Therefore, for the adaptation of “The Successor,” only the first half was planned, and whether to produce the second half was still under consideration.

If they didn’t produce it, ending with the white space left by the first half wouldn’t be bad either.

Phil became the strongest superhero, but he faced dual challenges from old and new forces. Would he be pushed off his pedestal by the traditional forces, the “anti-Phil faction,” using even more shameless methods, or would he stabilize his rule, plunging the entire Hope City into endless darkness?

Everyone would have different answers in their hearts.

Following the original work’s designated ending would obviously leave less room for viewers’ imagination.

Soon, everyone had finished reading the synopses of the later episodes.

Huang Sibo asked somewhat anxiously, “Mr. Pei, what do you think?”

He thought to himself, even if there’s blame to assign, it should be on Zhu Xiaocai, after all, I was still on my suffering travel when this series started filming.

In fact, by the time Huang Sibo took over, it was almost finished, and even if he wanted to make changes, it would be very difficult.

Although they could re-edit, the filming materials had already been set, and forced editing would only make things worse.

Huang Sibo paused, then said, “The first three episodes might feel a bit frustrating, but that’s how the story structure is, and it’s hard to change now.”