A Familiar Stranger: Story, Cast and Series Facts

Story and premise

Shi Qi is a talented and good-natured artist who, during one of her painting assignments, learns of an affair between the chancellor's cruel and exploitative daughter, Shen Qin, and the ruler of the realm, King Ning. Shen Qin, however, is engaged to marry the powerful general Xiao Han Sheng. But when Shi Qi accidentally witnesses deadly and nefarious goings-on at the court, she finds herself drawn into trouble. Shen Qin devises a way to enlist a magician to swap her face with that of Shi Qi – so that she and the painter can "switch" identities. As such, Shi Qi ends up "engaged" to Xiao Han Sheng, while Shen Qin takes up the painter's identity. But the "real" Shi Qi has already crossed paths with Xiao Han Sheng many years ago – even though he has no idea who she truly "is" now.

Series details

• Title: A Familiar Stranger
• Format: Scripted
• Language: Chinese
• Genres: Drama, History
• Premiere date: 2022-09-23
• Final broadcast date listed: 2022-10-03
• Status in TVmaze: Ended
• Web channel listed by TVmaze: Mango TV
• Network country: China
• Typical episode runtime: 13 minutes
• TVMaze ID: 64865
• IMDb ID: tt22872152
• TVDB ID: 425354

Cast and credited roles

• Ke Ying — Shi Qi
• Cheng Lei — Xiao Han Sheng
• Kay Song — Shen Qin

Seasons in the TVmaze catalogue

• Season 1: premiered 2022-09-23; final listed air date 2022-10-03; episode order: 18.

Source and licence

Adapted from A Familiar Stranger on TVmaze. The synopsis is reproduced as plain text; catalogue facts, cast and season records are selected and reformatted. This adapted text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, following the TVmaze API licence. Network and web-channel credits identify the service listed in this source; they do not establish current streaming availability.