The Untamed / Mo Dao Zu Shi (MDZS) fandom starter kit

Useful links, where to watch, some meta commentary, and other things that will hopefully get you started in this fandom.

written by Caroline aka avawtsn in 2021, last reviewed and ported into website format 24.12.08

table of contents
  1. getting started: recommended reading and references
  2. canon and adaptations
    1. the Untamed / CQL / the "web series"
    2. the Untamed Special Edition
    3. the Untamed movies / Fatal Journey and the Living Dead ← you are here
    4. Founder of Diabolism / MDZS animated series / donghua / anime
    5. Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation / MDZS comic / manhua / manga
    6. Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, the original MDZS novel
    7. MDZS audio drama
  3. selected fic recs
  4. cast on social media

The Untamed spin-off movies

Fatal Journey
availability

Following the success of CQL, the producers got two scripts in production immediately and put out two whole movies within months of the show ending. CQL finished airing in the summer of 2019; Fatal Journey came out first and was released on November 7, 2019, and Fatal Journey came out in March 2020. Both saw CQL side actors reprise their roles, but only 2-3 at a time. And neither Wang Yibo nor Xiao Zhan came back for any part of the spin-off movies.

Of the two spinoff movies, Fatal Journey is definitely the better one, with more to chew on for the viewers who came pre-invested from CQL. This is the one I refer to as the mid-quel, because it takes place during the "Wei Wuxian is dead" years, and follows Nie Huaisang and his brother Nie Mingjue. It's a great addendum to the show, although it does change some timeline things technically.

Gay rating
n/a? Although technically, you do see two of 3zun in this, plus NHS, so it's got some of the gayest non-canonically queer characters you can get.
The Living Dead
availability

This was the movie that got released in just a few weeks really, from CQL ending. It's a more proper sequel in that it follows around two characters who went off together at the end of CQL, but it feels like a different script from a more generic detective/mystery du jour story that was quickly adapted into a CQL script.

Still, it's a fun enough little romp (probably?) for those looking forward to seeing at least one of those characters with more lines and more badassery (if a bit OOC). YMMV.

Gay rating
n/a? Unfortunately. Although the baddie is highkey vampy in the most Wen Kexing of ways, you have to respect it.

donghua >>

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