Released in 2016, Stephen Chow‘s (周星馳) The Mermaid <美人魚> broke many box office records. As China’s third highest grossing film of all time, The Mermaid earned over 3.3 billion RMB. Due to its success, Stephen is following up with a sequel, which features the return of Jelly Lin (林允).

When Jelly was only 18 years old, she landed her breakout role in The Mermaid after beating out 12,000 applicants. Winning many newcomer awards that year, Jelly also caught the eye of William Feng (馮紹峰), whom she reportedly dated. Due to her youth and good looks, Jelly is seen as having a lot of untapped potential.

Perhaps for these reasons, Stephen Chow has decided to cast Jelly as the lead in The Mermaid 2, in which he serves as the producer, scriptwriter, and director. The move surprised fans, as they expected SNH48 member Jenny Sun (孫珍妮) to land a significant role in the movie. Last year, Stephen organized a variety show to recruit new female talent for The Mermaid 2, and Jenny stood out with her looks and talent.